Black Man Hung For Stealing A School Lunch

 

Dec. 22, 1896, A poor black man was apparently lynched for being hungry in Woodstock, Alabama on this day, however, newspaper accounts can’t seem to get the poor man’s name right. It might have been George James as reported in several Kansas and Illinois papers, of Charles Jones in other papers and on the Lynching Memorial in Birmingham, Alabama he is listed as James Joseph.

Regardless the man, we will call him Mr. Joseph per official record, was hung in Woodstock by a White mob for supposedly bothering a 17-year-old white girl named Fannie Smith on her way to school and asking for or trying to steal her lunch. This is a part of the story that is confirmed in all newspaper accounts. Some accounts say her dress was torn though. When Mr., Joseph was caught by the mob miles from Woodstock he confessed to stealing the girl’s lunch but denied any other behaviors. The mob took him to see the girl who stated he was the man and that he had only grabbed her lunch.

In Alabama, during the years of Jim Crow though this minor crime was considered worthy of the death penalty and Mr. Joseph was hung in front of the local store. There was no investigation or inquest, and no one was ever charged for his murder.

Sources:

https://www.newspapers.com/image/87835301/?terms=Lynched&match=1

https://www.newspapers.com/image/82463537/?terms=%22George%20James%22&match=1

https://www.al.com/news/2018/04/alabamas_racial_lynching_victi.html

https://fpsudbury.org/w111p/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Lynching-Victims-1860-1950.pdf