 White violence rose against blacks in the late 19th century in a regionwide effort to establish and maintain white supremacy as Southern states disenfranchised most blacks and imposed Jim Crow.Whites lynched 20 African Americans in Polk County from 1895-1921; Three black men whose names were not recorded were murdered in a mass lynching on May 25, 1895, accused of rape.While others were killed for alleged crimes (never proven), one black man was lynched for supposedly insulting a white woman.