From the end of the Civil War through 1941, there were 168 North Carolinians who lost their lives to lynching. This form of mob violence was often justified as a means of controlling the black population; protecting white wives and daughters; and defending family honor. Legal attempts to deter lynching - including the 1893 law that classified it as a felony and sought to hold a county liable for damages - generally failed because of a lack of local support and ineffectual enforcement by state officials.
After 1922, however, in a phenomenon unique to North Carolina, incidents of lynching inexplicably and rapidly declined, prompting the state to head a national movement to end it. Appendices provide an account of all 168 known lynching occurrences.