1930day.year
The last confirmed lynching of black people in the Northern United States occurs in Marion, Indiana; two men, Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith, are killed.
The lynching of Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith in Marion, Indiana, on August 7, 1930, was the last confirmed racial lynching in the Northern United States.
On that summer night, a white mob forcibly removed the two young black men from jail and brutally hanged them in the courthouse square.
Graphic photographs of the atrocity were circulated widely, shocking the nation and galvanizing anti-lynching activists.
Despite evidence and public outcry, no one was ever convicted for the murders of Shipp and Smith.
The incident highlighted the pervasive reach of racial violence beyond the segregated South.
Artists like Abel Meeropol later drew inspiration from the images, leading to the poem and song "Strange Fruit" popularized by Billie Holiday.
This grim event spurred calls for federal anti-lynching legislation, which would remain stalled for decades.
1930
lynching
Marion, Indiana
Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith