The Daily News Leader from Staunton, Virginia • Page A8

WEATHER 8A NEWS TAUNTON AYNESBORO EATHER EGIONAL EATHER ATIONAL EATHER -10s -0s 0s 10s 20s 30s 40s 50s 60s 70s 80s 90s 100s 110s T-stormsRainShowersSnowFlurriesIceCold FrontWarm FrontStationary Front IVE -D AY ORECAST The patented AccuWeather.com RealFeelTemperature is an composite index of effective temperature based on eight weather factors. Weather(W): s- sunny, pc- partly cloudy, c- cloudy, sh- showers, t- thunderstorms, r- rain, sf- snow flurries, sn- snow, i- ice TODAY Cooler with periods of rain 5850 6248 6450 WEDNESDAY A passing morning shower 62 46 7749 THURSDAY Partly sunny and warmer 71 46 7450 FRIDAY Clouds and sun 70 53 6453 SATURDAY Rain at times 61 53 Harrisonburg Staunton Waynesboro Charlottesville Elkins Richmond Fredericksburg Arlington Washington, DC Baltimore Lynchburg Chase City Winchester Roanoke Newport News Williamsburg Norfolk Shown is weather. Temperatures are highs and lows. City Considerable cloudiness today and tonight with occasional rain. A passing shower or two tomorrow.

Alexandria Arlington Blacksburg eld Charlottesville Danville Elkins Fairmont Fredericksburg Harrisonburg Lewisburg Lexington Lynchburg Marion Martinsburg Martinsville eld Newport News Norfolk Petersburg Richmond Roanoke Virginia Beach Washington Winchester Wytheville City Major today 9:02 a.m. 9:23 p.m. Minor today 2:52 a.m. 3:13 p.m. Major Wednesday 9:40 a.m.

10:01 p.m. Minor Wednesday 3:29 a.m. 3:50 p.m. SOLUNAR TABLES The solunar period schedule allows you to plan days so you will shing in good territory or hunting in good cover during those times. Major periods begin at the times shown and last for 1.5 to 2 hours.

The minor periods are shorter. NIGHT SKY Patrick Rowan Mars is now almost as bright as Jupiter. Compare the two around midnight when Mars (with Saturn to its left, and Antares to its lower left) is moving south, and Jupiter is lowering to the west. May 21May 29June 4June 12 FullLastNewFirst MOON PHASES A LMANAC Statistics through 5 p.m. yesterday TEMPERATURE Staunton Waynesboro High65 64 Low 34 37 Normal high 72 Normal low 51 Record high 87 in 1957 Record low 31 in 1984 24 hours through 5 p.m.

yest. 0.00” 0.00” Month to date 1.89” 2.63” Normal month to date 1.92” Year to date 10.50” 10.55” Normal year to date 13.62” PRECIPITATION Staunton Waynesboro I HE KY Sunrise today 6:04 a.m. Sunset today 8:22 p.m. Sunrise Wednesday 6:03 a.m. Sunset Wednesday 8:23 p.m.

Moonrise today 4:36 p.m. Moonset today 3:58 a.m. Anchorage Atlanta Baltimore Boston Charleston, WV Chicago Cleveland Dallas Denver Detroit Indianapolis Kansas City Knoxville Los Angeles Louisville Memphis Miami Morgantown Nashville New Orleans New York City Philadelphia Phoenix Pittsburgh Raleigh St. Louis Salt Lake City San Francisco Seattle TODAY WEDNESDAY Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. Cooler today with periods of rain.

High 56 to 60. Winds light and variable. Little or no sunshine with a chance of precipitation and average relative humidity Drying conditions poor. Periods of rain tonight. Low 48 to 52.

Winds light and variable. A GRICULTURE ORECAST Source: Allergy and Asthma Associates of Virginia, PC OLLEN Trees Low Grasses Low Weeds Low Mold Low share your news and photos Our Tools. Your News. Write your own story. Upload your photos.

Place your own calendar listing. Fast and free. NV-0000142675 NV-0000183753 Smarter.Faster.MoreColorful. FIGHTINGTHENEVER-ENDINGBATTLE FORHASSLE-FREETRAVEL! ReadUSATODAYcolumnist ChristopherElliott foralltheadvice andtipsyouneedtonavigatethezanyworldoftravel. usatoday.com/christopherelliott 4,075 terror in the region, according to the Equal Justice Initiative.

Virginia shares a piece of this shameful history. Between 1880 and 1926, more han 90 people were lynched in Virginia, a ccording to the data and oth- documented incidents. Bird was a native of Speedwell in ythe County. He was married to Tennessee Hawkins, a black woman, and had three daughters Edith, Lillian and Hazel. After serving in World War Bird worked as a farmhand for Grover Grubb, a white landowner.

According to J. Douglas book White Supremacy: Race, Poli tics, and Citizenship in Jim Crow Virg Bird was accused of raping daughter, Minnie. However, innie Grubb vehemently denied she as raped and insisted that the sex was consensual. Even if consensual, sex bet ween blacks and whites was illegal then. On July 23, 1926, Minnie Grubb gave birth to a biracial daughter, Clara.

Bird was immediately imprisoned in the Wytheville jail. lynching three weeks later made headlines across the country in publications such as Time magazine and The New York Times The national exposure prompted Louis I. editor of the Norfolk Virginian-Pilot to prod state fficials to approve an anti-lynching law. The Equal Justice Initiative, a nonprofit based in Alabama, spent four years researching racially motivated lynchings in 12 Southern states. terror lynching was much more prevalent than previously the group reported.

states and counties were particularly terrifying places for African Americans and had dramatically higher rates of lynching than other states and counties we the report added. Moreover, lynching played a key role in the forced migration of millions of lack Americans out of the ississippi had the most lynchings 614), followed by Georgia (595), Louisiana (559) and Arkansas (491), the data showed. Of the 12 states studied, Virginia had he fewest lynchings 88 by the initia- count. But, in researching this sto- Capital News Service found authoritative references to lynchings that were not included in the data. The total number of lynchings in Virginia ex- eeded 90.

Lynchings occurred in at least 50 loc alities in Virginia, according to W. Fitzhugh book in the ew Most of these localities had just one or two lynchings; however, Alleghany County had four, Danville five and Tazewell County 10. Feb. 1, 1893, five African-Americ an railroad workers were lynched in Taz ewell County. According to the blog Homesick the railroad workers were allegedly drinking with two white store owners the night be- ore the lynching.

The Richmond Planet a African-American-owned newspaper, eported that the workers had allegedly robbed and murdered the store owners. In fact, the supposed victims were alive injured. At the turn of the 20th century, racist hites did not need much of an excuse to ill black citizens. African Americans who were never accused of any crime were tortured and murdered in front of picnicking spectators (including elected officials and prominent citizens) for bumping into a white person, or wearing their ilitary uniforms after World War or not using the appropriate title when addressing a white the Equal Just ice report said. who participated in lynchings were celebrated and acted with On Oct.

17, 1891, three adults and a teenager were lynched in Alleghany ounty. The victims were African-American coal miners: Charles Miller, Robert Burton and the brothers, William and ohn Scott. That morning, several black miners eportedly were walking leisurely hrough Clifton Forge. According to Brundage, the behavior was foolhardy black bravado in a region here the definition of acceptable conduct by blacks was very A police officer accosted the group. he men fled back to the mines but were confronted again by the officer, this time accompanied with a group of whites.

A gun battle broke out. The miners were eventually arrested by the police and thrown into jail. Later that evening, a mob of townspeople broke into the jail and seized the men. Hours later, they were shot and hung. Such incidents continued with disturbing regularity until lynching i 1926.

Then a crusading newspaper editor and civil rights activist, wrote aletter to Gov. Harry Flood Byrd Sr. Coincidentally, the governor and the lynching victim had similar names. The governor was adamant about attracting businesses to Virginia. That was why, during his term from 1926 to 1930, Byrd paved more than 2,000 miles of roads throughout the state.

evoked this priority to advocate on behalf of African-Americans: He told Byrd that mob violence only hindered the chances of attracting new industries to Virginia. asked Byrd to support legisla- ion to make lynching a state crime. Byrd i nitially hesitated, saying such a law ight conflict with the Virginia Constitution. According to book, sensed reluctance. So he used his ditorial pages to call on Byrd and other fficials to take action.

Lynching goes unpunished in Virginia because, deny it as one will, it commands a certain social wrote who won a Pulitzer Prize for editor ial writing in 1929. Byrd came around. With the govern support, the Virginia General Assembly passed anti-lynching legislation. March 14, 1928, Byrd signed it into law. Among other provisions, the law gave the state the power to enforce stiff penalties against localities that rep ort vigilante murders.

he Anti-Lynching Law of 1928 was a reakthrough in curbing violence against African-Americans. mobs were generally a group composed of poor said Dr. John neebone, chair of the History Depart- ent at Virginia Commonwealth Univer- ity. in the South never favored lynching. But because race was involved, the majority chose not to stand up and oppose lynching.

Byrd changed A fter his term as governor, Byrd erved for 30 years in the U.S. Senate and continued to exert a powerful influence in Virginia politics. A staunch segregationist, he opposed the U.S. Supreme 1954 ruling in Brown v. Board of Education.

Byrd and his allies adopted a strategy called Massive Resistance, orcing Virginia schools to close rather than integrate. As the 90th anniversary of ynching approaches, it is Byrd who is back in the news. The longtime politician died in 1966. Five years later, Henrico County named amiddle school after him. This year, stud ents and others petitioned the county to rename Byrd Middle School, arguing that it should not honor a man who stood or racial segregation.

In March, the Henrico County School oard voted unanimously to rename the chool. The board has not yet selected a new name. ivil rights advocates have pushed or honest discussions about race like the one happening in Henrico County. hat is one of the goals of the Equal Just ice Initiative. HAYES-QUINN FAMILY VIA CAPITAL NEWS SERVICE Raymond and his wife Tennessee Bird.

Raymond Bird was killed by lynching in 1926. Lynchings Continued from Page 1A AP Sen. Harry F. Byrd (D-Va.) leaning on the mantel in his office at the Senate Office Building in ashington, April 19, 1961..