The Relationship Between the Criminal Justice System and Lynching in Louisiana: 1880-1930
So here it is, I am just posting it here with a read more tab because I am not sure how else to do it. This way anyone who is interested can read it. As you read it note that I do not claim to be an expert on this subject and there are many things I would change if I had more time with the subject. I didn’t want to post this but after the Trayvon Martin in Florida, I felt obligated. While some would not make the connection between this paper and the young man’s death, use of a system of informal justice based on fear motivated by racial control with little consequence in the formal legal system is a large theme in my paper. This means that when George Zimmerman shot an unarmed black teenage boy on the street at night, I believe he was motivated by the same irrational racist fear that many in the lynch mobs in my paper felt. I just hope that he receives the punishment that he deserves unlike those who perpetrated these crimes almost one hundred years ago.
The Relationship Between the Criminal Justice System and Lynching in Louisiana: 1880-1930
Claire Bradach, Portland State University
The New York Times reported on March 4th 1909 that “Hangman’s Day,” in which seven African American men would be executed in Louisiana would be held the following day in various counties in throughout the state.
……I did it!
I finished my paper after a long and hard battle with this research. In reality ten weeks is a ridiculous amount of time to attempt to write an original research paper of this kind. I tried to base my research on primary documents, mostly newspaper articles, as well as reliable secondary sources. I can’t say that it is perfect, but I got an A!
Update: Week 9
So I have neglected this blog a bit recently, but I don’t feel bad because I have been writing my research paper DUH! Turning in the first draft last Monday I was relieved to have it off my hands for a bit. I am presenting a Powerpoint presentation of my research tomorrow and I will definitely post it up here when I am finished. I am not sure how to add notes to the presentation but I definitely want to make sure my notes are included with anything that I post.
The great enemy of truth is very often not the lie—deliberate, contrived and dishonest—but the myth, persistant, persuasive and unrealistic.John F. Kennedy, 1962
”TAKEN FROM DEATH,” LYNCHING AT RUSSELLVILLE,
LOGAN COUNTY, KENTUCKY, JULY 31. 1908.
HANGED ON THE OLD PROCTOR LYNCHING TREE. THIS IS A MULTIPLE CEDAR TREE AND THESE FOUR MAKE A TOTAL OF NINE MEN LYNCHED ON THIS TREE, SOME WERE WHITE MEN. THIS TREE IS AN OLD LAND MARK AND WAS AN OLD CEDAR TREE, EVEN IN THE YOUNGEST DAYS OF THE OLDEST SETTLERS.
RUSSELLVILLE IS ONE OF THE PIONEER TOWNS OF KENTUCKY AND WAS SETTLED IN A CANE BRAKE. THIS IS THE EXACT PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN AT DAWN AUG. 1, 08.
COPYRIGHT 1908, BY JACK MORTON, SALESMAN, STAHLMAN BUILDING,
NASHVILLE, TENN. U.S.A
This is a postcard depicting a lynching sold as a souvenir.
A work in progress.
Today we each presented to the class in order to finalize our research topics and receive any feedback or criticism pertaining to our research. My presentation went well but I am still working on narrowing my topic. Some would think that the relationship between the criminal justice system and lynching in Louisiana from 1900 to 1930 is a pretty narrow topic but as I am reading more sources I realize that I will need to be more concise in just twenty pages. I am considering focusing on the rituals used in lynchings, which often mimicked those of formal capital punishment.
I started this blog in order to organize my thoughts and keep track of primary sources. Many of the things I post on here I will not actually be able to use in my research, as they concern other states or periods of time, but I want to post them in order to remember the purpose of my research. The lynchings that occurred in the South were examples of systemic extra-legal violence that were usually condoned, participated in, or ignored by the community as a whole while victims of lynch mobs lost their lives in a process that rendered them unable to receive the rights of due process granted to them under the United States Constitution.
