postcard bearing the photograph of a lynching / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A lynching postcard is a postcard showing a lynching. Lynchings are extrajudicial killings, and are often driven by racial hatred. Like other postcards, these postcards were intended to be souvenirs. These postcards often had racist texts written on them. Lynching postcards were popular in the United States, and the US Postal Service was forbidden from distributing them in 1908.
Postcard of a lynching of a black American, in a wheelchair, aeound 1900. Victim and location are unknown. Hand-colored photographFile:Lynching of Laura Nelson, May 1911.jpgLynching of Laura Nelson,in Okemah,Oklahoma, May 1911. Nelson was held in a local prison for her involvement in killing a sheriff, when a mob freed both her and her son; both were lynched. Both were held in connection with a killing of a sheriff. Allegedly, she was raped as well.
Colored postcard of a lynching in Kentucky. It shows the lynching of Virgil, Robert and Thomas Jones, and Joseph Riley on July 31, 1908, in Russellville, Kentucky