Changes

The '''Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill''', commonly known as the '''Dyer Bill''', was [[anti-lynching legislation]] introduced in the [[United States House of Representatives]] in 1918<ref name=blackpast>Jager, Steven J. (August 19, 2012). [https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/dyer-anti-lynching-bill-1922/ Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill (1922)]. ''BlackPast''. Retrieved May 28, 2023.</ref> by "Old Guard"<ref>China Monthly Review (1932). [https://www.google.com/books/edition/Millard_s_Review_of_the_Far_East/9T4_AAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=leonidas+dyer+%22old+guard%22&dq=leonidas+dyer+%22old+guard%22&printsec=frontcover Millard's Review of the Far East: Vol. 62], p. 505. ''Google Books''. Retrieved May 28, 2023.</ref> Republican congressman Leonidas C. Dyer of [[Missouri]]'s 12th congressional district, among the regions in the U.S. plagued with antiblack race riots in the late 1910s. Although eventually passing the House in 1922 with rallying support by the [[NAACP]], it faced opposition in the [[U.S. Senate]] by Southern Democrats who, with the aid of progressive Republican maverick [[William E. Borah]], effectively blocked the legislation over weak support by the Republican majority.<ref name=walterwhiteproject>[https://scalar.usc.edu/nehvectors/stakeman/dyer-anti-lynching-bill Dyer Anti-lynching Bill]. ''The Walter White Project''. Retrieved May 28, 2023.</ref>

The '''Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill''', commonly known as the '''Dyer Bill''', was [[anti-lynching legislation]] introduced in the [[United States House of Representatives]] in 1918<ref name=blackpast>Jager, Steven J. (August 19, 2012). [https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/dyer-anti-lynching-bill-1922/ Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill (1922)]. ''BlackPast''. Retrieved May 28, 2023.</ref> by "Old Guard"<ref>China Monthly Review (1932). [https://www.google.com/books/edition/Millard_s_Review_of_the_Far_East/9T4_AAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=leonidas+dyer+%22old+guard%22&dq=leonidas+dyer+%22old+guard%22&printsec=frontcover Millard's Review of the Far East: Vol. 62], p. 505. ''Google Books''. Retrieved May 28, 2023.</ref> Republican congressman Leonidas C. Dyer of [[Missouri]]'s 12th congressional district, among the regions in the U.S. plagued with antiblack race riots in the late 1910s. Although eventually passing the House in 1922 with rallying support by the [[NAACP]], it faced opposition in the [[U.S. Senate]] by Southern Democrats who, with the aid of progressive Republican maverick [[William E. Borah]], effectively blocked the legislation over weak support by the Republican majority.<ref name=walterwhiteproject>[https://scalar.usc.edu/nehvectors/stakeman/dyer-anti-lynching-bill Dyer Anti-lynching Bill]. ''The Walter White Project''. Retrieved May 28, 2023.</ref>

President [[Warren G. Harding]], despite his reported "lack of familiarity" on the decibel levels of racist atrocities facing black people nationwide as a result of Progressive Era–inspired repressions,<ref>Francis, Megan Ming (April 21, 2014). [https://www.google.com/books/edition/Civil_Rights_and_the_Making_of_the_Moder/VzQZAwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=warren+harding+anti-lynching&printsec=frontcover Civil Rights and the Making of the Modern American State], p. 82. ''Google Books''. Retrieved May 31, 2023.</ref> persistently endorsed the Dyer Bill during the [[United States presidential election, 1920|1920 U.S. presidential election]]<ref>October 21. [https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/harding-publicly-condemns-lynching This Day In History: President Harding publicly condemns lynching]. ''History Channel''. Retrieved May 28, 2023.</ref> and afterwards, vowing to sign it the moment it reaches his desk if passed by Congress.<ref name=talbert>Talbert, Jesse (2022). [https://www.google.com/books/edition/When_Good_Government_Meant_Big_Governmen/Z9UuEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=william+borah+dyer+bill&pg=PT64&printsec=frontcover When Good Government Meant Big Government: The Quest to Expand Federal Power, 1913–1933]. ''Google Books''. Retrieved May 31, 2023.</ref>

President [[Warren G. Harding]], despite his reported "lack of familiarity" on the decibel levels of racist atrocities facing black people nationwide as a result of Progressive Era–inspired repressions,<ref>Francis, Megan Ming (April 21, 2014). [https://www.google.com/books/edition/Civil_Rights_and_the_Making_of_the_Moder/VzQZAwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=warren+harding+anti-lynching&printsec=frontcover Civil Rights and the Making of the Modern American State], p. 82. ''Google Books''. Retrieved May 31, 2023.</ref> persistently endorsed the Dyer Bill during the [[United States presidential election, 1920|1920 U.S. presidential election]]<ref>October 21. [https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/harding-publicly-condemns-lynching This Day In History: President Harding publicly condemns lynching]. ''History Channel''. Retrieved May 28, 2023.</ref> and afterwards, vowing to sign it the moment it reaches his desk if passed by Congress.<ref name=tarbert>Tarbert, Jesse (2022). [https://www.google.com/books/edition/When_Good_Government_Meant_Big_Governmen/Z9UuEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=william+borah+dyer+bill&pg=PT64&printsec=frontcover When Good Government Meant Big Government: The Quest to Expand Federal Power, 1913–1933]. ''Google Books''. Retrieved May 31, 2023.</ref>

Political observers have noted the defeat of the Dyer Bill as the onset of black disenchantment with the Republican Party due to its lack of commitment on the national level in the 1920s—present in both the "Old Guard" whose ranks abandoned civil rights for business priorities since the [[Gilded Age]] as well as insurgent progressives—that continued in subsequent decades. Although a majority of black support for the GOP continued in the 1920s, the Northern bloc shifted during the [[New Deal]] era for economic motivations, and the Southern bloc in the 1960s when bribed by the [[Great Society]] which established the ''de facto'' modern "[[Democratic plantation]]."

Political observers have noted the defeat of the Dyer Bill as the onset of black disenchantment with the Republican Party due to its lack of commitment on the national level in the 1920s—present in both the "Old Guard" whose ranks abandoned civil rights for business priorities since the [[Gilded Age]] as well as insurgent progressives—that continued in subsequent decades. Although a majority of black support for the GOP continued in the 1920s, the Northern bloc shifted during the [[New Deal]] era for economic motivations, and the Southern bloc in the 1960s when bribed by the [[Great Society]] which established the ''de facto'' modern "[[Democratic plantation]]."

{{cquote|...an assemblage composed of three or more acting in concert for the purpose of depriving any person of his life without the authority of law as a punishment for or to prevent the commission of some actual or supposed public offense.|||Sec. 1}}

{{cquote|...an assemblage composed of three or more acting in concert for the purpose of depriving any person of his life without the authority of law as a punishment for or to prevent the commission of some actual or supposed public offense.|||Sec. 1}}

Three components defined the bill: punishment of state and municipal officers who failed to protect lynching victims, punishment of the mob itself, and mandatory compensation by the county, within which the lynching occurred, towards family members of the victims.<ref name=blackpast/> In the event that the lynching victim was kidnapped from one county and murdered in another, both counties would be fined $10,000.<ref name=talbert/> The constitutional basis was rooted in the [[14th Amendment]], which guarantees "equal protection under the law."

Three components defined the bill: punishment of state and municipal officers who failed to protect lynching victims, punishment of the mob itself, and mandatory compensation by the county, within which the lynching occurred, towards family members of the victims.<ref name=blackpast/> In the event that the lynching victim was kidnapped from one county and murdered in another, both counties would be fined $10,000.<ref name=tarbert/> The constitutional basis was rooted in the [[14th Amendment]], which guarantees "equal protection under the law."

==Birmingham Address: Harding initiates traction for congressional anti-lynching action==

==Birmingham Address: Harding initiates traction for congressional anti-lynching action==

In his famous "Address at Birmingham" given in the Deep South state of [[Alabama]], President Warren Harding spoke in favor of racial equality and better treatment of black people—among the segregated audience, the black side eagerly cheered while the white side was mostly silent with only scatterings of vocal approval.<ref name=talbert/> In ''The Crisis'', civil rights activist [[W. E. B. Du Bois]] expressed lukewarm support for Harding, who quickly alarmed Southern Democrats. Mississippi senator Pat Harrison asserted:

In his famous "Address at Birmingham" given in the Deep South state of [[Alabama]], President Warren Harding spoke in favor of racial equality and better treatment of black people—among the segregated audience, the black side eagerly cheered while the white side was mostly silent with only scatterings of vocal approval.<ref name=tarbert/> In ''The Crisis'', civil rights activist [[W. E. B. Du Bois]] expressed lukewarm support for Harding, who quickly alarmed Southern Democrats. Mississippi senator Pat Harrison asserted:

{{cquote|To encourage the Negro, who, in some States, as in my own, exceeds the white population, to strive through every political avenue to be placed upon equality with the whites, is a blow to the white civilization of this country that will take years to combat. If the President's theory is carried to its ultimate conclusion, namely, that the black person, either man or woman, should have full economic and political rights with the white man and white woman, then that means that the black man can strive to become President of the United States, hold a Cabinet position and occupy the highest places of public trust in the nation.|||Byron Patton "Pat" Harrison (D–MS)}}

{{cquote|To encourage the Negro, who, in some States, as in my own, exceeds the white population, to strive through every political avenue to be placed upon equality with the whites, is a blow to the white civilization of this country that will take years to combat. If the President's theory is carried to its ultimate conclusion, namely, that the black person, either man or woman, should have full economic and political rights with the white man and white woman, then that means that the black man can strive to become President of the United States, hold a Cabinet position and occupy the highest places of public trust in the nation.|||Byron Patton "Pat" Harrison (D–MS)}}

Sen. Harrison also invoked Southern racial and gender tropes, railing against Harding's call for racial equality in fearmongering that "white women should work under black men in public spaces, as well as in all trades and professions, [which would be] impractical, unjust, and destructive of the best ideals of America."<ref name=talbert/>

Sen. Harrison also invoked Southern racial and gender tropes, railing against Harding's call for racial equality in fearmongering that "white women should work under black men in public spaces, as well as in all trades and professions, [which would be] impractical, unjust, and destructive of the best ideals of America."<ref name=tarbert/>

==U.S. House: initial defeat, later passage==

==U.S. House: initial defeat, later passage==

As questions over the constitutionality loomed over the Dyer Bill, its sponsor L. C. Dyer (R–MO) in 1921 consulted with [[Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court]] [[William Howard Taft]], whose policies as president he supported, just prior to Taft's confirmation by the U.S. Senate.<ref name=talbert/> Taft confidentially assured Dyer of the bill's constitutionality, which the Missouri Republican in turn relayed to the NAACP.

As questions over the constitutionality loomed over the Dyer Bill, its sponsor L. C. Dyer (R–MO) in 1921 consulted with [[Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court]] [[William Howard Taft]], whose policies as president he supported, just prior to Taft's confirmation by the U.S. Senate.<ref name=tarbert/> Taft confidentially assured Dyer of the bill's constitutionality, which the Missouri Republican in turn relayed to the NAACP.

===Failed Democratic opposition===

===Failed Democratic opposition===

Byrnes also branded proponents of the anti-lynching bill as a mob determined to violate constitutional principles; Mississippi Democratic representative Thomas U. Sisson, who suggested the genocide of black people worldwide, furthered Byrnes's comparison in graphically portraying the supporters of the Dyer Bill as stabbing a bleeding Constitution; Hatton W. Sumners of Texas criticized perceived influence by NAACP lobbyists.<ref name=waldrep,pp.74-75/>

Byrnes also branded proponents of the anti-lynching bill as a mob determined to violate constitutional principles; Mississippi Democratic representative Thomas U. Sisson, who suggested the genocide of black people worldwide, furthered Byrnes's comparison in graphically portraying the supporters of the Dyer Bill as stabbing a bleeding Constitution; Hatton W. Sumners of Texas criticized perceived influence by NAACP lobbyists.<ref name=waldrep,pp.74-75/>

[[Georgia]] progressive Democratic representative and [[Klansman]]<ref>1926. [https://www.google.com/books/edition/Forum_and_Column_Review/0MRZAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=william+upshaw+lynching&pg=PA49&printsec=frontcover Forum and Column Review: Vol. 76], p. 49. ''Google Books''. Retrieved May 28, 2023.</ref><ref>Churchwell, Sarah (December 15, 2022). [https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Wrath_to_Come/qwCfEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=william+upshaw+lynching&pg=PT235&printsec=frontcover The Wrath to Come: Gone with the Wind and the Lies America Tells]. ''Google Books''. Retrieved May 28, 2023.</ref> [[William D. Upshaw]], despite his professed opposition to lynching,<ref>Upshaw, William D. (1923). [https://www.google.com/books/edition/Clarion_Calls_from_Capitol_Hill/okcIAQAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=william+upshaw+lynching&pg=PA209&printsec=frontcover Clarion Calls from Capitol Hill], p. 209. ''Google Books''. Retrieved May 28, 2023.</ref> opposed the Dyer Bill. Another, West Tennessee representative Finis Garrett (a future appointee by President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] to a federal court), viciously reviled Republicans in a virulent rant:<ref name=talbert/>

[[Georgia]] progressive Democratic representative and [[Klansman]]<ref>1926. [https://www.google.com/books/edition/Forum_and_Column_Review/0MRZAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=william+upshaw+lynching&pg=PA49&printsec=frontcover Forum and Column Review: Vol. 76], p. 49. ''Google Books''. Retrieved May 28, 2023.</ref><ref>Churchwell, Sarah (December 15, 2022). [https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Wrath_to_Come/qwCfEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=william+upshaw+lynching&pg=PT235&printsec=frontcover The Wrath to Come: Gone with the Wind and the Lies America Tells]. ''Google Books''. Retrieved May 28, 2023.</ref> [[William D. Upshaw]], despite his professed opposition to lynching,<ref>Upshaw, William D. (1923). [https://www.google.com/books/edition/Clarion_Calls_from_Capitol_Hill/okcIAQAAIAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=william+upshaw+lynching&pg=PA209&printsec=frontcover Clarion Calls from Capitol Hill], p. 209. ''Google Books''. Retrieved May 28, 2023.</ref> opposed the Dyer Bill. Another, West Tennessee representative Finis Garrett (a future appointee by President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] to a federal court), viciously reviled Republicans in a virulent rant:<ref name=tarbert/>

{{cquote|You gentlemen do not know what it is to live in a section where a wife dare not travel alone in the fields. Whenever you put these ideas in the heads of those few black beasts of the ten million of their race, you are increasing the commission of crime.|||Rep. Finis J. Garrett (D–TN)}}

{{cquote|You gentlemen do not know what it is to live in a section where a wife dare not travel alone in the fields. Whenever you put these ideas in the heads of those few black beasts of the ten million of their race, you are increasing the commission of crime.|||Rep. Finis J. Garrett (D–TN)}}

On January 26, 1922, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Dyer Bill (H.R. 13) by an overwhelming margin of 230–120.<ref>January 26, 1922. [https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/67-2/h169 TO PASS H. R. 13.] ''GovTrack.us''. Retrieved May 31, 2023.</ref> 93% of Republicans voted in the affirmative, compared to only 7% of Democrats; along regional divides, it was supported by 95% of Northern Republicans, 50% of Southern Republicans,<ref group=note>Among the Southern Republicans, those elected from normally Democratic districts voted against the Bill.</ref> 58% of Northern Democrats, and >1% of Southern Democrats.

On January 26, 1922, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Dyer Bill (H.R. 13) by an overwhelming margin of 230–120.<ref>January 26, 1922. [https://www.govtrack.us/congress/votes/67-2/h169 TO PASS H. R. 13.] ''GovTrack.us''. Retrieved May 31, 2023.</ref> 93% of Republicans voted in the affirmative, compared to only 7% of Democrats; along regional divides, it was supported by 95% of Northern Republicans, 50% of Southern Republicans,<ref group=note>Among the Southern Republicans, those elected from normally Democratic districts voted against the Bill.</ref> 58% of Northern Democrats, and >1% of Southern Democrats.

When the Dyer Bill was sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee, President Harding and the NAACP began to rally public support behind the legislation.<ref name=talbert/> In a heavily black district in [[Chicago]], a Republican congressman relayed to constituents the words of Harding:

When the Dyer Bill was sent to the Senate Judiciary Committee, President Harding and the NAACP began to rally public support behind the legislation.<ref name=tarbert/> In a heavily black district in [[Chicago]], a Republican congressman relayed to constituents the words of Harding:

{{cquote|If the Senate of the United States passes the Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill, it won't be in the White House three minutes before I'll sign it, and, having signed it, I'll enforce it.|||Pres. Warren G. Harding, cir. Jan. 1922}}

{{cquote|If the Senate of the United States passes the Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill, it won't be in the White House three minutes before I'll sign it, and, having signed it, I'll enforce it.|||Pres. Warren G. Harding, cir. Jan. 1922}}

==U.S. Senate: filibuster, Republican inability to overcome==

==U.S. Senate: filibuster, Republican inability to overcome==

At first, optimism was high about Senate passage—the Republicans controlled the chamber 59–37, needing only the support from five additional Democratic senators (assuming firm GOP unity behind the Bill) to reach the 64-senator threshold needed to overcome a filibuster.<ref name=talbert/>

At first, optimism was high about Senate passage—the Republicans controlled the chamber 59–37, needing only the support from five additional Democratic senators (assuming firm GOP unity behind the Bill) to reach the 64-senator threshold needed to overcome a filibuster.<ref name=tarbert/>

"Old Guard" conservative Republican senator [[Henry Cabot Lodge, Sr.]], the sponsor of the Federal Elections Bill of 1890, helped initiate the legislative introduction of the Dyer Bill into the Senate though quickly placated the party's side of the debate into [[California]] colleague Samuel M. Shortridge,<ref name=greenidge>Greenidge, Kerry K. (November 19, 2019). [https://www.google.com/books/edition/Black_Radical_The_Life_and_Times_of_Will/SwOLDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=dyer+bill+lodge+shortridge&pg=PP287&printsec=frontcover Black Radical: The Life and Times of William Monroe Trotter]. ''Google Books''. Retrieved May 28, 2023.</ref> a diligent supporter of the anti-lynching legislation praised by the NAACP:<ref name=thecrisis1921,p.216-17>National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (1921). [https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Crisis/KqMTAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=dyer+bill+lodge+shortridge&pg=RA2-PA216&printsec=frontcover The Crisis: Vols. 22–24], pp. 216–17. ''Google Books''. Retrieved May 28, 2023.</ref>

"Old Guard" conservative Republican senator [[Henry Cabot Lodge, Sr.]], the sponsor of the Federal Elections Bill of 1890, helped initiate the legislative introduction of the Dyer Bill into the Senate though quickly placated the party's side of the debate into [[California]] colleague Samuel M. Shortridge,<ref name=greenidge>Greenidge, Kerry K. (November 19, 2019). [https://www.google.com/books/edition/Black_Radical_The_Life_and_Times_of_Will/SwOLDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=dyer+bill+lodge+shortridge&pg=PP287&printsec=frontcover Black Radical: The Life and Times of William Monroe Trotter]. ''Google Books''. Retrieved May 28, 2023.</ref> a diligent supporter of the anti-lynching legislation praised by the NAACP:<ref name=thecrisis1921,p.216-17>National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (1921). [https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Crisis/KqMTAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=dyer+bill+lodge+shortridge&pg=RA2-PA216&printsec=frontcover The Crisis: Vols. 22–24], pp. 216–17. ''Google Books''. Retrieved May 28, 2023.</ref>

===Judiciary Committee approval===

===Judiciary Committee approval===

At the [[Senate Judiciary Committee]], the Dyer Bill elicited "a chilly reception."<ref name=waldrep,p.76>"African Americans Confront Lynching," p. 76.</ref> Newspapers reported by the end of May 1922 that every U.S. senator, save Shortridge, completely doubted the constitutionality of the bill, which languished for six months and failed to gain the support of Idaho progressive Republican William E. Borah, who remained unconvinced even after an extensive correspondence with NAACP president Moorfield Storey.<ref name=talbert/>

At the [[Senate Judiciary Committee]], the Dyer Bill elicited "a chilly reception."<ref name=waldrep,p.76>"African Americans Confront Lynching," p. 76.</ref> Newspapers reported by the end of May 1922 that every U.S. senator, save Shortridge, completely doubted the constitutionality of the bill, which languished for six months and failed to gain the support of Idaho progressive Republican William E. Borah, who remained unconvinced even after an extensive correspondence with NAACP president Moorfield Storey.<ref name=tarbert/>

Borah's opposition was consistent in votes among the subcommittee as well as the full committee, siding with the Democratic fold in discontent.<ref name=talbert/> His arguments against the constitutionality of the Dyer Bill, believing that no authorization was provided by the 14th Amendment for federal prosecution of civil rights violations, provided an alibi and effective excuse for lukewarm senatorial colleagues who quietly opposed the Bill—this particularly loomed to hold true for the Western bloc, which has sided with the South in thwarting civil rights efforts, most notably the previous Federal Elections Bill of 1890 defeated by a coalition of Silver Republicans and the Democratic Party.<ref name=talbert/>

Borah's opposition was consistent in votes among the subcommittee as well as the full committee, siding with the Democratic fold in discontent.<ref name=tarbert/> His arguments against the constitutionality of the Dyer Bill, believing that no authorization was provided by the 14th Amendment for federal prosecution of civil rights violations, provided an alibi and effective excuse for lukewarm senatorial colleagues who quietly opposed the Bill—this particularly loomed to hold true for the Western bloc, which has sided with the South in thwarting civil rights efforts, most notably the previous Federal Elections Bill of 1890 defeated by a coalition of Silver Republicans and the Democratic Party.<ref name=tarbert/>

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,<ref name=talbert/> 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,<ref name=tarbert/> the committee approved the Dyer Bill "unexpectedly," validating Young's farsighted observations.

===Defeat of the Dyer Bill===

===Defeat of the Dyer Bill===