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 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 . . .

 

 

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

 

 
 

Sherrilyn Ifill, Associate Professor of Law (BA, 1984, Vassar College; JD, 1987, New York University), is a civil rights lawyer and professor of law at the University of Maryland School of Law in Baltimore. Professor Ifill is nationally recognized as an advocate in the areas of civil rights, voting rights, judicial diversity and judicial decision-making. She teaches Civil Procedure and a seminar on Reparations, Reconstruction and Resolution of Justice. Professor has also taught Constitutional Law, Environmental Justice, Complex Litigation, as well as seminars on Voting Rights, Equal Protection, and Judicial Decision-making.

Professor Ifill co-founded with Professor Michael Pinard the Reentry of Ex-Offenders Clinic. She writes about judicial diversity and decision-making, as well as racial violence and reconciliation efforts. Her articles about judicial diversity and impartiality have led to Professor Ifill’s recognition as an expert on these subjects.http://www.law.umaryland.edu/faculty_profile.asp?facultynum=069

 

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