Lynching of Julia and Frazier Baker

Frazier B. and Julia Baker were an African-American father and daughter who were burned alive in a house fire caused by a mob attack on February 22, 1898 in Lake City, Florence County, South Carolina.

Frazier Baker was appointed postmaster of Lake City in 1897, but local whites objected and undertook a campaign to force his removal. When these efforts failed to dislodge Baker a mob attacked his family while in the comfort of their home, killing him and his daughter in a tragic house fire. Baker's wife and five other children survived.

As part of the distribution of "spoils" after the 1896 Presidential election, the McKinley administration appointed hundreds of blacks to postmasterships across the Black Belt. These recess appointments were resisted by local whites who resented any black officeholders, and feared that the increased political power that accompanied them would embolden black men to proposition white women.

A 40-year-old schoolteacher, Frazier B. Baker, was appointed postmaster of Lake City, South Carolina in 1897 and immediately encountered fierce opposition from local whites. While the surrounding Willamsburg county was 63% black, Lake City was, with fewer than a dozen black residents, overwhelmingly white. A boycott of the Lake City post office was initiated, and petitions calling for Baker's dismissal were circulated. One complaint was that Baker, a member of the Colored Farmers Alliance, had cut mail delivery from three times a day to just one after threats against his life were made. A postal inspector arrived to investigate the complaints and recommended that the post office be closed; in response, a white mob burned it down with the expectation that no one would rent space to relocate it while Baker remained postmaster. The government obtained space on the outskirts of town, however, and a lessening of racial tension led Baker to send for his family in February 1898.

Threats against Baker's life were made as whites remained hostile to his presence, and Baker communicated these threats to his superiors in Washington.

At 1:00 AM on February 21, 1898 the Baker family awoke to find their house (which also served as the post office) on fire. Frazier Baker attempted to put out the fire without success, and sent his son, Lincoln, to find help. As soon as Lincoln opened the door he was met with gunfire, and Baker pulled him back into the house. Baker cursed the mob and began to pray. As the fire grew, the heat intensified, and Baker turned to his wife, Lavinia, saying that they, "might as well die running as standing still," and started for the door. Before he could open the door a bullet struck and killed his two-year-old daughter, Julia, as she was being held in Lavinia's arms. Baker, realizing that his youngest daughter had been killed, threw open the door and was cut down in a hail of gunfire.

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