Black Churches Burned as Terror Tactic Across the South, 1880s

Black churches — the central institution of community life, political organizing, and education — are targeted for arson throughout the 1880s. In Georgia, Mississippi, and South Carolina, documented church burnings are used to intimidate communities before elections, after labor strikes, and following civil rights organizing. The burnings are rarely investigated and never prosecuted. The terror specifically targets institutional infrastructure, not just individuals.