lynching

Emmett Till Family Responds to Death of Carolyn Bryant Donham

The Rev. Wheeler Parker Jr., a cousin of the slain youth, expressed regret that no one would be held accountable for the killing, but reminded that there remains a collective accountability for overcoming racial injustice. 

DeSantis's War on "Woke" Evokes Darkest Parts of Florida's History

by Carol Anderson

Calling DeSantis's agenda a "culture war" obscures the fact that is in fact a war against the marginalized, an effort to narrow the definition of who counts as a Floridian and whom the state will serve and protect, with the right to vote at the center. 

The Jim Crow Reign of Terror

by Eric Foner

While the scope and horror of lynching has recently become acknowleged and memorialized, there is a parallel and more pervasive history, which Margaret Burhnam investigates, of racist terror carried out under color of law. 

A Win in the Battle to Commemorate a Notorious Waco, TX Lynching

For decades, activists fought for public acknowledgment of the lynching of teenaged Jesse Washington in 1916. Against the current of efforts to suppress the history of racist violence, a marker was unveiled this week. Historians Patricia Bernstein, William Carrigan and James SoRelle were involved in the effort. 

Monuments to the Unthinkable

by Clint Smith

German and European memorials to the Holocaust contrast starkly with an American memorial culture where the Confederate dead are revered, former slave plantations are tourist attractions, and state legislatures are seeking to ban the teaching of the nation's history in full. 

Koritha Mitchell Discusses Representation of Racist Violence and "Till"

Prof. Mitchell and host Karen Hunter discuss who the audience is for "Till" and whether movies about lynching are needed today. 

A Lesson in Humility and Justice

by Imani Pery

Margaret Burnham's study of lynching and of the legal sanction given to racist violence stands in a long tradition of African American intellectuals who have recognized the need to study society in order to change it. 

Law Professor Unearths Murder Cases from Jim Crow Era

Margaret Burnham has been appointed by President Biden to a five-person Civil Rights Cold Case Review Board to increase public access to records of unsolved racially motivated crimes. 

Education or Trauma: Debating the Movie Presentation of "Till"

Despite the violence and brutality of the subject matter, historian Keisha Blain calls the upcoming Emmett Till film essential viewing in a time when it can't be assumed that everyone knows the story. 

Filmmaker Hopes Emmett Till Movie Will Spur New Evidence and Will to Pursue Justice

Filmmaker Keith Beauchamp hopes to "shake the trees so that a justice-seeking atmosphere could be formed that will allow people to feel comfortable coming forward with new evidence on the case.”

Emmett Till's Lynching Catalyzed the Reactionary Denunciation of the "Liberal Media"

by Chris Lamb

To reactionary Southerners and white supremacists, media accounts of Emmett Till's murder had to be dismissed as "fake news" and countered with their own misinformation. 

Till's Accuser's Memoir Shows the Pandora's Box She Opened has Never Closed

by Peniel E. Joseph

"What does it say about America that we are still in search of justice for the victim of an almost 70-year-old crime that helped spark the modern civil rights movement?"

Charles Blow: Don't Shed Tears for Carolyn Bryant Donham

In a newly-discovered unpublished memoir, the woman who accused Emmett Till of making sexual advances presents a self-serving account of her role in the events that led to his murder. 

Mississippi AG Will Not Reopen Till Lynching Case Despite Discovered Warrant for Carolyn Donham

The state's top prosecutor said that despite the discovery of the warrant and the publication of Ms. Donham's memoir, the woman at the center of the Till lynching will not be prosecuted. 

Unserved Warrant for Carolyn Bryant Donham's Arrest in Till Lynching Discovered in Box in Courthouse Basement

The 1955 document demonstrates that the authorities in Leflore County believed that Donham, for whose honor the lynching was allegedly carried out, was present for the teenager's abduction, torture, or murder. 

In one Family's Photo Album: A Wedding, An Anniversary, and a Lynching in Texas

by Jeffrey J. Littlejohn

The author set out to identify the victim of a lynching pictured in a family photoalbum. This project – pointing out the normalcy and pervasiveness of violence as a tool of white supremacy – could be illegal for a K-12 teacher in Texas today.

New Documentary Highlights Unsolved Civil Rights-Era Murder

Black citizens in Natchez, Mississippi secretly organized for community self-defense in 1965, risking certain reprisals from local whites. Wharlest Jackson was killed by a car bomb in an act of intimidation that was never solved. 

Black Activists Used Lynching Souvenirs to Expose America's Racist Violence

Filmmaker Christine Turner has examined the souvenir postcards produced at lynchings for evidence of the planning and community sanction given to racist terrorism. 

Ida B. Wells Became the Last Hope for 12 Men Convicted of False Charges During Elaine, Ark. Massacre

"Did Wells, an unflinching woman who had traveled the country to investigate the ruthless barbarity of white mobs in other lynchings and massacres, have that much power to save these Black men on death row in Arkansas?"

Justice Department Closes Emmett Till Investigation Without Charges

Historian Timothy Tyson wrote in a 2017 book that witness Carolyn Bryant Donham disavowed her testimony that Till had grabbed her and made suggestive remarks before he was lynched. The DOJ has said that materials given them by Tyson did not corroborate the claim of a recantation.