Lynching and spectacle: witnessing racial violence in America, 1890-1940

Abstract

"This title presents public reinforcement of white supremacy. Lynch mobs in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century America often exacted horrifying public torture and mutilation on their victims. In Lynching and Spectacle, Amy Wood explains what it meant for white Americans to perform and witness these sadistic spectacles and what they derived from them. Lynching, Wood argues, overlapped with a wide range of cultural practices and performances, both traditional and modern, including public executions, religious rituals, photography, and cinema. The connections between lynching and these practices encouraged the horrific violence committed and gave it social acceptability. Wood expounds on the critical role lynching spectacles played in establishing and affirming white supremacy at the turn of the century, particularly in towns and cities experiencing great social instability and change. She also shows how the national dissemination of lynching images fueled the momentum of the anti lynching movement and ultimately led to the decline of lynching. By examining lynching spectacles alongside both traditional and modern practices and within both local and national contexts, Wood reconfigures our understanding of lynching's relationship to modern life"--Provided by publisher.

Contents

Introduction -- Part I: Spectacle. They want to see the thing done : public executions ; A hell of fire upon earth : religion -- Part II: Witnessing. The spectator has a picture in his mind to remember for a long time : photography ; They never witnessed such a melodrama : early moving pictures ; With the roar of thunder : The birth of a nation -- Part III: Bearing witness. We wanted to be boosters and not knockers : photography and antilynching activism ; Bring home to America what mob violence really means : Hollywood's spectacular indictment -- Conclusion.