Lynchings in America
Here's an interesting piece I read today about the Senate voting tomorrow on a measure apologizing for lynchings that have occurred. It is truly disturbing to think this actually happened at one point in time. Hell, it was even acceptable...
As per the article, tomorrow one of the people involved in the "Mississippi Burning" lynching will go on trial. Here's a quote from this article regarding that -
In 1955, Roy Bryant and his half-brother, JW Milam, admitted in a magazine article they had killed Emmett - his 'crime' was to whistle at Roy's wife Carolyn in a drugstore. Their confession came two months after both men had been acquitted by an all-white, male jury who took 67 minutes to return the verdict.
That was only 50 years ago. To think a boy of 14 could be beaten and hanged simply because he whistled at a woman, and that a jury could acquit the men responsible without a second thought.
There was no federal law against lynching and most states refused to prosecute whites for killing black people. The House of Representatives three times agreed to make lynching a federal offense. Each time, the measure died in the Senate at the hands of southern members. Tomorrow, too late for Williams and the 4,742 others murdered by lynch mobs between 1882 and 1968, the Senate will vote on a motion apologizing for the failure to enact an anti-lynching law first proposed 105 years ago.
Mob killings were often carnival-like events. Refreshments were sold, trains made special trips to lynching sites, schools and businesses closed to let people attend. Newspapers ran adverts for them. Corpses were displayed for days. Victims' ears, fingers and toes became souvenirs.
Interestingly enough, according to the article this measure came to pass after members of the Senate saw the book "Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America", a collection of postcards taken at lynchings. Originally displayed in an art gallery, people found it highly offensive and thought it shouldn't be displayed. What is truly offensive is the acts that were committed against human beings, right here in our home.
The Observer Article
Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America
As per the article, tomorrow one of the people involved in the "Mississippi Burning" lynching will go on trial. Here's a quote from this article regarding that -
In 1955, Roy Bryant and his half-brother, JW Milam, admitted in a magazine article they had killed Emmett - his 'crime' was to whistle at Roy's wife Carolyn in a drugstore. Their confession came two months after both men had been acquitted by an all-white, male jury who took 67 minutes to return the verdict.
That was only 50 years ago. To think a boy of 14 could be beaten and hanged simply because he whistled at a woman, and that a jury could acquit the men responsible without a second thought.
There was no federal law against lynching and most states refused to prosecute whites for killing black people. The House of Representatives three times agreed to make lynching a federal offense. Each time, the measure died in the Senate at the hands of southern members. Tomorrow, too late for Williams and the 4,742 others murdered by lynch mobs between 1882 and 1968, the Senate will vote on a motion apologizing for the failure to enact an anti-lynching law first proposed 105 years ago.
Mob killings were often carnival-like events. Refreshments were sold, trains made special trips to lynching sites, schools and businesses closed to let people attend. Newspapers ran adverts for them. Corpses were displayed for days. Victims' ears, fingers and toes became souvenirs.
Interestingly enough, according to the article this measure came to pass after members of the Senate saw the book "Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America", a collection of postcards taken at lynchings. Originally displayed in an art gallery, people found it highly offensive and thought it shouldn't be displayed. What is truly offensive is the acts that were committed against human beings, right here in our home.
The Observer Article
Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America