This is the year that Leonidas C. Dyer, a Congressman and a Republican, who served eleven terms (1911-1933) in the U.S. House of Representatives from Missouri, proposed the Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill after the 1917 Riots in East St. Louis. Although the House voted for the bill, it was not passed into law by the Senate. Thus, begins the long journey that culminated in the Emmitt Till Antilynching Act that is now law. President Biden signed the legislation into law on Tuesday, March 29, 2022.
From the BAIC (Black Americans in Congress) website you can trace the long history of lynchings. Click here.
The Chicago and Summit Connections
Here are two other possible individuals who had an impact on lynching, this heinous American mob action.
Ida B. Wells, a journalist, educator, and civil rights proponent, relocated from Memphis, Tennessee, to Chicago after her office was destroyed. The MVCC library owns Selected works of Ida B. Wells-Barnett / compiled with an introduction by Trudier Harris. Click here for the information and the call number to find it on the shelf in our circulating collection on the lower level.
And, of course, Emmett Till spent some time as a child in Summit, Illinois, before his mother moved to Chicago. The village has placed a marker at the home, 7526 W. 64th Street. Emmett lost his life in 1955 in Mississippi. Click here to get to the items available at the MVCC library on Emmett Till.
