The Lynching of Henry Peg Gilbert

Henry ‘Peg’ Gilbert was sitting in church one evening in 1947 when, about 100 yards away, a calf wandered into the road. This would lead to a sequence of events that seemingly had nothing to do with Gilbert, or with his surprising success for a Black farmer in rural Georgia in the 1940s, but it would eventually end in his lynching. The Lynching of Henry ‘Peg’ Gilbert tells the story of a man whose unjust death resonates as much today as it did 70 years ago. Gilbert’s story was uncovered by researchers at the Northeastern University school of Law, who proved that he was beaten, tortured and lynched in a jail cell, all under the supervision of local law enforcement.