Joseph Upchurch was an African-American man who was

lynched Lynching is an extrajudicial killing by a group. It is most often used to characterize informal public executions by a mob in order to punish an alleged transgressor, punish a convicted transgressor, or intimidate people. It can also be an ex ...

by a mob near

Paris, Tennessee Paris is a city in and the county seat of Henry County, Tennessee, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 10,316. A replica of the Eiffel Tower stands in the southern part of Paris. History The present site of Pari ...

, on June 17, 1927. According to the '' Memphis Evening Appeal'', Paris sheriff D. T. Caldwell was at Joseph Upchurch's house (in the northwest part of

Henry County, Tennessee Henry County is a county located on the northwestern border of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and is considered part of West Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, the population was 32,199. Its county seat is Paris. The county is named for the Virgin ...

) on June 17, 1927, after being told by his relatives that he had been acting "queerly". The paper said "Upchurch is said to have been mentally unbalanced and threatened other negroes of the neighborhood", and when Caldwell attempted to arrest him, Upchurch shot him. Caldwell died soon thereafter, and a deputy locked Upchurch in a cabin. At the time the report was printed, Upchurch was still in the cabin; the deputy hadn't tried to move him to town because of the threat of mob violence, but a group of deputies was supposedly on the way to retrieve him. The ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' reported the next day on the events, and said that a mob of some 50 men had arrived at the cabin in which Upchurch was locked, and shot him. The cabin "was riddled with bullets by the posse". A local magazine wrote up a slightly different story in 2013, and claimed that there was an exchange of gunfire involving lawmen and, apparently, the victim, but mentions no mob. After the sheriff was killed, it said, "Backup was called, and as other lawmen arrived, a chaotic scene ensued with hundreds of rounds of gunfire back and forth. In the end, Upchurch also was shot dead."

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Upchurch, Joseph 1927 in Tennessee 1927 murders in the United States Lynching deaths in Tennessee Murdered African-American people People murdered in Tennessee Race-related controversies in the United States Racially motivated violence against African Americans Paris, Tennessee