Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill
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Proposed by Representative L.C. Dyer, the Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill was an attempt to reduce or end completely the extremely high number of lynchings occurring in the United States since the end of World War I. President Warren G. Harding announced his support for the bill during a speaking engagement in Birmingham, Alabama. Although the bill passed the House of Representatives in 1922, it was defeated in the Senate due to a filibuster. The bill would have made lynching a felony and prescribed punishments for it, specifically:
- (a) A maximum of 5 years in prison, $5000 fine, or both, for any state or city official who had the power to protect a person in its jurisdiction but failed to do so or who had the power to prosecute those responsible and failed to do so.
- (b) A minimum of 5 years in prison for anyone who participated in a lynching, whether they were an ordinary citizen or the official responsible for keeping the victim safe.
- (c) $10,000 fine to be paid by the county in which the lynching took place, to be turned over to the victim’s family. If the victim was seized in one county and killed in another, both counties were to be fined.
On June 13, 2005, in an unprecedented resolution, the Senate formally apologized for its failure to enact this and other anti-lynching bills.
