Justice for Victims of Lynching Act of 2018 and Booker T. Washington’s letter of 1904

Justice for Victims of Lynching Act of 2018
Booker T. Washington’s letter of 1904
Sponsored by the U.S. Senate’s three African American members, Kamala D. Harris (Democrat-CA), Cory Booker (Democrat-NJ) and Tim Scott (Republican-SC)

After nearly 100 years of failed attempts, the U.S. Senate on December 19, 2018 unanimously approved legislation to make lynching a federal crime. Senator Harris shared that there were 200 previous attempts by the U.S. Congress to pass similar legislation and they all failed.

The Justice for Victims of Lynching Act of 2018 amends the United States Code to specify that lynching is a crime under existing federal civil rights statutes. The legislation was originally introduced in June 2018 by U.S. Senators Kamala D. Harris (D-CA), Cory Booker (D-NJ), and Tim Scott (R-SC), and unanimously passed the Senate Judiciary Committee in October 2018.

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Video: Kamala Harris speak on Anti-Lynching Bill: We Have A Chance To Speak The Truth
October 11, 2018

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* = Original cosponsor
Cosponsor Date Cosponsored
38 current – includes 22 original
Sponsor: Sen. Harris, Kamala D. [D-CA] 
Sen. Scott, Tim [R-SC]* 06/28/2018
Sen. Booker, Cory A. [D-NJ]* 06/28/2018
Sen. Baldwin, Tammy [D-WI]* 06/28/2018
Sen. Murray, Patty [D-WA]* 06/28/2018
Sen. Blumenthal, Richard [D-CT]* 06/28/2018
Sen. Leahy, Patrick J. [D-VT]* 06/28/2018
Sen. Durbin, Richard J. [D-IL]* 06/28/2018
Sen. Kaine, Tim [D-VA]* 06/28/2018
Sen. Van Hollen, Chris [D-MD]* 06/28/2018
Sen. Nelson, Bill [D-FL]* 06/28/2018
Sen. Gillibrand, Kirsten E. [D-NY]* 06/28/2018
Sen. Jones, Doug [D-AL]* 06/28/2018
Sen. King, Angus S., Jr. [I-ME]* 06/28/2018
Sen. Reed, Jack [D-RI]* 06/28/2018
Sen. Hirono, Mazie K. [D-HI]* 06/28/2018
Sen. Sanders, Bernard [I-VT]* 06/28/2018
Sen. Klobuchar, Amy [D-MN]* 06/28/2018
Sen. Warren, Elizabeth [D-MA]* 06/28/2018
Sen. Brown, Sherrod [D-OH]* 06/28/2018
Sen. Whitehouse, Sheldon [D-RI]* 06/28/2018
Sen. Feinstein, Dianne [D-CA]* 06/28/2018
Sen. Hassan, Margaret Wood [D-NH]* 06/28/2018
Sen. Murphy, Christopher [D-CT] 07/09/2018
Sen. Heinrich, Martin [D-NM] 07/11/2018
Sen. Coons, Christopher A. [D-DE] 07/30/2018
Sen. Stabenow, Debbie [D-MI] 08/01/2018
Sen. Shaheen, Jeanne [D-NH] 09/12/2018
Sen. Rubio, Marco [R-FL] 09/25/2018
Sen. Tillis, Thom [R-NC] 09/25/2018
Sen. Grassley, Chuck [R-IA] 10/11/2018
Sen. Cornyn, John [R-TX] 10/11/2018
Sen. Cruz, Ted [R-TX] 10/11/2018
Sen. Graham, Lindsey [R-SC] 10/11/2018
Sen. Hatch, Orrin G. [R-UT] 10/11/2018
Sen. Flake, Jeff [R-AZ] 11/13/2018
Sen. Warner, Mark R. [D-VA] 11/13/2018
Sen. Cantwell, Maria [D-WA] 11/26/2018
Sen. Cortez Masto, Catherine [D-NV] 12/04/2018
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Booker T. Washington, who was the first president of Tuskegee University, wrote a national letter regarding lynching in the United States.

Tuskegee Institute (now University) compiled statistics on lynchings through 1961. This print of the map is held at the Library of Congress.
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Lynchings by states and counties in the United States, 1900-1931
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