Lynching exhibit stirs visitors to Freedom Center (Cincinnati)

A small but steady stream of curious people - black and white - walked through the "Without Sanctuary" lynching exhibit Tuesday at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center and came away profoundly moved by the experience.

For some African-American visitors, the opening day of the controversial showing of horrific photographs and artifacts was an extension of the Martin Luther King Jr. Day weekend. For some white people, a walk through the hushed display was one of penance. For the dozen or so visitors in the first 90 minutes, it was riveting.

"It's graphic, very graphic," said Chris Dudley, 25, of Westwood, a Cincinnati city employee and student at Cincinnati State Technical and Community College. "It bothers me that this happened in our country. I'm just glad they brought it here, so we can see this part of our history."

Lynching photographs, including the burning, castration and dismemberment of bodies, are displayed in postcard size, part of the historical record. People would send images of a lynching on postcards to friends and write messages on the back.

Visitors are forced to get close to the images. Unlike its other temporary exhibits, the Freedom Center is not offering guided tours. Lighting is muted.

The gentle notes but pointed lyrics of Billie Holiday's 1939 protest song "Strange Fruit" greet visitors.

Southern trees bear strange fruit,

Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,

Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze,

Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.

While 70 percent of the nearly 5,000 documented lynching events between 1882 and 1968 took place in former Confederate states, the violence was spread across the country. In Kentucky, 205 people were lynched, 47 in Indiana, 26 in Ohio. One lynching took place in New Richmond in Clermont County in 1895. Another happened in Butler County, in Oxford.

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20100119/NEWS01/1200359/Lynching+exhibit+stirs+visitors

cities it will travel to?

"It's such a tragic chapter in our history," Akers said while walking slowly through the display. "It shows such an unbelievable level of hatred for human beings. A lot of white people don't want to recognize it or want to minimize it."

Um, less than 10 years ago, a black man was tied to a truck and dragged til he was decapitated. About 2-5 years ago, a young black woman in WV was kidnapped on her way to school and horribly tortured for days by 3-5 white people.

The problem is that the same people who do this kind of shit are the same ones turning out at tea bagger rallies--white "christians"; they're turning out for Glen Beck and that idiot quitter from alaska, screaming out to kill Obama. They haven't learned shit and they aren't going to learn shit. That unbelievable level of hatred still exists and fux noise is their loudspeaker and cheerleader.

sadly.

wingnuts, you're sadly mistaken. It's among the independents and "liberals," as well. Wingnuts are just more obvious and straight forward with theirs. The liberals conceal or mask theirs very effectively but every now and then, the mask slips.

No. I didn't.

I was addressing the so-called white "christian church people" who live nothing close to the dictates that Jesus tells them to.

the other offenders for those who may be lurking. I like to give everybody their "props." No offense intended.