Where does the term "lynch" as in hanging/killing come from? I watched 'Birth of a Nation' yesterday and noticed that Solis Lynch was around as the KKK formed but they didn't mention anything about him getting killed or the term "lynch."

fosse4

According to Brewers there are two possible answers James Lynch - mayor of Glaway in the 15th Century or Charles Lynch of Virginia (1736-1796) but neither have been substantiated It also gives Cupar Justice, Jedwood Justice and Lydford Law as alternatives Oct 31 03, 4:05 PM

mancandy

I do not understand this reply. Are those the gentlemen who were lynched? I would like an entymology, because it seems way too ironic that the black leader of the south, during reconstruction, was named Solis Lynch. Incidentally, he was depicted as knowing the founding member of the KKK, in fact, he worked under the little colonel's fiance's father. Oct 31 03, 5:49 PM

sequoianoir

After William Lynch (1742-1820).] Word History: In the late 18th century, Pittsylvania County, Virginia, was troubled by criminals who could not be dealt with by the courts, which were too distant. This led to an agreement to punish such criminals without due process of law. Both the practice and the punishment came to be called lynch law after Captain William Lynch, who drew up a compact on September 22, 1780, with a group of his neighbors. Arguing that Pittsylvania had “sustained great and intolerable losses by a set of lawless men... that... have hitherto escaped the civil power with impunity,” they agreed to respond to reports of criminality in their neighborhood by “repair[ing] immediately to the person or persons suspected... and if they will not desist from their evil practices, we will inflict such corporeal punishment on him or them, as to us shall seem adequate to the crime committed or the damage sustained.” Although lynch law and lynching are mainly associated with hanging, other, less severe punishments were used. William Lynch died in 1820, and the inscription on his grave notes that “he followed virtue as his truest guide.” But the good captain, who had tried to justify vigilante justice, was sentenced to the disgrace of having given his name to the terrible practice of lynching. Oct 31 03, 5:59 PM

mancandy

ok-the characters are fictional in Birth of a Nation (and oh so biased!!). I was confuzed by their depiction of "historcal documents" ugh!!! That movie is soooo ummmm (loss for words!)I am shocked! I learned in class that after this movie came out black people picketed and black people were not portrayed as thugs anymore(until later, perhaps in blaxploitation) we are reading native Son-what a great book-Richard Wright was so ahead of his time! Nov 01 03, 12:09 PM