Joe Woodman was a Black sawmill worker in Arkansas who was lynched in July 1905 after eloping with a white girl. After the couple were found and brought back to Dumas, Woodman was locked in jail. During the night, however, a mob seized him and killed him. The following morning, his body was found hanging from a telephone pole outside town.
On July 5, 1905, a teenage white girl disappeared from her home in Arkansas. She was the daughter of J. S. Small, a local white man. Joe Woodman, a Black sawmill worker, had also disappeared, and before long, word spread that the two had run away together.
Their elopement did not go unnoticed for long. Authorities learned that the couple had boarded a northbound train and contacted James Gould, the sheriff of Jefferson County. Gould tracked them down in Tamo and brought them back to Dumas. Waiting for them was a crowd of men, some of whom had reportedly come from Rives.
The sheriff managed to get Woodman into the local jail. However, his detention did not last long. By the following morning, a mob had taken him from custody and lynched him. His body was found hanging from a telephone pole just outside town.
The killing drew little reported reaction in Dumas. No one was arrested, and the identities of the men who carried out the lynching were never established. One contemporary account suggested that local residents had not participated in the mob, although the available records do not confirm who was involved.
Why Was Joe Woodman Lynched?
The historical account identifies Woodman’s elopement with a white girl as the reason for his murder. The available sources do not establish that he was accused of rape or another violent crime.
During the Jim Crow era, interracial relationships challenged the racial hierarchy that white supremacists sought to maintain. Black men who formed relationships with white women could face threats and deadly violence.
The supposed protection of white womanhood was also frequently used to justify lynchings across the American South. Black men were often murdered without trials, leaving allegations against them untested in court.
Woodman’s case followed this pattern. After he eloped with a white girl, authorities returned him to Dumas. A mob then seized him from jail and lynched him, and no one was arrested for the crime.
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Sources
https://encyclopediaofarkansas.net/entries/joe-woodman-15151/
https://www.nytimes.com/1905/07/07/archives/a-mobs-quiet-work-sheriff-found-jail-empty-prisoner-hanged-to.html
