Although a key figure in the Association of Southern Women for the
Prevention of Lynching was opposed to anti-lynching legislation as a
supplement to education as a means to end lynching, efforts to pass
such legislation, as well as efforts to spread anti-lynching
education and literature, and to encourage growth of, membership in,
and contribution to such education programs, were promoted by each
the ASWPL, Christian churches, and Christian organizations.
At the Association of Southern Women for the Prevention of Lynching’s
annual conference of the Council on Program for 1938 in Atlanta, the
association declared that “[l]ynching is an indefensible crime,
destructive of all principles of government, hateful and hostile to
every ideal of religion and humanity, debasing and degrading to every
person involved.”1
In a report of the association’s 1937 activities, the authors
acknowledged the widespread nature of lynching, and felt a
responsibility for its presence. They believed that lynching was
widespread because “public opinion has accepted too easily the
claim of lynchers and mobsters that they were acting solely in the
defense of womanhood.” They aimed to “create a new public opinion
in the South which will not condone for any reason whatever acts of
mobs or lynchers,” and sought to do so through anti-lynching
education programs and the spreading of literature.1
At the 1938 meeting, “members at large, representatives of national
and sectional organizations and chairmen of State Councils”
presented or submitted reports “on their activities in advancing
the program of education through personal work, through organization
set-ups and through State Council activities.” Jessie Daniel Ames
reported on the spread of the anti-lynching educational program in
the U.S.1
The association wanted the chairman of each state council to secure
speakers to present the education program in colleges, and to write
letters of commendation to sheriffs in counties where lynchings had
been prevented. State councils were also encouraged to increase their
member organizations and to make studies of present state
anti-lynching legislation to support the federal anti-lynching law.1
The association advocated a wider use of the press. Jessie Daniel
Ames was asked to continue monthly mimeographed letters on the
group’s work, and to contact publications affiliated with
anti-lynching education. Members of the association wanted a study
book to be prepared on anti-lynching education, which was to be made
available for twenty-five cents, and free to university sociology
departments. They also wanted to continue distributing anti-lynching
literature and posters to libraries, especially in high schools,
colleges, and city and county libraries.1
Mrs. Attwood Martin of Kentucky sent literature to four foreign
countries, corresponded with editors, providing them printed
material, wrote newspaper articles, and gave literature to clergy and
libraries. She said that “prejudice… gives way before a knowledge
of presented facts. Our work lies ahead in the presenting of these
facts to an ever-widening public.”1
Women of the Florida Council gave advice to women to help
prevent lynching. They advised
them to call on local citizens, to call the governor, the sheriff,
and officers, and to keep in touch with the press. This advice is
given alongside documentation of telegrams sent from a Mrs. Cornell
to such authorities and press, which resulted in Governor Cone to
correspond to Mrs. Cornell, promising that a Negro on trial would not
be lynched.1
The association collected signatures to pledge to educate against
lynching, and expressed a desire to intensify efforts to secure
signatures from sheriffs, county officers, members of the state
legislature, and of churches, “civic clubs, school classes, young
people and college groups,” and “unorganized rural and industrial
sections.” In the report of the committee on methods, the ASWPL
stated a desire that “groups affiliated with State Councils and
interested individuals be asked to make financial contributions to
the educational program for the prevention of lynching.”1
Although Jessie Daniel Ames favored education over legislation as a
means to end lynching, the ASWPL, in solidarity with Christian
churches, encouraged anti-lynching legislation. The National Young
Woman’s Christian Association directed their attention to advancing
the Gavagan-Wagner-Van Nuys Anti-Lynching Bill in the United States
Congress, and members of the ASWPL also worked to secure the passage
of the bill, though it was ultimately unsuccessful.2
The ASWPL and Christian churches joined forces to promote
anti-lynching education. The ASWPL’s literature was distributed to
the Presbyterian Church, sent to each Synodical president and
secretary of Christian Social Service, and to the president and
chairman of Christian Social Service of the Young People’s Leagues
of the Synod, and the Synodicals considered adopting an education
program. The Committee on Women’s Work of the Presbyterian
Church “endorsed a program of education against lynching and
urged the active interest
of the woman as individual Christian citizens.” Mrs. W. A. Newell,
the chairman of the Bureau of Christian Social Relations of the
Southern Methodists, reported that “[t]he aim and policies of the
[ASWPL] were adopted by the Women’s Missionary Council… as an
important part of its work in education for and practice of Christian
Citizenship.”2
The Women’s Christian Missionary Society and the Methodist
Missionary Council also participated in educational efforts, by
securing signatures, holding community meetings to talk about the
factors that promote mobs, promoting “anti-lynching leaflets,
pamphlets and playlets,” and “securing the signatures of sheriffs
and other county officers” to a “Declaration of Purpose,” and
reporting within at least one church on what has been done to educate
against lynching. Mrs. L. O. Turner, the Georgia Secretary General of
the Women’s Christian Missionary Society, told of “Negro speakers
in District Conventions,” and said that “both State and
International Conventions have endorsed a program against lynching.”
She said that “the cultivation of a new interest in the Negro home
and family, the Negro school and church life” would reduce mob
violence.2
Bibliography
1. Association of Southern Women for the Prevention of Lynching,
1930-1942. "With Quietness They Work: Report of the Activities
of Southern Women in Education Against Lynching During 1937". In
With Quietness They Work: Report of the Activities of Southern
Women in Education Against Lynching During 1937 (Association of
Southern Women for the Prevention of Lynching, Atlanta, GA, 1938)
2. Association of Southern Women for the Prevention of Lynching,
1930-1942. "The National Young Woman's Christian Association
Concentrate On Federal Bill". In With Quietness They Work:
Report of the Activities of Southern Women in Education Against
Lynching During 1937 (Association of Southern Women for the
Prevention of Lynching, Atlanta, GA, 1938)
Originally written in February 2008 as a college essay
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