Abstract
From 1883 until 1914 Vicksburg newspaper editor John G. Cashman campaigned against lynching. Later writers sometimes misrepresented Cashman, picturing him as a pro‐lynching pornographer, glorying in gory descriptions of black sufferings. But Cashman meant to shock the sensibilities of white readers by depicting the true barbarity of mob violence. Cashman opposed lynching not out of any empathy for Mississippi’s black population, but because mob violence offended his constitutional sensitivities. Cashman sometimes evinced faith in his fellow Mississippi whites, confident they could not truly favor anarchic violence over the rule of law. But whites’ continued and brutal savagery sometimes plunged Cashman into the depths of depression. His 30‐year antilynching crusade charts the fortunes of his faith in white Mississippians’ commitment to constitutional principles and the rule of law.
Published Version
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