When was the ladt lychinging noted CNN in Ohio
Executive summary
The most commonly cited "last lynching" in Ohio is June 27, 1911 — a mob killing in Cleveland documented by the Ohio Lynching Victims Memorial and repeated across multiple fact-checks and reporting [1] [2] [3] [4]. Scholarly work complicates that simple endpoint by identifying later incidents into the 1910s — an academic study notes “the last two incidents occurred in 1916,” indicating disagreement in the record depending on sources and definitions [5].
1. The widely cited 1911 date and its documentary anchors
Multiple public-facing memorials and recent fact-checking articles point to June 27, 1911, in Cleveland as the last recorded lynching in Ohio, an event memorialized by the Ohio Lynching Victims Memorial and repeated in contemporary coverage and check pieces [1] [2] [3] [4]. The June 27, 1911 entry — sometimes referenced under the name John Jordan or John Jordon in secondary accounts — is presented in those memorial and media sources as the terminal lynching event in the state’s compiled lists and is the date most often invoked in modern commentary [4] [2].
2. Why some historians push the end date later
Academic research into mob violence in Ohio does not universally stop at 1911; a detailed historical study of mob violence and lynching in Ohio indicates that the “last two incidents occurred in 1916,” signaling that researchers who include certain episodes cataloged as lynchings extend the timeline beyond 1911 [5]. That divergence reflects methodological differences: memorial projects and some compilations rely on particular documentary sources and memorial criteria, while historians may include lesser-known or regionally reported mob killings that escaped inclusion in national memorial datasets [5].
3. Variations in counts and definitions matter
Counts of lynchings in Ohio vary: some projects cite at least 15 reported lynchings while other studies using Tuskegee Institute–era tallies put the state’s total higher [6] [7]. These discrepancies arise because historians and memorial projects use different timeframes, definitions (for example, whether to include race-motivated mob murders only), and primary-source thresholds for including an incident — differences that directly affect which event is labeled “last” [6] [7].
4. Contemporary disputes around personal recollections
Recent media disputes about personal recollections have reignited interest in the precise date: several news and opinion pieces fact-checked a public figure’s claim of seeing lynched bodies in mid‑20th‑century Ohio and pointed to the 1911 Cleveland lynching as undermining that anecdote, a debate reflecting how the documented historical record can be used to challenge or complicate living memory [2] [3] [8]. Those fact-checks rely on memorial databases and widely circulated compilations but do not eliminate the possibility of overlooked local incidents or differing interpretations of what constitutes a lynching [1] [5].
5. How to read these competing records
The most defensible short answer, given the memorial and many modern fact-check references, is that June 27, 1911, is widely cited as the last recorded lynching in Ohio and is the date most often reported in public memorials and media [1] [2] [3] [4]. A fuller, more cautious answer acknowledges that some scholarly treatments record mob violence continuing into 1916 and that totals and terminal dates depend on the sources and definitions used, meaning the “last lynching” is not an uncontested single point in every historical account [5] [6] [7].