Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America

[twitchy]

Wanted to share this and wasn't sure where to put it.

Warning: this is disturbing.

I had heard that souvenir postcards were made of lynchings and that people used to pose with the bodies much in the manner of hunting trophies. Then I came across this site in which someone has gathered these things together into a kind of online museum. The true magnitude of the horror just kept growing as I looked at photo after photo. People brought their children to these events as some sort of entertainment. Some of these mob scenes clearly have hundreds if not thousands of people in them.

Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America
http://www.withoutsanctuary.org/

[Luna]

Sickening

[heart_leigh]

That was really sickening. I stopped looking after a couple of photos. I couldn't bear it any longer. The way the people in the background just stood there as if the lynchings were a normal occurence. My gosh! What an awful time for any African-American.

[Miss Kitty]

Absolutely horrifying. I couldn't get through all the pics either. Unfortunately at first I thought it was an African American prejudice issue also. But it was not exclusive to those unfortunates. I think people just lost their freaking minds in general for that era. no method to their madness, just bigotry, idiocy, and malicous intent towards anyone unlike themselves in general

[sweetrebel]

Public hangings were the social gatherings back in the day. And your right, Miss K, it wasn't just blacks-there were white people and I'm almost positive American Indians as well.
You think that society has evolved, but if you get down to the nitty gritty, so much is still the same. If this was done today, how many 'civilized' people do you think would turn out for it?

[Miss Kitty]

Originally Posted by sweetrebel

Public hangings were the social gatherings back in the day. And your right, Miss K, it wasn't just blacks-there were white people and I'm almost positive American Indians as well.
You think that society has evolved, but if you get down to the nitty gritty, so much is still the same. If this was done today, how many 'civilized' people do you think would turn out for it?

Social gatherings for hangings was the mentality back in the day. But as if that wasn't bad enough, what kind of mind would it take to think making postcards from it was something anyone should do? And I am sorry to say I don't think society has evolved as much as some might think they have...even people who complain about the majority discriminating against them, still discriminate amongst themselves.... there is still much evolving to take place, when as you say, it comes down to the nitty gritty. to me, it's all very sad that we can't just deal with people individually without catororgizing everyone first, and then making judgments on them based upon this, that, the other thing and blah blah blah.

[buttmunch]

People went to all sorts of crazy places back then, like churches and town fairs.