The Many Faces of Judge Lynch: Extralegal Violence and Punishment in America

When Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas claimed that a Senate investigating committee lynched him, he inten-tionally drew on two key components of the word 'lynch'-race and punishment-that stemmed from the long and ugly history of lynching in America. Yet if we follow the history of the term itself, we learn that lynching has had several different meanings over time.

Tracing the use and meaning of the word 'lynching' in American history, Christopher Waldrep reveals that while the notion of lynching as a form of extralegal punishment sanctioned by the community endured across two centuries, the meaning of the word itself changed drastically, paralleling changes in how Americans grappled with law enforcement, community, and most importantly, race relations.