Cover -- Title -- Copyright -- Contents -- List of Figures -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- 1. Lynched Twice: Arthur C. Williams, Gadsden County, 1941 -- 2. A Degree of Restraint: The Trials of Cellos Harrison, 1940-1943 -- 3. The Failure of Forbearance: The Lynching of Cellos Harrison, Jackson County, 1943 -- 4. "A Very Cheap Article": The Lynching of Willie James Howard, Suwannee County, 1944 -- 5. Still at It: The Lynching of Jesse James Payne, Madison County, 1945 -- Conclusion -- Epilogue. Strange Fruit, Bitter Seeds: The Echoes of Lynching Violence -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- Z.

Florida often seems not quite southern-yet it suffered more lynching than any of its Deep South neighbors when examined in proportion to the number of African American residents. Investigating this dark era of the state's history and focusing on a string of brutal lynchings that took place during the 1940s, Tameka Hobbs explores the reasons why lynchings continued in Florida when they were starting to wane elsewhere. She contextualizes the murders within the era of World War II, contrasting the desire of the United States to broadcast the benefits of its democracy abroad while at home it struggled to provide legal protection to its African American citizens. As involvement in the global war deepened and rhetoric against Axis powers heightened, the nation's leaders became increasingly aware of the blemish left by extralegal violence on America's reputation. Ultimately, Hobbs argues, the international implications of these four murders, along with other antiblack violence around the nation, increased pressure not only on public officials in Florida to protect the civil rights of African Americans in the state but also on the federal government to become more active in prosecuting racial violence.

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Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2018. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.