Without Sanctuary: Photographs and Postcards of Lynchings in America

12dn94dst · #1 05-05-2002, 02:10 PM

This exhibit is currently being shown until December 31, 2002 at the Martin Luther King National Historic Site here in Atlanta.

for more information: www.withoutsanctuary.com

For some of the pictures in the exhibit the victim's story is included. Information like their name, family information, where they lived and what they did for a living.

Honeykiss1974 · #2 05-05-2002, 03:57 PM

Thanks for posting this link. These postcards are powerful reminders of how truly blessed we are to have come so far from such savaged times, but yet it reminds me of the work that still needs to be done.

QUEENSUE · #3 05-08-2002, 02:25 PM

It angers me still to see what has happened in this "Land of the Free." To think that these images were just a few of the many senseless demeaning distgusting acts that have occured.

We must also take into consideration that these aren't from long ago, some of the pictures date as recently as 1935

.

I have e-mailed it to many friends. I suggest everyone pass it on.

Knowledge is Power

CrimsonTide4 · #4 05-08-2002, 02:29 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by QUEENSUE
We must also take into consideration that these aren't from long ago, some of the pictures date as recently as 1935 .

There are lynchings that took place in the 90s but they tried to pass it off as suicide.

James Byrd might have been a dragging but I called it a lynching too.

Bobby Earl · #5 05-08-2002, 06:20 PM

What really gets me are the profiling and poses that the mob takes for the picture. They are standing like they are at a graduation ceremony or one of the proudest moments of their life.

There has been many lynchings in the 90's similiar to that of the early 1900's, but the true philosophy is "Why lynch when you can imprison a man" for 30+ years.

I can't even imagine what type of mindset blacks were in to know, see, and live with loss of a love one in such a SICK manner. That doesn't even count the feeling of knowing it could happen to you at any time.

TLAW · #6 05-08-2002, 09:51 PM

Sick as it is, we need these reminders of where we've come from as a people. Bobby Earl, the poses got to you too? Like we were some hunting prize.
Sadly, there still are some people who would still do this, if they could get away with it, in more ways than one. The chain remains...

AKA2D '91 · #7 05-11-2002, 10:16 AM

CNN had a segment this morning of the exhibit. They showed Prince Adrew of England with Dr. King's children viewing the pictures. Like many others, he was not able to complete the viewing.

The picture I saw where the person was hung from a bridge had me CU.

It was reported that it took alot of debate to get this exhibition a reality. There was fear that "old wounds" would open...SO FREAKING WHAT? That's the problem. Mofo's want chit swept under the rug.

I would just hope and pray that this Generation Y or Z (especially OUR kids), whatever they are being called would see these photos and understand that what happened WAS REAL. They need to realize that history "can and does" repeat itself. If they don't take themselves and life a little more seriously, anything can happen.

Oh, this one guy interviewed said that from some of the pictures, some of the whites who took part in some of the lynchings are still alive. He went on to say that information has been given to the FBI. Yet, the FBI has given them excuse after excuse as to why these people have not been brought forth for the crimes committed.

http://www.cnn.com/2002/US/05/10/lyn...bit/index.html

MavenofDrec · #8 05-13-2002, 01:12 AM

I know this is going to be controversial, but as black women you may get my point....

As heinous as these savage crimes were, many of the lynching victims were accused of some form of sexual perpetration on a white woman.

How is it that in the year 2002 so many of our black men are still "dying" to be with white women?

I am sorry if my comment offends anyone but, I cannot ignore the correlation that exists here.

TLAW · #9 05-13-2002, 01:32 AM

AKA2D '91, it would seem that it is our Caucasian brethren who always warn of reopening old wounds. Wounds they inflicted. Now, isn't that funny?
I have to disagree with Maven. The myth of black men "dying" to be with white women is just that - myth. I think that is to generalized of a statement. I believe a man should pursue a love interest regardless of race. At the same time, there is nothing more beautiful on earth than a black woman. No doubt about that.
This myth did lead to many lynching. Think Rosewood, or the teenage boy who was lynched for looking at a white woman "inappropriately". Still, this that we dream solely of being with white women is untrue. I have nothing against white women, but I just never was attracted to them. I guess it't the African in me... the love of curves! However, what if I am? Does that make me less of a "black" man?
Most of us are Equal Opportunity. Yet, a black woman with a white man would probably raise more eyebrows than the reverse situation. The interracial thing is something that still is frowned upon, by both sides, if you may.
To summarize, let a man have the perfect woman. Black or white.

TLAW · #10 05-13-2002, 01:39 AM

It burns my soul that one of the photgraphs was labeled "Coon Cooking" and marketed as a postcard. To see my people murdered as public entertainment brings tears to my eyes.

TLAW · #11 05-13-2002, 02:05 AM

"A real photographic postcard bearing this image falsely attributes the location of and motive for the lynching. The typed inscription on the reverse reads, "Four Niggers hanged by a mob in the State of Georgia for assaulting a white woman." In fact this lynching occurred in Kentucky, and the men were known for their public criticism of the whiterun legal system-this is the most likely reason they were executed. The false information reflects a common justification for lynching in the South-that blacks were inferior and sexually uncontrollable. Such justification by southern leaders fostered the misconception that blacks were lynched predominantly for sexual assault, but few lynching victims were actually convicted or even indicted for such crimes."

CrimsonTide4 · #12 05-13-2002, 07:46 AM

I remember learning that lynching was less about Black men and white women and more about economics or Black men trying to be men in terms of land. I was taught this by my high school history professor.

MavenofDrec · #13 05-14-2002, 09:12 PM

Crimson Tide,

I am in no way trying to discredit your comment, or what your history professor taught you, but I seriously doubt that lynchings occured because of land or economics. But then again, there is so much convoluted rationality in the minds of the devils who commited these crimes that anything is possible. Even worse, these "people" believed that they were commiting these acts in the name of God.

CrimsonTide4 · #14 05-14-2002, 09:22 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by MavenofDrec
Crimson Tide,

I am in no way trying to discredit your comment, or what your history professor taught you, but I seriously doubt that lynchings occured because of land or economics. But then again, there is so much convoluted rationality in the minds of the devils who commited these crimes that anything is possible. Even worse, these "people" believed that they were commiting these acts in the name of God.

Let me explain. Some of the men were lynched out of land greed. There were Blacks with land and whites were jealous and pissed (Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry Series is a good example) and whites either burned down the land or lynched the male land owner which would scare the rest of the family away.

Also when Blacks began to compete with whites for certain jobs and some white men lost their jobs, white men struck back with a rope and a tree.

There was definitely the sexual element there as well. There is no disputing that aspect at all.

straightBOS · #15 05-14-2002, 09:34 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by MavenofDrec
Crimson Tide,

I am in no way trying to discredit your comment, or what your history professor taught you, but I seriously doubt that lynchings occured because of land or economics. But then again, there is so much convoluted rationality in the minds of the devils who commited these crimes that anything is possible. Even worse, these "people" believed that they were commiting these acts in the name of God.

Actually perception can be more powerful than reality, if we let it. It is easier to bring the whole fam. Ma, Pa and Lil' Billy to a public lynching if you have rationalized it in your mind. If lil' Suzie seems to be sicken at the sight of a man being hanged to death with his eyes open, you can quell her tears and nightmares with the belief that you may have saved her from being raped or even approached by this man. Bebe Moore Campbell's "Your Blues Ain't Like Mine" takes a look at this by reworking the Emmitt Till case through her characters, it was a good read.

Indeed, Black men could have been lynched for land, money, power, etc. And the easiest why to mobilize and angry mob, even amongst moderates, is to get them to believe that a sexual assault may have taken place.