HR-55

Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act Signed

On March 29, 2022, President Biden signed HR-22: The Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act

Biden signs law making lynching a federal hate crimeThe Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act became law on Tuesday, a bipartisan step towards acknowledging the history of racial violence in the United States. Amna Nawaz reports on the law's significance and what it took to get here.

Opinion | Yes, Lynching Is Still a ThingA new law that makes lynching a federal hate crime addresses an atrocity that continues to this day.

Left, PBS NewsHour segment on the signing of the bill and, above, Charles Blow's New York Times March 30, 2022, article, "Yes, Lynching is Still a Thing."

Jamelle Bouie of the New York Times wrote two opinion pieces during the week of the signing: "This Is Why It Took More Than 100 Years to Get an Anti-Lynching Bill" HERE and "This Is a Crime Against the Laws of Humanity" HERE.

The Signing Ceremony at the White House

“After thousands of murders of Black people, nearly 200 separate attempts to enact legislation, and more than 100 years since the first anti-lynching bill was introduced, the U.S. government is on the verge of finally acknowledging and addressing a historical fact has long been self-evident: the crime of lynching is a form of hate that the government must prosecute fully and with the full array of its powers."

...NAACP Legal Defense Fund

Passage in the U.S. House of Representatives February 28, 2022

Vote: 422 - 3

Nays: Andrew S. Clyde R-GA)

Thomas Massie (R-KY)

Chip Roy (R-TX)

You may read their excuses HERE

Passage in the U.S. Senate March 8, 2022

Vote: Unanimous

Emmett Till Antilynching Act Passes House of RepresentativesWASHINGTON — Today, the Emmett Till Antilynching Act (H.R. 55), legislation sponsored by U.S. Representative Bobby L.

Senate passes anti-lynching bill and sends federal hate crime legislation to BidenThe Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act, which sets prison terms of up to 30 years, has been more than a century in the making.

a bit of history ... 1918, 2018

Anti-Lynching Legislation Renewed

History, Art, and Archives - U.S. House of Representatives.

James Weldon Johnson was the NAACP’s executive secretary and the chief congressional anti-lynching lobbyist. (Click on his photo above to access article)

Click on the graphic below to read about the Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill and view its content. The bill passed the House in 1922 but a filibuster by Southern Democrats in the Senate kept it from becoming law.

Dyer Anti-Lynching BillAn important chapter in NAACP early history is the defense of Black life in the form of an anti-lynching campaign prior to the first world war.

The bill came close to passing in 2018 ...

Remember?

(Click HERE for news story)

Frustration and Fury as Rand Paul Holds Up Anti-Lynching Bill in Senate (Published 2020)A dispute over legislation to make lynching a federal crime has grown fierce as Congress turns its attention to issues of race and law enforcement amid protests across the country.

a bit of sarcasm ... 2022

Congratulations, America. We’ve Outlawed Lynching in 2022.This week, the first week of March 2022, in a world recovering from a devastating pandemic, and amidst the backdrop of the threat of the…

THE ACT HR-55

HR-55.pdf