Sara Wilson is a graduate student at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism, where she covers Congress and political culture.

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Why Did It Take 120 Years to Pass an Anti-Lynching Act?

by Sara Wilson 03-02-2020

Members of a Southern bloc of senators, Sens. Tom Connaly, of Texas, Walter F. George, of Georgia, Richard Russell of Georgia, and Claude Pepper of Florida, filibustering an anti-lynching bill in January 1938. 

The overwhelming vote last week in the House of Representatives to designate lynching as a federal hate crime shows just how sluggish the pace of change can be in America.