NYU professor, students expose the legacy of lynchings in the North

More than 4,000 Black people were murdered in brutal lynchings in the United States through the end of the Civil Rights era. But much of the stories that have been told about these killings have centered around acts of mob violence in the South. Now, a new project from New York University is challenging that narrative by reminding people this violence happened everywhere — even in New York state.

Rachel Swarns is an associate professor of journalism at New York University and leads the new "Lynchings in the North" project. Samantha Donndelinger is an undergraduate student working on the initiative. They both joined WNYC's Michael Hill to discuss the hard work of uncovering these lynchings and this violence's connection to life today.