Thousands of African Americans were lynched in the United States between the Civil War and World War II in a campaign of racial terrorism used to intimidate black people and enforce white supremacy, especially in the South. In Alabama alone, more than 360 African Americans were killed by white lynch mobs, including at least nine in Shelby County. After the collapse of Reconstruction, resistance to equal rights led to horrific mob violence against black women, men, and children, and people accused of crimes or perceived violations of racial customs were routinely denied due process and the protection of the law. Many were taken from jails or surrendered to mobs by officials, millions fled the South to escape the climate of terror, and those who remained endured lasting humiliation, intimidation, and trauma. In Montevallo, across the street from this site, two African American men whose names are unknown were lynched by a white mob on August 31, 1889. After a white man was killed while interrupting a burglary, armed white men searched the area and seized the two unidentified black men as suspects. When they were brought to town, hundreds of angry white citizens gathered demanding revenge. Before they could be transferred to the Columbiana jail, local officers turned them over to the mob, saying they feared a bloody riot if they did not allow the abduction. Under threat of lynching, one man reportedly confessed, while the other, known only as Big Six, maintained his innocence. The mob hanged both men from a tree, denying them their constitutional right to stand trial, and no one in the mob was prosecuted.