Lynching: America's Ugly Chapter on NIGHTLINE Tonight

(from Nightline E-Mail)

LYNCHING: AMERICA'S UGLY CHAPTER
Feb. 23, 2005


Southern trees bear a strange fruit
Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,
Black body swinging in the Southern breeze,
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees...



This is the first verse of "Strange Fruit," and if you are a jazz fan, or just a music lover of a certain age, you have probably heard it, and if you have heard it you cannot forget it. Written by a high school English teacher and closet Communist named Abel Meeropol, it became Billie Holiday's signature tune. In her plaintive voice, it became a lament, a cry of protest, and an expression of rage against the killing of thousands of black men (as well as women, children and men of other races) in the first half of the 20th century. But as David Margolick points out in his wonderful memoir of the song, Billie Holiday was, as she herself recalled later, afraid to sing it at first. She had added it to her repertoire in 1939, the same year the film "Gone With the Wind" appeared, with its fiercely racist images of blacks and glorification of the Ku Klux Klan. Radio refused to play the song, and people often walked out of her performances when she sang it. Once a woman even attacked her after a performance, ripping Holiday's dress, and screaming and crying that the song had brought up horrible memories of a lynching she had witnessed and hoped to forget.

As crazy as it sounds, that unnamed woman stands for the attitude of many Americans in their unwillingness to think about this ugly chapter in American history. Between 1882 and 1968, at least 4,700 people were lynched in the United States. Remarkably, many of these incidents were photographed -- and these photos were reproduced in the thousands, sold door-to-door as keepsakes -- along with other horrible souvenirs of these crimes. But, despite the fact that these images were plentiful at one time, they have become, as one of our interview subjects told us, the new pornography -- hidden from view - to be discussed only by those who are believed to share a certain sensibility.

Atlanta author and antiques dealer James Allen decided to change that. Years ago he stumbled upon a photograph of a lynching hidden in a rolltop desk he had bought from a country estate -- and in doing so, stumbled into his life's work. He has assembled a collection of 150 photos and artifacts of lynchings, some 90 of which can now be viewed in an exhibit making its way across the country (it is now in Detroit) or in an award-winning book called "Without Sanctuary." The collection, part of which can be seen in the first part of tonight's broadcast, challenges some of the common myths about this heinous practice, which arguably continued in some fashion well into the modern era, and in doing so, offers a fuller picture of the complex strains of our national history, especially our history in matters of race.

The second part of our report tells the incredible story of James Cameron, one of the few known survivors of a lynching. He went on to found the Black Holocaust Museum in Milwaukee, Wis., and will celebrate his 91st birthday this week. And in Part 3, anchor Ted Koppel will speak with a historian who will help put all this into some context.

As an aside, this program has been more than four years in the making, as we struggled with how to present these images, and whether, in a post-9/11 world, our audience would be prepared to look at and think about them. We decided, as we hope you will, that the truth is often more powerful than myth, and more interesting, besides.

Michel Martin & the "Nightline" Staff
Correspondent
ABC News Washington Bureau

Stuff like this is very hard to look at, but it is important that we do not forget.

I stumbled onto some of those postcards on ebay a few years ago. I was looking at old photos and found lynchings as a sub-set. There must be some serious collectors out there, they were quite expensive.

It's hard to watch. I usually avoid watching stuff like that because it just makes me angry, but I'll watch tonight.

It is a combination of interviews with experts and re-enactments. Very interesting and well done.

Communists have always played a key leadership role in this nation's democratic and rights movements. This fact should not be obscured, but should be celebrated.

It only underscores how rare substative content is in any show that purports to be "news" or news documentary-based.

I saw the website of these postcards some time back when they were part of an exhibit (Emory?) Very very difficult to look at, but such important history to face.