|
Sherrilyn A. Hill.
On the Courthouse Lawn: Confronting the Legacy of
Lynching in the Twentieth-First Century. Boston:
Beacon Press, 2007. 204p.
Reviews
Nearly 5,000 black Americans were lynched between 1890
and 1960, and as Sherrilyn Ifill argues, the effects of
this racial trauma continue to resound. While the
lynchings were devastating, the little-known
contemporary consequences, such as the marginalization
of political and economic development for blacks, are
equally pernicious. Ifill traces the lingering effects
of two lynchings in Maryland to illustrate how
ubiquitous this history is, and issues a clarion call
for the many American communities with histories of
racial violence to be proactive in facing this legacy.
Inspired by South Africa"s Truth and Reconciliation
Commission and techniques of restorative justice, Ifill
provides concrete ideas for communities, including
placing gravestones on the unmarked burial sites of
lynching victims, issuing public apologies, establishing
mandatory school programs on the local history of
lynching, financially compensating those whose family
homes or businesses were destroyed in the aftermath of
lynching, and creating commemorative public spaces. A
landmark book, On the Courthouse Lawn is a much-needed
roadmap to help communities finally confront lynching"s
long shadow by embracing pragmatic reconciliation and
reparation efforts.
—Jacket Cover
In calm, objective, but no less moving detail, Ifill"s
book provides the stories that illuminate the
photographs and postcards of lynchings.
—Derek Bell,
author of Faces at the Bottom of the Well
On the
Courthouse Lawn is an elegantly written and persuasively
argued case for local communities to confront their
history of lynching and racial violence as a means of
healing race relations.
—Mary Frances
Berry, Geraldine R. Segal Professor of American Social
Thought and Professor of History, University of
Pennsylvania
Professor Ifill has written a sobering and eye opening
book on one of America's darkest secrets. On the
Courthouse Lawn offers a compelling examination of
lynchings, and describes the failure of people and
institutions to adequately address one of America's
tragedies. Racial amnesia would suggest we forget this
history. Professor Ifill assures us that we can't— and
should not—forget it. This is a must read for anyone
willing to examine our history carefully and learn from
it."
—Professor Charles J. Ogletree, Jr., Executive Director
of the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and
Justice
*
* * * *
Contents
| Introduction |
IX |
| |
|
| Part I |
|
| A SEASON OF MADNESS: TWENTIETH-CENTURY
LYNCHING ON THE EASTERN SHORE |
|
| |
|
| Chapter 1 |
|
| A CONVERSATION ON RACE: LYNCHING AND THE
COURTHOUSE LAWN |
3 |
| |
|
| Chapter 2 |
|
| MOB RULE ON THE SHORE, 1931-1933 |
24 |
| |
|
| Chapter 3 |
|
| A CONSPIRACY OF SILENCE: ORDINARY PEOPLE
AND COMPLICITY IN LYNCHING |
57 |
| |
|
| Chapter 4 |
|
| "THE LAW IN ALL ITS MAJESTY |
74 |
| |
|
| Chapter 5 |
|
| "SERVING THE PENINSULA": LOCAL
NEWSPAPERS AND LYNCHING |
105 |
| |
|
| Part 2 |
|
| TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION FOR LYNCHING IN
THE TWENTIETH-FIRST CENTURY |
|
| |
|
| Chapter 6 |
|
| RECONCILIATION AND LYNCHING IN
INTERNATIONAL CONTEXT |
117 |
| |
|
| Chapter 7 |
|
| BREAKING THE SILENCE: "WORDS ARE THE
MOST POWERFUL TOOLS OF ALL" |
132 |
| |
|
| Chapter 8 |
|
| CONFRONTING THE ROLE OF INSTITUTIONS IN
RACIAL/ETHNIC VIOLENCE |
154 |
| |
|
| Chapter 9 |
|
| RECONCILIATION IN THE TWENTY-FIRST
CENTURY |
173 |
| |
|
| Acknowledgements |
177 |
| |
|
| Notes |
179 |
| |
|
| Index |
192 |
Source:
Sherrilyn A. Hill.
On the Courthouse Lawn: Confronting the Legacy of
Lynching in the Twentieth-First Century. Boston:
Beacon Press, 2007.
posted 2 February 2007 |
