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CHAPTER EIGHT RACE AND THE CONSTITUTION DYER ANTI-LYNCHING ACT 1922 – Ed Sebesta 10/10/2020 The Dallas Morning News Jan. 5, 1922 article reporting Sumners’ speech in the U.S. House against the Dyer anti-lynching bill is as follows: SUMNERS ANSWERS CRITICS OF SOUTH TELLS CONGRESS “NIGGER” AGITATORS HAVE BEEN LYING ABOUT PEOPLE. ATTACKS DYER BILL Note the quotation marks around the word “N*gger.” In the article Sumners’ speech is quoted as follows: “Nigger agitators, white and black, have been going over the country lying about my people, and I have grown tired of it,” said Mr. Sumners.1 The DMN is directly quoting Sumners as to the words used. This is important to note since the Congressional Record reported the speech as not using the term “n*gger.” In 1922 was the peak year of Ku Klux Klan power in Dallas and the year where Sumners was fearful of publically having a position regarding the Klan. When reading Sumners claims to be against mob violence and lynching remember he was dreadfully afraid to be seen as anti-Klan or to take any moral stand against the Klan or any political position at all. Sumners very likely more than any other person in the 20th century was responsible for the failure to pass federal anti-lynching legislation. How he managed to derail efforts to pass federal anti-lynching legislation need to be examined in detail. Prior to this speech Sumners argued against the Dyer Bill twice which was reported in the DMN. In a Nov. 1, 1921 DMN article it is reported that the U.S. House committee on Oct. 31st had made a favorable report on the Dyer Bill. Sumners, the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee had filed a minority report attacking the Dyer Bill on the same day. As the DMN reported the attack on the Dyer Bill was limited to constitutional issues. The minority report was as follows:
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No Author, “Sumners Answers Critics of South,” DMN, Jan. 5, 1922, Page 5.