Racial violence has been a persistent and tragic reality in Black history, dating back to the era of slavery in the United States. During the period of Reconstruction following the Civil War, white supremacist groups such as the Ku Klux Klan and others unleashed a reign of terror against newly freed Black people, targeting them with violence, intimidation, and lynchings in an effort to maintain white supremacy.

In the Jim Crow era that followed, racial violence continued to be a tool used to enforce segregation and maintain the racial hierarchy. Lynchings were a common form of racial violence, with thousands of Black Americans being lynched between the late 19th and mid-20th centuries. These acts of terror were often carried out in public and served to reinforce white supremacy and instill fear in Black communities.

The Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s also faced significant violence and resistance from white supremacists, including bombings, shootings, and attacks on civil rights activists. The murder of Emmett Till in 1955 and the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963 are just two examples of the deadly consequences of racial violence during this period.

While overt acts of violence have decreased since the Civil Rights Movement, systemic racism and racial bias still persist in many aspects of society today. The Black Lives Matter movement has brought renewed attention to issues of police brutality and systemic racism, highlighting the ongoing need to address racial violence and discrimination in all its forms.