Changes

Plummer B. Young, the editor of the ''Norfolk Journal and Guide's'', publicly predicted a reversal of the Judiciary Committee's prepared disapproval following the mass murder of nineteen white miners in Herrin, Illinois, by a white mob, noting that the (white) U.S. senators would only feel compelled to barely approve anti-lynching legislation following the massacre.<ref name=waldrep,p.76/> On June 30, the committee approved the Dyer Bill "unexpectedly," validating Young's farsighted observations.

Plummer B. Young, the editor of the ''Norfolk Journal and Guide's'', publicly predicted a reversal of the Judiciary Committee's prepared disapproval following the mass murder of nineteen white miners in Herrin, Illinois, by a white mob, noting that the (white) U.S. senators would only feel compelled to barely approve anti-lynching legislation following the massacre.<ref name=waldrep,p.76/> On June 30, the committee approved the Dyer Bill "unexpectedly," validating Young's farsighted observations.

===Defeat of the Dyer Bill===

===Defeat of the Dyer Bill===

Renewed motivations for the passage of the Dyer Bill followed after the lynching of Oscar Mack in Kissimmee, Florida; Mack, after obtaining a government contract permitting him to deliver mail from the railroad station to the post office, angered local whites particularly as he beat other contenders for the position.<ref name=waldrep,p.76/> An assistant postmaster, foreseeing a violent attack, gave Mack a pistol, which was used in self-defense on July 16 in retaliation against a white supremacist mob firing into his home. Mack shot and killed two aggressors among the mob, intensifying anger among local whites who despised black self-defense.<ref name=waldrep,p.76/>

Renewed motivations for the passage of the Dyer Bill followed after the lynching of Oscar Mack in Kissimmee, Florida; Mack, after obtaining a government contract permitting him to deliver mail from the railroad station to the post office, angered local whites particularly as he beat other contenders for the position.<ref name=waldrep,p.76/> An assistant postmaster, foreseeing a violent attack, gave Mack a pistol, which was used in self-defense on July 16 in retaliation against a white supremacist mob firing into his home. Mack shot and killed two aggressors among the mob, intensifying anger among local whites who despised black self-defense.<ref name=waldrep,p.76/>

A government agent involved in Mack's case over the mailing contract, Leon Howe, desperately urged federal protection of Mack against a mob lynching:<ref>"African Americans Confront Lynching," p. 77.</ref>

A government agent involved in Mack's case over the mailing contract, Leon Howe, desperately urged federal protection of Mack against a mob lynching:<ref name=waldrep,p.77>"African Americans Confront Lynching," p. 77.</ref>

{{cquote|This case appears to offer an opportunity to obtain Federal jurisdiction, as Mack was a government employee. This agent holds no brief for negroes, but from my brief residence in Florida I am convinced that some federal action should be taken in such cases as these.|||Agent Leon Howe, cir. July 1922}}

{{cquote|This case appears to offer an opportunity to obtain Federal jurisdiction, as Mack was a government employee. This agent holds no brief for negroes, but from my brief residence in Florida I am convinced that some federal action should be taken in such cases as these.|||Agent Leon Howe, cir. July 1922}}

Despite Shortridge's enthusiastic leadership of the Dyer Bill's advocates, his parliamentary skills proved unable to overcome that of Democratic opponents Oscar W. Underwood of Alabama and Byron P. "Pat" Harrison of Mississippi,<ref name=greenidge/> who along with Borah successfully hindered the Dyer Bill's passage.

[[William E. Borah]], a progressive, pro–[[states' rights]] Republican from Idaho, claimed that most Republicans who voted for the Dyer Bill believed it to be unconstitutional,<ref name=waldrep,pp.74-75/> only giving bare minimum support to continue presenting an appearance of the party maintaining its pro–civil rights origins. Borah's accusation served to embolden the Southern Democratic opposition, who seized upon weak, supposedly nominal Republican support to castigate the legislation's constitutionality.

 

The conservative Lodge, despite his past support for civil rights legislation, barely offered any support for the Dyer Bill, fearing white backlash against his potential support of a "bill of questionable constitutionality."<ref name=waldrep,p.77/> The Republican caucus turned to Shortridge for enthusiastic leadership of the Dyer Bill's advocates, though his parliamentary skills proved unable to overcome that of Democratic opponents Oscar W. Underwood of Alabama and Byron P. "Pat" Harrison of Mississippi,<ref name=greenidge/> who along with Borah successfully hindered the Dyer Bill's passage.

==Aftermath==

==Aftermath==