Willie Earle Lynched in South Carolina, 31 Defendants Acquitted

On February 17, 1947, a mob of taxi drivers removes Willie Earle from Pickens County jail in South Carolina — where he is held as a suspect in a stabbing — and lynches him. Thirty-one men are indicted in a federal prosecution, confessing to their roles. An all-white jury acquits all defendants after 5 hours of deliberation. The acquittals despite confessions shock the nation and fuel the NAACP's lobbying for federal anti-lynching legislation.