Hope comes from the passage of the Emmett Till Anti-Lynching Act

Written By Jill Jones

The president of the James Weldon Johnson Foundation expresses hope that the newly passed Emmett Till Antilynching Act will encourage the further telling of stories of Black people in the Berkshires.

Corridor 3 at The National Memorial for Peace and Justice, also known as "the lynching museum" in Montgomery, Ala. Photo courtesy of Equal Justice Initiative/Human Pictures

BY RUFUS E. JONES, JR.

Just over 100 years ago, James Weldon Johnson joined the effort to pass the Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill H.R. 11279. Originally introduced by William Monroe Trotter and Hubert Harrison and ultimately supported by the NAACP, the legislation aimed to make the lynching of private citizens a federal crime.

Jill Jones
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Rufus Jones: Anti-lynching legislation is a step toward justice more than a century in the making