Lynching: A National Menace. The White South’s Protest Against Lynching [cover title].

“A National sin” : anti-lynching tract published by Hampton Institute, an historically black college

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Anti-lynching tract comprising the title essay by James E. Gregg (1875–1946), principal of historically black Hampton Institute in Virginia, and reprints of editorials on lynching from newspapers throughout the South.

Gregg, the third principal of Hampton Institute, serving from 1918–1929, uses his introductory essay to outline the case against lynching—extra-judicial murder—as patently unjust and likens it to the atrocities that Americans have justly condemned in the then-ongoing First World War.

Referencing the recent May 1918 meeting of the Southern Sociological Congress held in Knoxville, Tennessee, Gregg quotes one of its speakers:

“Lynching,” he said, “is unjustifiable under all circumstances. It is wrong in the sight of man and God. It is a blot on our National escutcheon and is a menace to the whole country. It is an economic peril to the South. It is inexpedient, unwise, and a political mistake. Above all, it is a community and a National sin.” ... [Gregg continues:]
There are multitudes of Southerners who are thinking likewise—more than any of us realize. For several years past they have been worthily, bravely, and effectively represented by the University Commission on Southern Race Questions, a notable group of Southern collegiate teachers, whose utterances, restrained and reasonable, yet glowing with the fire of patriotism and conscience, are doing much to sober, enlighten, and educate the thoughtful people of the South. (p4)

Thirteen newspaper editorials from Virginia, Kentucky, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas include such attention-grabbing headlines as: “The Duty of ‘Stay-at-Homes’,” “General Lee’s Example,” “An Appalling Record,” “State Shame and Discredit,” “Georgia Women’s Protest,” “An Economic Drawback,” and “Ged Rid of Cowardice.”

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