Sam Hose Burned Alive in Newman, Georgia 1899

On April 23, 1899, Sam Hose was tortured and burned alive before a crowd of approximately 2,000 near Newman, Georgia. His ears, fingers, and genitals were removed as souvenirs; pieces of his heart and liver were sold in Atlanta. The Atlanta Constitution had offered a $500 reward for his capture. W.E.B. Du Bois, who was walking to deliver a protest letter, encountered Hose's knuckles displayed in a shop window, shaping his shift from scholarship to activism.