Between 1865 and 1950, racial terror lynching claimed the lives of thousands of African Americans and enforced white supremacy through intimidation, fatal violence, and the broad tolerance of lawless killings by state and federal officials who failed to hold white mobs accountable. Black people were lynched for resisting economic exploitation, violating perceived social customs, engaging in interracial relationships, or being accused of crimes even without evidence, and white allegations often led to lethal violence without impartial investigation or trial. In Maryland, at least 40 racial terror lynchings have been documented. In Allegany County, on October 6, 1907, a white mob in Cumberland lynched an 18-year-old Black teenager known as William Burns, later discovered to be Robert Hughes. After reports alleged that a local white officer had been shot during a struggle following William's arrest at a saloon on the canal wharf, rumors of the officer's death drew hundreds of white residents to the county jail in the early morning. Armed authorities failed for more than half an hour to disperse the mob, which broke into the jail, abducted William from his cell, dragged him into the street, beat him to death, and repeatedly shot his body. Thousands of white spectators, including hundreds of Sunday School children, viewed his corpse for hours, and despite the large mob, no one was ever held accountable for the lynching.