# Willie Lynch **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 29, 2003, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/willie-lynch/221632 "2003-12-29T21:41:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BrandywineBoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/fbc32d/32.png) [@BrandywineBoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrandywineBoy)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2003, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/willie-lynch/221632/1 "2003-12-29T21:41:33Z")
I read a magazine article with the quote “Willie Lynch - the planter from the West Indies who taught the slave masters how to control their slaves.” Apparently, a letter was conveniently discovered in the 1990’s that purports to be a speech from this person giving slave owners a set of directions to make a “good” slave. See for example [www.thetalkingdrum.com/wil.html](http://www.thetalkingdrum.com/wil.html). I assume that this document is a fabrication. Does anyone have information about where it came from? The document was apparently quoted extensively by Louis Farrakhan in his speech at the Million Man March. Also, are there other examples of other similar documents or “historical facts” that have been used to support racial or political views? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2003, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/willie-lynch/221632/2 "2003-12-29T21:50:31Z")
Look up “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.” ---
**Author:** ![KP](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a9adbd/32.png) [@KP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KP)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2003, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/willie-lynch/221632/3 "2003-12-30T23:26:52Z")
Well, the page claims that “This speech was delivered by Willie Lynch on the bank of the James River in the colony of Virginia in **1712**. Lynch was a British slave owner in the West Indies. He was invited to the colony of Virginia in 1712 to teach his methods to slave owners there. The term “lynching” is derived from his last name.” This much, at least, is easily checked. Unless “Willie Lynch” lived 108 years _after_ making the speech, someone is at the least confused. > [@](#): > > lynch (lînch) verb, transitive > lynched, lynching, lynches > To execute without due process of law, especially to hang, as by a mob. [Short for LYNCH LAW.] > > lynch law noun > The punishment of persons suspected of crime without due process of law. > [After William Lynch (died 1820).] > Word History: “Whereas, many of the inhabitants of Pittsylvania . . . have sustained great and intolerable losses by a set of lawless men . . . that . . . have hitherto escaped the civil power with impunity . . . we, the subscribers, being determined to put a stop to the iniquitous practices of those unlawful and abandoned wretches, do enter into the following association . . . upon hearing or having sufficient reason to believe that any . . . species of villany [has] been committed within our neighborhood, we will forthwith . . . repair immediately to the person or persons suspected . . . and if they will not desist from their evil practices, we will inflict such corporeal punishment on him or them, as to us shall seem adequate to the crime committed or the damage sustained . . . In witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands, this 22nd day of September 1780.” These are the words of a compact drawn up by Captain William Lynch and a group of his neighbors. At the time, Pittsylvania County, Virginia, was troubled by its “set of lawless men.” The courts were too distant to deal with them, so it was agreed to punish criminals without due process of law. Both the practice and the punishment came to be called lynch law after Captain Lynch. Although lynch law and lynching are mainly associated with hanging, other, less severe punishments were used. William Lynch died in 1820, and the inscription on his grave notes that “he followed virtue as his truest guide.” But the good captain, who certainly hadn’t invented vigilante justice, yet had tried to justify it, was sentenced to the disgrace of having given his name to the terrible practice of lynching. > > The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition copyright © 1992 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Electronic version licensed from InfoSoft International, Inc. All rights reserved. ---
**Author:** ![BrandywineBoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/fbc32d/32.png) [@BrandywineBoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrandywineBoy)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2003, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/willie-lynch/221632/4 "2003-12-31T15:51:28Z")
Thanks KP for the information about the word “lynch.” However, I would still like to find the source of the Willie Lynch story. Apparently, there are many African Americans and others who seem to believe that the story is true. I’d be interested to know if Mr. Farrakhan invented the speech to support his theories or if he found it from another source. I hope that someone has the straight dope. ---
**Author:** ![bradministrator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a698b9/32.png) [@bradministrator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bradministrator)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2003, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/willie-lynch/221632/5 "2003-12-31T17:45:10Z")
Here’s a good article discussing it: [http://www.africana.com/articles/daily/ht20030929lynch.asp](http://www.africana.com/articles/daily/ht20030929lynch.asp) ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2003, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/willie-lynch/221632/6 "2003-12-31T20:08:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by BrandywineBoy \* > \*\*Also, are there other examples of other similar documents or “historical facts” that have been used to support racial or political views? \*\* Well, the Bible (especially some St. Paul epistles) was widely used in the mid-1800’s to prove that slavery was God’s approved plan for blacks. In fact, some churches split over this, and we still have Southern Baptist and Southern Methodist churches, which are the remainder of the pro-slavery wing of those religions (though they don’t talk about that much any more). ---
**Author:** ![BrandywineBoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/fbc32d/32.png) [@BrandywineBoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrandywineBoy)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/willie-lynch/221632/7 "2004-01-02T16:08:21Z")
In my continued search for more information on where the Willie Lynch speech originated, I found what I assume is a similar reference to “Confidential Memorandum 46”, supposedly written by former US National Security Advisor to President Carter, Zbigniew Brzezinski, on March 17, 1978. It is supposed to detail the federal government’s plan to destroy functioning black leadership in the United States. I’m still trying to find the actual text of this memo. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2004, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/willie-lynch/221632/8 "2004-01-02T17:08:43Z")
I think this is supposed to be the text of “Confidential Memorandum 46” [http://www.divinecipher.com/spiritualone/archives/00000043.htm](http://www.divinecipher.com/spiritualone/archives/00000043.htm)