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July 19, 2005
Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America
Several years ago I worked for an auction company in Minnesota. Part of my job was helping to empty the house and arrange the property for sale. While we were boxing up a bookshelf some papers and photographs fell out of one of the books, and we gave them to the property owner, an elderly lady. She showed us one of the photographs, and it left an indelible print on my mind.
The photograph was taken following the unjust lynching of three young black men in Duluth, MN. Surrounding the lifeless bodies of the victims were several men, obviously jubilant at being part of the crowd. Since seeing that, my mind has been full of questions, mostly centering around what drives people to commit such horrible acts.
"Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America" is one of those "lest we not forget" moments. The photographs are chilling, the stories behind them, even more so. How "civilized" people can behave so barbarically without the slightest regard for another human being is something I doubt I'll ever be able to wrap my brain around. This book is sure to change the readers view of the world as we know it, it surely did mine.
Posted by Anna at July 19, 2005 1:11 PM