Introduction

The source of this study is a collection of postcards and photographs that produced four exhibitions, a book and a website.1 The collection is owned by James Allen and John Littlefield, and represents lynchings that took place between 1870 and 1960 in the United States .

On the left is a postcard of the lynching of Elias Clayton, Elmer Jackson, and Isaac McGhie, June 15, 1920 , Duluth , Minnesota . On the right is a postcard of the burning corpse of William Brown, September 28, 1919 , Omaha , Nebraska . Images 28 and 97 in ed. By James Allen, Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America ( Santa Fe : Twin Palms Publishers, 2000) and http://www.musarium.com/withoutsanctuary/main.html

Although the exhibitions, book and website focused on the persecution of African Americans in the Southern United States , they raised wider historical issues among reviewers, academics, and the public. Dora Apel suggests that examining ‘the historic specificity of lynching practice in the U.S. ,' reveals it as ‘not a black problem but an American problem.'2

These very issues were also addressed at Emory University in Atlanta. Allen and Littlefield had placed the collection on long-term loan with the special collections department of Woodruff Library (Emory) in 1998. Some faculty declined to be interviewed, however, Mark Bauerlein and Natasha Barnes, Professor and Assistant Professors of English respectively, did make some interesting comments. Barnes commented on the dangers of the images producing ‘cheap conversations about race relations,' because of the emotional impact of viewing them in isolation: ‘we're dwelling too much on the horror.' Bauerlein too, suggested the emotional impact might be counter-productive: ‘It prevents the images from being historical material, forming an important part of U.S. history.' 3

This website explores the wider historical context through the lens of material culture studies. Using the menu on the left-hand-side of the page will guide you through this process.