TRIGGER WARNING: This topic concerns violent hate crimes perpetrated by white supremacists in efforts to assert and maintain a racial status quo. These materials contain historical overviews, anecdotal and physical evidence, and first-person accounts of violence and impact of that trauma. Additionally they may include images and/or video clips of of the victims, effigies, or celebratory behaviors by the perpetrators. We acknowledge that this content may be disturbing for readers/viewers.
This month's topic is Mass Lynchings. An excerpt from the 2021 calendar states:
"Reconstruction, the 12-year period following the Civil War, failed to provide freedom and opportunity for formerly enslaved Black people. Instead, white resentment of social, political, and economic gains for Black people fueled racial terror violence and mass lynchings well into the 20th century. The white press often intentionally mislabeled lawless massacres as "riots" and the perpetrators acted with impunity."
This LibGuide's is intended to provide resources to explore the Black experience during the Reconstruction Era, how this terror and violence impacted Black communities, and how these events survive in collective memory and intergenerational trauma.
"The aftermath of these massacres continues to shape community dynamics today, but most communities have not engaged in honest truth-telling about this history or made adequate reparations for the extreme harm and damages caused." -- A Racial History of Injustice 2021
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