Lynching of Keith Bowen

Keith Bowen was an African-American man who was killed by a white mob near Aberdeen, Monroe County, Mississippi, on August 14, 1889. According to accounts of the case, Bowen was discovered around 3:00 AM in the bedroom of a young white woman in the Lebanon community, located about six miles south of Aberdeen and roughly nine miles from his place of employment. Sources differ on the identity of his employer, with some reports naming the farm of Charles Keith and others naming Charles Moore.

After being discovered, Bowen fled the scene. A posse pursued and located him in a field two to three miles from the young woman's house. He was captured and turned over to a justice of the peace, placing him in official custody.

Despite being in custody, Bowen was reportedly taken quietly from those holding him and hanged. Accounts describe the entire neighborhood as having participated in removing Bowen from custody and hanging him on the public road near the location of the alleged assault. No legal proceedings against Bowen are recorded, and the killing occurred outside any judicial process.

Two other lynchings occurred in Monroe County, Mississippi, in later years, though these are not detailed as part of Bowen's case: an 18-year-old African-American man named Mayho Miller was lynched in 1914 following an alleged assault, and an 18-year-old African-American man named William Baker was lynched in Aberdeen on March 8, 1922. The Baker case was recorded by the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary as the 14th of 61 documented lynchings in the United States during 1922.

No indication of arrest, trial, or conviction of any participant in the lynching is present in the available record.