In the autumn of 1927, the life of Leonard Woods, a 35-year-old Black coal miner, came to a brutal and tragic end in Wise, Virginia. The series of events that led to his death began with an accusation of murder. Woods, along with two Black women, Susan Armister and Anna Mae Emery, was accused of killing Harshall Deaton, a white mine foreman, in Jenkins, Kentucky, on the night of November 27th.
Reports from the time suggest the confrontation arose after Deaton, who the trio may have mistaken for a taxi driver, refused them a ride. It was alleged that one of the women produced a gun, which Woods then used to shoot Deaton.
Following the accusation, Leonard Woods was arrested and, due to the immediate and serious threats of mob violence, he was moved from Jenkins to a jail in Whitesburg, Kentucky, for his safety. However, this measure proved futile against the rising tide of racial animosity. In the early hours of November 30, 1927, a mob of approximately 400 white men from Virginia stormed the Whitesburg jail and seized Woods. He was then forcibly transported to the Virginia-Kentucky state line, a place that would become the site of his final moments.
There, at a platform intended for a highway dedication ceremony, the mob carried out a horrific act of extrajudicial violence. Leonard Woods was hanged, shot, and then his body was set on fire. In the aftermath of this gruesome event, no one was ever charged or brought to justice for his murder. The lynching of Leonard Woods stands as a stark and painful chapter in the history of Wise, Virginia, a testament to a time of deeply entrenched racial injustice and the failure of the legal system to protect all its citizens. The event did, however, contribute to the passage of Virginia's anti-lynching law in 1928, a legislative acknowledgment of the heinous nature of such crimes.
