Luke Murray: Lynched for Being Popular in 1932 Ohio

In 1932, 24-year-old Luke Murray left his home in Georgia to travel with the wealthy white family he worked for — the Davidsons. He was their chauffeur. Their trusted employee. He helped raise their child. But when they brought him to Ohio, that trust became a target. What happened to Luke Murray wasn’t an accident. It was a message. A punishment for proximity. For dignity. For being a Black man who didn’t "know his place."

This is the final story in the series When the Law Leaves Us — a story not just of violence, but of erasure. The law didn’t just abandon Luke. It vanished.

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Sources Consulted:
This story was developed using archival newspaper coverage, public records, and several historical scholarly sources. News content was accessed through a licensed subscription to Newspapers.com. Special thanks to Brent M. S. Campney, whose research in Hostile Heartland: Racism, Repression, and Resistance in the Midwest provided essential context for understanding racial violence outside the South — and the erasure that followed. The framing, interpretation, and storytelling are original to this platform.