In which year did the last recorded lynching occur in the United States?

The murder of Michael Donald in Mobile, Alabama in 1981 was the last recorded lynching in the United States. Several “Ku Klux Klan” (KKK) members beat and killed Michael Donald, a young African American man. His body was hung from a tree.

One perpetrator, Henry Hays, was sentenced to death and executed in 1997, while another, James Knowles, was sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty and testifying against Hays. A third man was convicted as an accomplice, and a fourth was indicted but he died before his case could be completed at trial.

Donald’s mother brought a civil suit for wrongful death against the “United Klans of America” (UKA), to which the attackers belonged. In 1987 a jury awarded her damages of $7 million, which bankrupted the organization. This set a precedent for civil legal action for damages against other racist hate groups.

In 2006, Mobile commemorated Michael Donald by renaming Herndon Avenue, where the murderers had hanged Donald’s body, in his honor. Mobile’s first black mayor, Sam Jones, presided over a small gathering of Donald’s family and local leaders at the commemoration.

Ted Koppel created “The Last Lynching”, a “Discovery Channel” television program about the US civil rights history that aired in October 2008. It centered on the murder of Michael Donald, the criminal prosecution of his killers, and the civil suit against the UKA.