Blog 4

Through a few classes I have taken here at Iowa as part of my History major and American Studies minor, I have some knowledge about lynching.  Nevertheless, despite the fact that I had previously seen most of the photos in this film, they are still as powerful as they were the first time I saw them.  Needless to say, when I saw these photos (both then and now), I came away with feelings of horror, disgust, and embarrassment that such atrocities occurred within our nation.  Additionally, when I viewed this video, it reminded me of my initial reactions to similar photos I viewed in other classes.  In one class we were shown infamous lynchings that occurred in places such as Omaha and Duluth.  Before this, I knew that racism spanned across the county; however, I was surprised to learn that such racist violence was not confined to the Deep South and that it had occurred in a city less than two hours away from my hometown.  Furthermore, when I saw these photos for the first time in other classes, I was also especially shocked to see that these lynchings were made into community events where parents brought their children.  In the end, this really opened my eyes to the extent in which racism was embedded in the American culture at the time as generation after generation was raised to hate African Americans and believe that lynching was an appropriate form of “justice.”