Lynching in America
These photos show how dangerous it was to be an African American trying to become something during Jim Crow America. If you wanted to be anything more then a free slave you would be hunted down by the Ku Klux Klan and lynched. Although it was against the law, it seemed to have become socially acceptable because people were sending these pictures as postcards. Also, hangings were a spectacle. In many of the photos large groups of people crowed around to watch and stare at the bodies. These events were so open and public that even little girls attended them as seen in one of the photos. Most people that were in the pictures in the background and posing were whites. Even though while performing a lynching most people were masked, no one wore masks while going to look at one. This is because it was against the law and the people who preformed the lynchings didn’t want to be recognized since most of them were upstanding members of society, even police officers. It was not however, a bad thing to go see the aftermath of the lynching. This was because it was something many people were proud of. The notes on the postcards shoed that people were proud of this and that they wanted it to be seen. It is also seen in the pictures that not only were they hanged but burned, shot, and beaten. All of this shows how dangerous it was to be a minority, specifically African American during this time period when it wasn’t even safe to go to the police for help.
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