Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill Introduced in Congress, Later Killed by Senate Filibuster

Representative Leonidas Dyer of Missouri introduced federal anti-lynching legislation in 1918, backed by the NAACP. The bill would have made lynching a federal crime and held counties financially liable for lynchings occurring within their borders. After years of NAACP lobbying, the House passed the Dyer Bill in 1922 by 230 to 119. Southern Democratic senators filibustered it to death. The Senate's failure to pass anti-lynching legislation — which was attempted over 200 times in the 20th century and never succeeded until 2022 — is one of the most deliberate institutional failures in American legislative history.