A marshal-led mob terrorized a family while courts punished the victims, not the mob

Evidence

With the man in jail, a mob led by the town marshal went to his house in the middle of the night, while his wife and younger children were sleeping. The mob kicked down the door and then shot up the house. The family fled the next morning. A friend went back the next night and removed the family’s livestock and sold it for much less than it was worth. Their crop was a total loss. They never returned-they’d been warned that if they did, they’d be lynched. The father was sentenced to twelve months on a chain gang and fined 250. The daughters were fined 50 each. The son was fined $100.22 “The education of his children and the success of his thrift seem to be the sole offense of the negro,” Governor Dorsey said. — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project, 908