Newspapers

Pogue Library Special Collections has an assortment of local newspapers digitized for online viewing accessible here. Below are a few examples of stories regarding Black Americans.

This article from the Weekly Kentucky New Era, dated July 14, 1893 titled "Paid the Penalty" details the capture and lynching of a C. Miller, who was accused of assaulting and murdering girls from Carlisle County, KY. Notable is that there was no trial and the father of the victims was opposed to lynching a suspect before the facts had been established. The article further tells how "7,000 people, men and women, witnessed the execution" and shares the gruesome details of his death. The Equal Justice Initiative has documented 39 lynchings such as this in Kentucky's Jackson Purchase Area.

Below is an account from the Weekly Kentucky New Era dated December 25, 1896 and titled "A Mob's Awful Work." It describes the events leading up to the "Race War" that broke out in Mayfield around Christmas Day in 1896, including the extrajudicial killings of two Black men from Graves County. Further details are provided, including the killing of additional Black men by those on "guard duty." The article concludes with a warning that Black Americans should give up hope of further resistance, as "the negro cannot hope to successfully contend with the white man."

Here is another example of racial injustice in the Jackson Purchase area as chronicled in the Weekly Kentucky New Era from October 9, 1908. The article details the lynching of the Walker Family of Fulton County, one of the most horrific lynchings in Kentucky history. Titled "Murdered By Mob ---- Three Killed, One A Baby In It's Mother's Arms," the account claims that the Walker Family was fired upon and killed after Dave Walker, head of the family, refused to come out after being charged by a White mob for "curs[ing] a white woman." The mob shot into the house, killing several members, including an infant, and continued to set the house on fire and shot at those fleeing. The full article can be accessed here. Another article about the incident located in the Murray Ledger can be found here on page 5 titled "Three Negroes Killed."