Lynching of Joseph Upchurch

Lynching of Joseph Upchurch
Location	Near Paris, Tennessee, USA
Coordinates	36°18′4″N 88°18′50″W
Date	June 17, 1927 (1927-06-17)
Target	Joseph Upchurch
Attack type	Lynching or shooting
Victims	1

Joseph Upchurch was an African-American man who was lynched by a mob near Paris, Tennessee, on June 17, 1927.^[1]

Events

According to the Memphis Evening Appeal, Paris sheriff D. T. Caldwell was at Joseph Upchurch's house (in the northwest part of Henry County, Tennessee) on June 17, 1927, after being told by his relatives that he had been acting "queerly". The paper said "Upchurch is said to have been mentally unbalanced and threatened other negroes of the neighborhood", and when Caldwell attempted to arrest him, Upchurch shot him. Caldwell died soon thereafter, and a deputy locked Upchurch in a cabin. At the time the report was printed, Upchurch was still in the cabin; the deputy hadn't tried to move him to town because of the threat of mob violence, but a group of deputies was supposedly on the way to retrieve him.^[2]

The New York Times reported the next day on the events, and said that a mob of some 50 men had arrived at the cabin in which Upchurch was locked, and shot him. The cabin "was riddled with bullets by the posse".^[3]

A local magazine wrote up a slightly different story in 2013, and claimed that there was an exchange of gunfire involving lawmen and, apparently, the victim, but mentions no mob. After the sheriff was killed, it said, "Backup was called, and as other lawmen arrived, a chaotic scene ensued with hundreds of rounds of gunfire back and forth. In the end, Upchurch also was shot dead."^[4]

References

1. "The Law's Too Slow". Opportunity: A Journal of Negro Life. January 1928. p. 19.
2. "Sheriff is Killed by Crazed Negro". Memphis Evening Appeal. June 17, 2020. p. 1. Retrieved May 23, 2021.
3. "Posse Kills Negro". The New York Times. June 18, 1927. p. 14. Retrieved May 23, 2021.
4. McFarlin, Shannon (Spring 2013). "Reminiscence: The Lady Sheriff of Henry County" (PDF). Paris! Henry County and the Lake Area. p. 11. Retrieved May 23, 2021.

36°18′4″N 88°18′50″W