fendi_mane
Banned
Doria Johnson: My story is about my great-great grandfather's lynching in 1916 in Abbeville, SC by a crowd estimated to be between 200 and 400 blood-thirsty white people. His ordeal lasted all day. His body was beaten and dragged through town to show other Negroes what would happen to them if they got "insolent." Finally, he was taken to the county fair grounds and strung up to a tree and riddled with bullets. Although we have heard his body was thrown on someones lawn , we have yet to locate his grave. The family was ordered to vacate their land, wind up business and get out of town. They did just that. His crime you might ask: cursing a white man for offering him a low price for the cotton seed he was trying to sell and being too rich for a Negro.
Anthony P. Crawford was born in January, 1865 and owned by Ben and Rebecca Crawford in Abbeville, South Carolina. He walked 14 miles roundtrip to and from school each day and proved to be quite a scholar. When Anthony finished school he was a laborer for Ben Crawford until Thomas Crawford, Anthonys father, died in 1893 and deeded some land to Anthony, who was the only one of nine siblings able to sign his own name.
Andy, as he was known, had 13 children, all of whom lived on his land with their spouses and children. He built a school on his land for the children of blacks in Abbeville and also held an office with the Masons of South Carolina. He was for 19 years secretary and chief financial prop of Chapel AME Church. In October of 1894, he was Assistant Marshall of a grand parade in which some 1,500 to 2,000 persons assembled by trades . The Honorable George W. Murray, the only black US Congressman , was the guest speaker . In August of 1888, the local newspaper reports that he sold 3 wagons of splendid melons and finds there is as much money in them as cotton. In December of 1904, the Abbeville Medium reports:
Anthony P. Crawford, colored, sold a load of splendid corn of his own raising in the city last week. His fat mules, good wagon and prosperous appearances led us to inquire particularly about his crop. He owns and farms the old Belcher place. He holds in his own right 500 acres of land in three tracts, paid for by his own labor. This year his corn crop was 1000 bushels, of which he sold 250. He made 200 gallons of syrup and 48 bales of cotton. November 26th he sold $662.08 worth of cotton and has made other sales. He has six horses, 12 head of cattle, 18 hogs , two good wagons, a McCormick rake, and a new top buggy. He also has a good bank account and a family of 13 children.
Andy Crawford was the wealthiest Negro farmer in and around Abbeville. His holdings were at least 10% of all land owned by Negroes in the county. He would loan whites money between harvests and had changed his crop from cotton to corn before the white farmers did because of the boll weevil. His estimated worth was $20,000 dollars, which calculates to $300,000 in 1998. He was a law-abiding citizen and proud. On the morning of October 21, 1916 Andy rode his horse and buggy into town to W.D. Barksdales store.
Cotton seed was selling at 90 cents a bushel, but Barksdale offered Andy only 85 cents. Andy told Mr. Barksdale that he was already given a better offer and before he could gather his seed and leave, Barksdale called him a liar. Andy cursed him and told him he was trying to cheat him and would take his seed elsewhere. The two men argued out into the town square. A store clerk heard the commotion and came out with an ax handle.
Andy backed off towards the square and was arrested by Sheriff Burts for cursing Mr. Barksdale. By the time Sheriff Burts and Andy reached the jail, word had gotten out that a Negro had cursed a white man and crowds started gathering in the square. Once the crowd dispersed, he paid his bail and the sheriff let him out of a side door to avoid any more commotion. He was headed for a gin a short distance away when he was spotted by the crowd.
When Andy heard the mob behind him, he hid in a boiler room of the gin. As McKinnley Cann led the crowd towards him, Andy picked up a four pound hammer and crushed the skull of Cann and wouldve killed him had someone not grabbed his arm.
Sheriff Burts begged the crowd not to kill Andy, and agreed to keep him in jail until they were assured that Cann would survive his injuries. While in jail, Andy ordered a doctor and told a friend to get his coat from the gin and give his bankbook to his family. He remarked "I thought I was a good citizen."
The crowd soon took over the jail, beat Andy until he was unconscious then dragged him out onto the square where he regained consciousness, got on his feet and fought for 50 feet up the road before being hit with a rock in the back of his head. 200 white men kicked him, beat him, tied him to the back of a buggy, dragged him through the black neighborhoods then finally strung him to a tree and unloaded 200 rounds into what was left of his body. At the time of his death, Anthony Crawford owned 427 acres of the "prettiest cotton land in the county."
The governor of South Carolina, Richard I. Manning, was said to be furious and summoned Sheriff Burts. This was a rich black man that was lynched this time and he needed some answers. The press was getting hold of the story of this brutal crime and editors of major newspapers were carrying editorials of the horrendous murder in Abbeville. He ordered an investigation and promised that the lynchers would be put on trial. He sent in Roy Nash, secretary of the NAACP, for the investigation.
Nash had to act as if he were interested in buying land in Abbeville so he could get close to those involved. He discovered that those responsible had closed all black businesses, except one. Nash also learned about the order given by the lynchers that the Crawford family leave town immediately or be killed. The night of the lynching, the Crawford boys waited in trees with guns for the lynchers to come to their homestead as promised. They never came, but the Crawfords did leave Abbeville. So did enough of Abbevilles black folk to populate almost a whole town, Evanston, IL. Almost every African-American in Evanston has ties to Abbeville.
There was a mass exodus right after the lynching.
ing good for a minute in heaven, tho. 
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