The Lynching of Allen Brooks Captured On a Postcard

Postcard of a photograph taken in 1910 showing Allen Brooks
hanging from Elk's Arch during lunchtime in Dallas, Texas

This image, like all of the lynching postcards collected by James Allen, is incredibly disturbing.  As shown above, the scene is of a large crowd of white individuals in Dallas, Texas in 1910 who all seem to be going about their daily business despite the naked, African American male hanging dead from the prominent landmark of Elk’s Arch.  However, perhaps even more chilling and horrifying are the words that were penciled in on the collected postcard.  On the front, the boarder of the image is inscribed with the wording, “All OK and would like to get a post from you. Bill, this was some Raw Bunch.”  This very casual description placed on such a vivid image is quite shocking to the modern day viewer, however intense scenes such as this were not all that uncommon in the South in the early 20^th century. 

         
            Yet today, most people are either unaware or have chosen to forget that such forms of terrorism and violence took place in the United States.  Personally, I think this comes from an overwhelming desire to see ourselves as the good guys.  We want to remember the times that we were heroic and forget the ugly times that make us cringe.  Interestingly, photography can be used for this exact purpose, as it allows us to freeze a moment in time that we can later look back at and reflect upon.

            Gruesomely, it is possible that the photographer of this particular image wanted to do just that.  As a little background on the pictured event, Allen Brooks had been accused of killing the three-year old daughter of his employer and during his trial, had been abducted and lynched by an angry mob of 200 individuals.  These men wanted justice for the murder they claimed had occurred and yet there was little attention paid to the fact that Brooks was likely innocent.  The man who found Brooks with the girl claimed there were marks on her that indicated Brooks was responsible for her death and, whether true or not, that was all the racist mob needed to justify killing and hanging the African American in the public setting which they did.  Many of them were even outwardly proud of this “accomplishment”.  This may be exactly why the photograph was taken as an attempt to highlight the success of catching and killing an animal and murder such as Brooks.  As written on the back of the postcard by one lunchtime spectator to his friend, "Well John - This is a token of a great day we had in Dallas, March 3, a negro was hung for an assault on a three year old girl. I saw this on my noon hour. I was very much in the bunch. You can see the negro hanging on a telephone pole. "  Thus it almost becomes clear that this image was a proud moment for most of those involved.  This is truly horrifying and disturbing and yet it tells an honest truth about the United States.  It tells us, in an image, that our history is full of violent and viscous acts that have somehow led us to where we are today.