Lynching of Keith Bowen

Keith Bowen was an African-American man who was lynched near Aberdeen, Monroe County, Mississippi by a white mob on August 14, 1889.

Lynching of Keith Bowen

Part of the Jim Crow era
News coverage of Lynching of Keith Bowen
Date	August 14, 1889
Location	Aberdeen, Monroe County, Mississippi
Deaths	Keith Bowen

Discovery

Bowen was found in the bedroom of a young white woman in the Lebanon community, about six miles south of Aberdeen and about nine miles from his place of employment, the farm of Charles Keith^[1] while other reports say Charles Moore.^{[2] [3]} After being discovered about 3:00 AM, Bowen fled^[4] but was hunted down by a posse in a field two to three miles away from the young woman's house, turning him over to a justice of the peace.

Lynching

He was then taken quietly from his captors and hung.^[5] The entire neighborhood was alleged to have taken Bowen from the custody of others and hanged him on the public road near where the alleged assault occurred.^[4][6]

Other county lynchings

In 1914, Mayho Miller, an 18-year-old African-American boy, was lynched by a mob after an alleged assault.^[7]

In 1922 an 18-year-old African-American man, William Baker was lynched in Aberdeen, Monroe County, Mississippi by a white mob on March 8. According to the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary it was the 14th of 61 lynchings during 1922 in the United States.^[8]

See also

• List of lynching victims in the United States