‘Fire in a canebrake’ is quite a scorcher by Laura Wexler and which focuses on the last mass lynching which occurred in the American Deep South, the one in the heartland of rural Georgia, precisely Walton County, Georgia on 25th July, 1946, less than a year after the Second World War. Wexler narrates the story of the four black sharecroppers who met their end ‘at the hand of person’s unknown’ when an undisclosed number of white men simply shot the blacks to death. The author concentrates on the way…

"Without Sanctuary", a collection of photographs from lynchings throughout America. During the course of the article, the author, Benjamin Schwarz, outlined some very interesting and disturbing facts related to this gruesome act of violence: Between 1882 and 1930, more than 3,000 people were lynched in the U.S., with approximately 80% of them taking place in the South. Though most people think only African Americans were victims of lynchings, during those years, about 25% were white. Data indicates…

Lynching and Lynch Mobs Lily Chang, Kristine Chin, Novena Petryk-Cordi The Definition of Lynching To violently punish or execute, for real or alleged crimes, without due process (Encyclopedia.com) The Origin of the Lynch Mob One account of the origin of lynching is from an Englishman named Charles Lynch of Virginia. In 1687 he was sent to the colonies to end piracy. In his attempt, he hung every pirate he came across without a trial. Another account says that lynching was a process that evolved over…

Review: Lynching in the New South: Georgia and Virginia, 1880-1930 Between 1880 and 1930, lynching became not only a phenomenon but a way of life in the southern states. Lynching was racially motivated as it targeted mostly blacks. Within this 50 year period, 1000s of blacks and hundreds of whites were killed by lynch mobs within the southern states alone. Lynching was bloody and ruthless and a horrifying way to be executed. In Fitzhugh Brundage’s book, Lynching in the New South Georgia and Virginia…

Ida B. Wells-Barnett: The Lynching of Lynching During the latter 19th and early 20th centuries racism and racial segregation were considerable problems. Mob violence, including lynchings were responsible for the deaths of thousands of black men, women and children, often for crimes they had no part in or which were not even committed. Ida B. Wells-Barnett was born into slavery by James and Elizabeth Wells during the Civil War. She attended Rust College, which was partly founded by her father in…

Fire in A Canebrake: The Last Mass Lynching in America by Laura Wexler is about the lynching of four African- Americans: Roger Malcom, Dorothy Malcom, George Dorsey, and Mae Murray Dorsey. This occurred in Walton County on July 25, 1946 at the old Moore’s Ford Bridge. The lynching spurred a six month federal investigation in Walton and Oconee County, but eventually led to no convictions or arrest. The FBI had many prime suspects and prime witnesses, but the white community stuck together and the…

The Lynching Analysis Chloe Chrysikopoulos How to Read a Poem ARTL 100 October 31, 2014 As Ida B Wells said, “Our country 's national crime is lynching. It is not the creature of an hour, the sudden outburst of uncontrolled fury, or the unspeakable brutality of an insane mob.” Claude McKay in his sonnet The Lynching describes the gruesome reality of a lynching and how “it is not the creature of an hour, the sudden outburst of uncontrolled fury…” but simply white men, women, and…

"Without Sanctuary", a collection of photographs from lynchings throughout America. During the course of the article, the author, Benjamin Schwarz, outlined some very interesting and disturbing facts related to this gruesome act of violence: Between 1882 and 1930, more than 3,000 people were lynched in the U.S., with approximately 80% of them taking place in the South. Though most people think only African Americans were victims of lynchings, during those years, about 25% were white. Data indicates…

“The Lynching”, by Claude McKay, is a small sonnet composed of fourteen lines that share a rhyme scheme and a noticeable use of alliteration throughout it. This author’s poem describes the event that took place in many places that did not agree with the equal-existence of African Americans, especially when the white, Americans, were forced to treat them equally legally speaking. Throughout his sonnet, McKay successfully portrayed the pain and the way the world was viewed through the minorities’…

In the case of lynching, discourses emerge from heated debates about the meaning of the practice; these debates change over the long history of lynching in America. At different times in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the term “lynching” has implied rather different historical acts amongst the community. It has also been used to specify acts that indicated a wide range of distinct motives, strategies, technologies and meanings, as well as a politically encumbered term. For many African Americans…