Lynching of an Unknown Man Present in a Family Album

The above photograph was taken from an Alabama family’s photo album.  The identity of the African American man in the photograph is unknown, as well as the date of the lynching; however, it is presumed to have taken place on September 3^rd, 1915.

Even though the photograph has little background information, it can speak towards the institutionalized racism amongst southern communities.  There is no name attached to the lynched man in the photograph; however, by the appearance of his clothes juxtaposed with his attackers, you can presume that he was of a lower socioeconomic standing.  Similarly, those in the photograph seem to be observing the lynched man with an indifferent, if not proud, demeanor.  Amongst the onlookers are some young boys, showing that fathers may have took their sons to the lynching to show display what they have done in a sense of “passing it down.”

The fact that this photograph was found within a family photo album speaks to this idea of passing down racist ideals.  The photographer, who may have been within the family, seems to have presented the photograph to the owner of the album in order to show off what they have done to an African American whose only crime may have been being in the wrong place at the wrong time.  There is no documentation of this event other than this photograph, which shows only that it happened and the pride of those involved through its presence in a family photo album.

The Lynching of W.C. Williams

This postcard depicts the lynching of W.C. Williams in Ruston Louisiana, on October 15, 1938. Of all the photographs I viewed, this one struck me most, first because the event it captures it took place later than any other in Allen’s collection. Our resource purports that Williams was most likely castrated before being hanged based on the blood dripping down his legs. A quick google search makes the photograph even more disturbing.

According to Northeastern University Law Schools’ database, Williams was a 19 year old African American who was not sound of mind. The lynching of Williams was orchestrated by three white male teenagers, in response to the recent killing of R.M. Blair, a white man, and the beating of his female companion. A lynch mob which grew to about 3,000 people disregarded the sheriff’s pleas for order, and Williams was tortured, shot, hanged, and ultimately burned to death. The image in the photograph is particularly graphic, as the angle of the shot reveals the torture Williams underwent prior to his death.

            The setting of the photograph seems to be a rural area, however, to draw such a crowd, the scene of the lynching must have been publicly accessible. The angle from which the photographer takes the photo is significant because it captures the gathered crowd, who all appear to be there for the spectacle. The fact that in 1938, areas like Ruston Louisiana could attract over 3,000 people to watch a gruesome lynching is astounding. It reveals the extensive racial tensions and white supremacy which pervaded in areas of the Deep South then, and continues in certain areas today. It really is quite horrifying to see both indifference and general revelry on the faces of those in the crowd. Even more upsetting is that the lynching was facilitated by three white teenagers who simply happened upon Williams while driving down a rural road. I do not know whether the three teenagers were the ones who ultimately killed Williams, but they initiated the lynching. This reveals social structures, especially in the South, in which being young, white, and male gives one an inordinate amount of power, and essentially shields one from the consequences of heinous actions.

            Williams was the complete opposite of the young males who initially captured him. He did not have the privilege of being white, or even sound of mind. This makes his lynching all the more disturbing. While one might think that he might be treated better as a result of his mental disability, I would venture to say that his disability and the color of his skinned combined perfectly in the minds of the gathered crown, and painted the picture of a deranged, deviant killer. And thus, he was castrated, like an animal that is not fit to breed. The dehumanization of Williams is beyond comprehension for me.

            While the photograph in and of itself is extremely disturbing, the context surrounding the events makes it even more so. What is most unsettling to me though, is that a culture existed in the United States even a century ago which was desensitized to not only the practice of lynching, but also to depictions of it in ways which painted spectators as highly amused, killers vigilante heroes, and victims as animals.

Additional info,

http://nuweb9.neu.edu/civilrights/louisiana/w-c-williams/

The Lynching of Rubin Stacy

The lynching of Rubin Stacy took place on July 19^th, 1935 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The events of that tragic day are as follows: Rubin Stacy, a homeless sharecropper in Fort Lauderdale had been going from house to house begging for food when he happened upon the home of Mrs. Marion Jones. When Stacy attempted to approach Mrs. Jones for food she became frightened and called the police. She explained, upon his arrest that he had been attempting to assault her and her three children and Stacy was thus promptly arrested. Later, as Stacy was being transported in the backseat of a police deputy’s car, a mob overtook- a questionable diagnosis, the vehicle and forcibly removed Stacy. Over one hundred masked men then proceeded to tear Stacy’s body to bits with bullets. Finally he was brought to a tree nearby the home of Mrs. Marion, effectively laying to rest this all-too-normal saga.

Upon examination this photograph provides many interesting details and insights into the disturbing world of ultra-violence and lynching culture during reconstruction in the United States. One of the first things that stands out are the spectators. They range in both age, gender, and dress. Rarely would you find such a diverse group outside a familial setting in this era. And with this observation, one finds the truth: a lynching was a domestic/familial affair. While it may have been teenage boys and men doing the killing, that is only because of gender norms of the time. Men, women, children, boys, and girls; all gathered around the flesh to celebrate their culture and heritage, not unlike a simple religious ritual. Which begs the question, did racism provide some sort of religiosity?

In this same vein, the actual setting is an equally important detail in understanding this horrible event. After Stacy was murdered and his body mutilated, he was brought back to where this incident began. There was a truly ritualistic aspect to these events. It seems almost symbolic or meaningful that Stacy is essentially returned home. And in that sense, he is no longer a person, but a sacrifice. He isn’t a man, or his crime, or his lack of crime, he is simply blackness. Rubin Stacy was not murdered for anything he did, he was killed for what he was. It is this disgusting mentality that truly defines this era and unifies this group of people.

Lastly, and probably most disturbing of all, it is important to look at the date, 1935. The young woman in this picture, maybe as little as ten years could very well still be alive today. It is easy to analyze and try to parse through lynchings as a relic of a barbaric, pre-modern era. But some of the people involved in this event truly could still be alive today. Contributing and respected members of our society.

"Geore and Ed Silsbee Hanged by a Mob of Citizen in Front of Jail" from Fort Scott, Kansas depicts two men hanging from trees while a large crowd of uniformly dressed men calmly surveys the scene. Even though there is a fallen fence in the foreground of the scene, it is incredibly structured and uniform. There are two dead bodies, but no suggestion of that the crowd surveying the bodies actually did the violence. The fact that it is in front of a jail also simultaneously aligns this lynching with an ordered system of justice while simultaneously showing the irrelevance of the system in justice in place. The well-organized mob transcends the jail and takes the place of the justice system.

The relative sterility and immobility of this postcard are similar to the Civil War photographs. Although technology at the time imposed a rigidness and ignorance of movement that photography today does not have, both sets of photographs still show an after-the-fact scene that only hits at who did the violence and how. While the Civil War photographs only showed the victims of the battle in question, these postcards only are able to show the victims of the lynching and the criminals in a non-dynamic relationship to each other. While the people in the mob are depicted as part of a cohesive community, the mutilated bodies are alienated, alone, and separated from both the perpetrators and each other. The Robertson article in the New York Times alluded to the function of lynchings as not a punishment system, but psychological tactic that would always serve to other black citizens and forcibly prevent real change from occurring. The alienated bodies portrayed in these postcards reflect the psychological warfare that accompanied the physical harm of lynchings. If a "good death" in Christian society is one surrounded by family, having a measure of control, and a prompt and proper burial, a death by lynching would be the complete opposite. Family members and members of the black community would also have to grapple with the threat of a spiritually unsatisfactory death, on top of an unjust killing, an immobilizing and immediate threat.

The Lynching of Rubin Stacy

This photograph shows the hanging of Rubin Stacy, a homeless tenant farmer, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on July 19, 1935. Stacy had gone to Mrs. Marion Jones' house to ask for food, when Mrs. Jones became frightened at the sight of Stacy's face. Six deputies were then escorting Stacy to the county prison when, as the deputies reported, a mob of 100 masked men ran the car off the road and proceeded to shoot Stacy before hanging him. The fact that six deputies were escorting Stacy to the county jail shows the extreme reactions that white Southerns had towards black Southerners. In very rare cases would the transportation of an individual necessitate the use of that many deputies.

In the context of this time period, the lynching was possibly carried out by the Ku Klux Klan. It is also possible that the masked mob was composed of violent white Southerners, not part of the Klan, who had heard about the encounter between Stacy and Mrs. Jones. The extremely violent reactions towards African Americans at this time in Southern history is one of the leading hindrances to the efficacy of Reconstruction. Although freed, black Southerners had few economic, social, and political opportunity and autonomy. Asking for help or even interacting with the wrong someone could result in a violent death for black Southern individuals such as Mr. Stacy. Reconstruction policies were intended to benefit black Americans but were often set up in a way where racism and violence could essentially halt any possible benefits of these policies.

The photograph displays Stacy's hanging body and his tied hands, while white spectators look amused, or at least not disturbed by the murderous and gruesome display they are gazing at. Shown in the photo are four young girls. Their presence is a testament to the attitude that white Southerners had towards black Southerners. That attitude is one of violence and a disregard for their livelihood and humanity. It is clear from the picture that none of the spectators feel remorse for Mr. Stacy.

The Lynching of Leo Frank

James Allen’s collection of images for his anthology “Without Sanctuary: Photographs and Postcards of Lynching in America”, while being profoundly disturbing, offers an interesting opportunity to examine the acts of racism, prejudice, violence and terrorism that occurred in our nation’s recent history. The images below, both of which were found on printed postcards, depict the highly publicized lynching of Leo Max Frank in August of 1915. The trial of Leo Frank is considered by many to be one of the most celebrated court battles of the twentieth century due to the fact that the cased called into question issues of anti-Semitism, lynching and general violence that were rampant during this time. Moreover, the case became incredibly polarizing as it played with the notion of religious freedom and acceptance during a time when Christianity was commonly viewed as the nation’s religion.

Frank, a young Jewish-American factory superintendent living in the thick of the Georgia countryside, was arrested for the murder of a young factory employee by the name of Mary Phagan in the spring of 1913. Minimal evidence was found linking Frank to the murder, however, it is widely accepted that anti-Semitism and racial/ religious profiling played into his conviction. As Allen described in his notes on the images, “[Frank partook in] a grotesquely engineered trail [which] led to [his] conviction and sentence of death by hanging. After the communication of his death sentence. Frank was transferred, for his own safety”(Allen 176). The mention of his transfer hints at the media coverage and national attention the Frank case was receiving by suggesting that the news could spur potential action. Moreover, the order for transfer highlights a fear, concern or simple acknowledgement of the threat of vigilante action and mob violence by law officials of the time. Despite the attempt to protect Frank by moving him off-site, a gang of Marietta’s most hate-filled citizens banded together to lynch Frank on the evening of August 16^th.  As Allen writes, “a gang of some twnty-five men, some of Marietta, Georgia’s ‘best citizens’, wearing goggles and hats pulled down low, pulled Frank from a hospital bed… placed him, feeble, undressed, and handcuffed, in one of four waiting cars… intending to hand him over the monument of Mary Phagan.” (Allen 176).

When analyzing the images of Franks murder, it is important to comment on the text that has been imposed over the image that reads “The End of Leo Frank”. The rhetoric in that sentence seems to suggest a notion of closure that is meant to accompany the image for any receiver of this card. Declaring this the “End of Leo Frank” rather than the “murder”, or the “dehumanization”, suggests that his end brings with it a certain level of peace. In Allen’s notes on the postcard, he notes that the photos of this lynching were widely consumed and sold outside the undertaking establishment in Marietta that his body had been taken to. This fact, while rather vague and interpretable, seems to suggest that the owners of the establishment did not lose much sleep over profiting off the unlawful murder of a seemingly innocent man. While the Leo Frank case spurred much controversy and became a focal point of the national discourse, opinions on the matter were relatively uniform in the South so it is not all that surprising that his death would be commoditized. Another interesting point worth mentioning about the photographs is the amount of spectators that were included in the images. To me, this served as a symbol of the lynch mob culture that existed in Southern American culture during and throughout the 18^th, 19^th and 20^th centuries. The rather unaffected and sometimes cheerful faces that dot the images are in many ways deeply disturbing and speak to the widespread acceptance of the brutal and barbaric practice of lynching.