Giving Compass' Take:

• Matthew Swayne explains how an interactive map shows how lynchings in America went far beyond the South. 

• How can the real history of lynchings help to advance the discussion around race and healing in the U.S.?

• Learn more about the history of lynchings in the U.S. 


An interactive map of lynching in the US from 1883 to 1941 reveals the surprising extent of mob violence.

It also underscores how the economy, topography, and law enforcement infrastructure paved the way for these brutal, violent crimes, according to researchers.

Although often thought of as unique to states in the southern US, Americans practiced lynching across the country and, although Southern blacks were by far the most common victim, the violence left few races and ethnic groups unscathed, says Charles Seguin, assistant professor of sociology and social data analytics at Penn State and an affiliate of the Institute for CyberScience.

View the interactive map here.

Seguin adds that slavery and racism’s effect on this mob violence is deeply etched into the patterns of lynching displayed on the map, but lynching also occurred in Northern states, which had abolished slavery long before the Civil War.

Read the full article about lynchings in the U.S. by Matthew Swayne at Futurity.