Thursday, January 10, 2019

Post office to be named for black postmaster who was lynched in 1898 -- Frazier B. Baker was the first black postmaster in Lake City, South Carolina. (NBC News/AP)






It happened in America, on February 22, 1898.  An African-American postmaster, Frazier B. Baker, was lynched by racists after he declined to resign the job he was appointed to by President William McKinley.  President McKinley was shot by an assassin in 1901, dying two days later.   From NBC/AP:

 / Source: Associated Press
By Associated Press

LAKE CITY, S.C. — A South Carolina town's post office will be named in honor of its first black postmaster, Frazier B. Baker, who was lynched in 1898 after he refused to resign.


Lavinia Baker and her five surviving children after the lynching of her husband and baby on Feb. 22, 1898.
Lavinia Baker and her five surviving children after the lynching of her husband and baby on Feb. 22, 1898.Library of Congress

U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., introduced a bill to rename the office after Baker, saying it would ensure that his story won't be forgotten, according to The Post and Courier.
The state's entire congressional delegation co-sponsored it, and President Donald Trump signed it into law last month before the government shutdown began.
President William McKinley chose Baker, then 42 and a school teacher, as postmaster in 1897. The next year, a white mob burned his house and post office, and fatally shot him and his baby daughter. Baker's wife and their five other children barely escaped.







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