Association of Southern Women for the Prevention of Lynching
A white women’s organization that campaigned against the lynching of African Americans in the American South.
Last updated October 14, 2026
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Overview
The Association of Southern Women for the Prevention of Lynching (ASWPL) was a white women’s ant lynching organization founded by Jessie Daniel Ames in Atlanta, Georgia, in November 1930. It emerged during a renewed wave of lynching in the American South: 21 lynchings were reported in the United States in 1930, 20 involving African American victims. The organization sought to challenge the racial myths and local practices that allowed mob violence to continue, particularly the claim that lynching was a form of community protection for white women. Ames argued that the supposed defense of white womanhood was commonly used to conceal racial hatred, economic exploitation, sexual violence by white men, and the denial of equal citizenship to African Americans. The ASWPL therefore addressed both the immediate prevention of mob attacks and the broader social conditions that made lynching possible. Its membership consisted primarily of middle- and upper-class white women, including many involved in church missionary societies. The organization deliberately relied on white women’s standing within segregated Southern communities, believing that they could influence other white residents and local officials. This racial limitation was a fundamental feature of the organization and also a significant limitation from the perspective of later interracial civil-rights organizing. The group used a decentralized structure rather than a tightly controlled national bureaucracy. At its founding meeting, roughly two dozen prominent Southern women discussed the increase in lynching and the role women could play in stopping it. A core group then promoted local meetings and state-level activity. Ames established a Georgia organization in January 1931, and by April similar groups existed throughout the South apart from Florida, which developed a separate organization later. The founding declaration condemned lynching as an indefensible crime and rejected the use of women as a symbolic justification for revenge and lawlessness. More than 40,000 Southern women eventually signed the statement. ASWPL members addressed church groups, gathered information about threatened attacks, pressed sheriffs and police to protect African Americans, and sought cooperation from newspapers so that planned mob actions could not remain hidden. They also called for thorough investigations after killings. This emphasis on publicity and official accountability represented a challenge to the customary practice of suppressing information about lynchings and allowing perpetrators to escape prosecution. In Texas, leader Sallie L. Hanna obtained pledges from seven gubernatorial candidates to use state authority against lynching; James V. Allred, one of the candidates, later won the governorship. The organization reported that law-enforcement officers prevented 40 known lynching attempts in 1938, many after signing pledges to support its program. The ASWPL worked alongside the Commission on Interracial Cooperation, which provided funding and formed an important institutional connection. By the early 1940s, the organization claimed 109 affiliated associations and a combined membership of approximately four million. It also contributed to changing white public opinion about lynching, alongside the CIC, by presenting opposition to mob violence as a moral, civic, and religious obligation rather than as an issue confined to African American activism. The organization’s political position was not identical to that of all anti-lynching advocates. In 1940, Ames and the ASWPL opposed a federal anti-lynching bill under congressional consideration. Ames favored state-level enforcement and education, reflecting her states’ rights views, and the organization instead urged continued public education, cooperation among law enforcement and newspapers, and expanded local membership. This stance exposed tensions between its community-based strategy and efforts to establish federal civil-rights protections. In 1942, Ames concluded that the ASWPL had fulfilled its principal purpose and dissolved the organization. Its historical importance lies in its use of Southern white women’s local influence to undermine the mythology of lynching, pressure officials, expose threatened mob attacks, and encourage public condemnation of racial terror. Its legacy has been examined in scholarship on Jessie Daniel Ames, Southern white women’s activism, and the broader anti-lynching movement.
History
The Association of Southern Women for the Prevention of Lynching was formed in Atlanta in November 1930, when a group of prominent white Southern women met to respond to the renewed incidence of lynching. The organization’s founder, Jessie Daniel Ames, believed that white women had been used as a symbolic justification for racial mob violence. She challenged the idea that lynchings were generally carried out to avenge assaults on white women, arguing instead that racial hostility, economic interests, sexual exploitation, and the maintenance of racial hierarchy were central causes. The ASWPL built its campaign around the social authority and local connections of white women in segregated Southern communities. Its members were mostly middle- and upper-class women, many connected to missionary societies and churches. The organization accepted only white women because its leaders believed that white women could directly influence white residents and officials; this approach allowed access to some local institutions but excluded African American women from membership and leadership. The organization’s public declaration rejected the use of women as a cloak for revenge and lawlessness. More than 40,000 Southern women eventually signed it. Rather than operating as a centralized membership body, the ASWPL developed a network of state and local associations. Ames established a Georgia chapter in January 1931, and by April organizations had formed across the South except Florida, which developed a related organization later. Members held meetings in churches and communities, distributed educational material, collected facts about lynching, and encouraged women to speak publicly against mob violence. They also created informal warning networks to learn about planned attacks and alert law enforcement. In some cases, members went directly to locations where lynchings were threatened in an effort to prevent them. Pressure on sheriffs, police officers, governors, and newspapers was central to the group’s method. ASWPL leaders asked local law-enforcement officials to protect African Americans and to investigate mob killings rather than conceal them. The organization also encouraged newspapers to publicize threats, making it harder for organizers to act secretly. Its Texas leader, Sallie L. Hanna, secured pledges from seven gubernatorial candidates to oppose lynching through the power of the governor’s office. James V. Allred, one of the candidates, subsequently became governor. The group later reported that 40 known lynching attempts were prevented by law-enforcement officials in 1938, many of whom had pledged support for its program. The ASWPL operated in close relationship with the Commission on Interracial Cooperation, which supplied funding and provided an institutional connection to a wider anti-lynching campaign. By the early 1940s, the organization reported 109 affiliated associations and a combined membership of about four million. Together with the CIC, it helped shift portions of white Southern public opinion by presenting lynching as an offense against law, religion, civic order, and community morality. The organization also revealed important tensions within white reform activism. In 1940, it opposed a federal anti-lynching bill being considered by Congress. Ames’s states’ rights position led her to favor education, local enforcement, and state-level responsibility over federal legislation. The group’s opposition distinguished it from advocates who regarded federal authority as necessary because local and state governments often failed to protect African Americans or prosecute perpetrators. Ames dissolved the ASWPL in 1942, believing that its central objectives had been met. The association’s work later became a subject of historical scholarship, particularly Jacquelyn Dowd Hall’s 1979 book Revolt Against Chivalry, which examined Ames and the women’s anti-lynching campaign. The ASWPL remains historically significant as an example of organized white women’s opposition to racial terror, while its racially exclusive membership and preference for state-level solutions remain important parts of its historical assessment.
- 1979
Historical study examines Ames and the campaign
[1]Jacquelyn Dowd Hall published Revolt Against Chivalry, a study of Jessie Daniel Ames and the anti-lynching work of the ASWPL.
- 1942
Association dissolved
[1]Jessie Daniel Ames ended the organization after judging that its purposes had been achieved.
- 1940
Marks 12 months without a lynching
[1]The organization celebrated a year without a reported lynching and opposed a federal anti-lynching bill in favor of state and local action.
- 1938
Reported prevention of 40 lynching attempts
[1]The ASWPL reported that police and sheriffs prevented 40 known attempts, many involving officials who had pledged support for its program.
- 1934
Resolution links lynching to systemic racial inequality
[1]The organization formally connected lynching with segregation, unequal education, economic exploitation, and political exclusion.
- 1931
Georgia chapter and regional expansion
[1]Ames created a Georgia chapter, while affiliated groups spread across most Southern states.
- 1930
Organization founded in Atlanta
[1]Jessie Daniel Ames and other prominent Southern women established the ASWPL in response to a rise in lynching.
Products and positioning
A decentralized Southern civic and reform organization that used the social influence of white women, church networks, public education, and pressure on local officials to oppose lynching and challenge the myth that mob violence protected white womanhood.
Marketing campaigns
- 1938Publicity and rapid-response prevention network
Southern United States
The organization developed local channels for identifying threatened lynchings, alerting officials, contacting newspapers, and in some cases sending members to the site of a threatened attack.
Outcome. The ASWPL reported that 40 known lynching attempts were prevented by police and sheriffs during the year.
- 1934Texas gubernatorial pledge effort
Texas
Sallie L. Hanna, the Texas ASWPL leader, obtained pledges from seven gubernatorial candidates to use the authority of the governor’s office against lynching.
Outcome. James V. Allred, one of the candidates who made a pledge, won the governorship.
- 1931Southern community education campaign
Southern United States
Members addressed churches and community groups, circulated evidence about lynching, and challenged the claim that mob killings were primarily responses to attacks on white women.
Outcome. The campaign helped build local networks and contributed, with the Commission on Interracial Cooperation, to changing some white public attitudes toward lynching.
- 1931Law-enforcement pledge campaign
Southern United States
ASWPL leaders sought written and informal commitments from sheriffs, police officers, governors, and other officials to protect African Americans, prevent mob gatherings, and investigate killings.
Outcome. The organization attributed numerous prevented lynching attempts to officials who had been reached through this pressure campaign.
- 1930Founding anti-lynching declaration
Southern United States
The ASWPL issued a public declaration rejecting lynching and repudiating the use of white womanhood as a justification for mob violence. The declaration was circulated through the organization’s growing network and eventually received more than 40,000 signatures from Southern women.
Outcome. The statement gave the organization a common public position and helped establish white women’s opposition to lynching as a visible regional campaign.
Brand decisions
1942
Dissolution of the associationOtherBackground
After more than a decade of organizing against lynching, Ames concluded that the association had fulfilled its principal purposes.
Action taken
Ames wound up the ASWPL.
Aftermath
The organization ceased operations, while its methods and history remained subjects of later scholarship on anti-lynching activism and Southern women’s reform work.
1940
Opposition to federal anti-lynching legislationStrategyBackground
A federal anti-lynching bill was under congressional consideration while lynching and local official inaction remained major civil-rights concerns.
Action taken
Jessie Daniel Ames and the ASWPL opposed the bill and advocated education, stronger cooperation between law enforcement and newspapers, and continued state-level efforts.
Aftermath
The position reflected Ames’s states’ rights views and marked a strategic difference between the ASWPL’s local reform approach and campaigns seeking federal protection.
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