In her Fire in a Canebrake, Laura Wexler describes an important event in mid-twentieth century American race relations, long ago relegated to the closet of American consciousness. In so doing, Wexler not only skillfully describes the event—the Moore’s Ford lynching of 1946—but incorporates it into our understanding of the present world and past by retaining the complexities of doubt and deception that surrounded the event when it occurred, and which still confound it in historical records. By skillfully navigating these currents of deceit, too, Wexler is not only able to portray them to the reader in full form, but also historicize this muddled record in the context of certain larger historical truths. In this fashion, and by refusing to cede to a desire for closure by drawing easy but inherently flawed conclusions regarding the individuals directly responsible for the 1946 lynching, Wexler demonstrates that she is more interested in a larger historical picture than the single event to which she dedicates her text. And, in so doing, she rebukes the doubts of those who question the importance of “bringing up” the lynching, lending powerful motivation and purpose to her writing that sustains her narrative, and the audience’s attention to it. This motivation and purpose are most evident in the quality of Wexler’s writing, made outstanding by her painstaking awareness throughout the text of, firstly, such fundamental things as setting and the introduction of characters, and, secondly, the overarching threads of, for instance, national and state politics, which set the larger stage for the story. In her text, Wexler briefly mentions a prominent figure in the NAACP, Walter White, noting his biting statements regarding the lynching a ... ... middle of paper ... ...lusions—not only in regards to who the lynchers were, but also in regards to the identities of the victims (230), and, worst of all, whether or not the issues central to the Moore’s Ford lynching have been settled, and are past. In these senses, conclusiveness about these issues encourages falseness, precludes justice, and makes the audience let go of things that ought not to be let go—and this, short of the lynching itself, is one of the greatest possible wrongs (244). It is by refusing to conclude, then, that Laura Wexler achieves the greatest success of her outstanding narrative, and is able to successfully navigates the lies and deception of a muddled historical event by adeptly presenting them in the context of larger historical truths. Work Cited Wexler, Laura. 2003. Fire in a Canebrake: The Last Mass Lynching in America. Scribner; 2004. Print
One of the most appalling practices in history, lynching — the extrajudicial hanging of a person accused of a crime — was commonplace in American society less than 100 years ago. The word often conjures up horrifying images of African Americans hanging from lampposts or trees. However, what many do not know is that while African Americans certainly suffered enormously at the hands of a white majority, they were not the only victims of this practice. In fact, the victims of the largest mass lynching in American history were Chinese (Johnson). On October 24th, 1871, a white mob stormed into the Chinatown of Los Angeles.
‘Fire in a Canebrake’ is important since it sheds new light on the last mass lynching in America. It certainly shows the ambivalence and poor standards of the investigation into the case by the authorities as well as the terrible racism of the common townsfolk who could not care a jot about the fate of the murdered blacks. The book is a clear indictment of the terrible plague of lynching.
By the end of the 19th century, lynching was clearly the most notorious and feared means of depriving Bl...
Jones, Rhett S. "Nigger and Knowledge. White Double-Consciousness in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn." Satire or Evasion? Black Perspectives on Huckleberry Finn. Ed. James Leonard, et al. Durham: Duke UP, 1992. 173-194.
Jones, Rhett S. "Nigger and Knowledge. White Double-Consciousness in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn." Satire or Evasion? Black Perspectives on Huckleberry Finn. Ed. James Leonard, et al. Durham: Duke UP, 1992. 173-194.
Wells, Ida B. Southern Horrors. Lynch Law in All Its Phase. New York: New York Age Print, 1892. Print. 6.
The mistreatment of man by man can also be portrayed in the times in which lynching mobs are formed out of fear, prejudice, and selfishness. One
Racism was and forever will be a dark part of the American past, and no one can change that, no matter how many books one may alter. In this book a number of dialects are used, to wit: the Missouri negro dialect; the extremest form of the backwoods Southwestern dialect; the ordinary “Pike County” dialect; and four modified varieties of this last. The shadings have not been done in a haphazard fashion, or by guesswork; but painstakingly, and with the trustworthy guidance and support of personal familiarity with these several forms of speech. I make this explanation for the reason that without it, many readers would suppose that all these characters were trying to talk alike and not succeeding. (Twain 2)
Barnett, Ida B., and Ida B. Barnett. Southern horrors and other writings: the anti-lynching campaign of Ida B. Wells, 1892-1900. Boston, MA: Bedford Books, 1997.
At a meeting of the American Colored League, where turn-of-the-century Boston’s black citizenry, along with delegates from all over the country, have gathered to confront a wave of Southern lynchings, Luke Sawyer rises to deliver an impromptu speech detailing the brutalities of southern racism. Scheduled speakers at the meeting are the transparent representatives of these leaders: Du Bois in the figure of the radical philosopher Will Smith and Washington in the person of Dr. Arthur Lewis, the “head of a large educational institution in the South devoted to the welfare of the Negros” and a man who advocates peaceful accommodation with southern whites (242). Luke Sawyer takes the podium and begins to preach by criticizing the previous speakers (the corrupt Mr. Clapp and his lackey, John Langley) for their “conservatism, lack of brotherly affiliation, lack of energy for the right and the power of the almighty dollar which deadens men’s hearts to the sufferings for his brothers” (256). Rather than engaging in the rational debate form (as represented by Clapp and Langley), Sawyer passionately narrates a personal story of his own family’s suffering, a history in which his father is punished by a lynching mob for operating a successful black business in
In Fire in a Canebrake, Laura Wexler describes a truly infamous event in mid-twentieth century American history. Wexler does not simply stop at describing the Moore’s Ford lynching of 1946 though, she goes so far as to incorporate it into our understanding of the world at the time by carefully unraveling the various complexities that surrounded the event itself. Furthermore, she is able to make sense of an otherwise very disorganized collection of accounts and shape it all together to reveal larger historical context. As the novel progresses, it is easy to see that Wexler is more interested in painting a broad historical picture for the reader than she is in merely outlining the horrible quadruple killing of George W. Dorsey, Mae Murray Dorsey,
Southern Horror s: Lynch Law in All Its Phases by Ida B. Wells took me on a journey through our nations violent past. This book voices how strong the practice of lynching is sewn into the fabric of America and expresses the elevated severity of this issue; she also includes pages of graphic stories detailing lynching in the South. Wells examined the many cases of lynching based on “rape of white women” and concluded that rape was just an excuse to shadow white’s real reasons for this type of execution. It was black’s economic progress that threatened white’s ideas about black inferiority. In the South Reconstruction laws often conflicted with real Southern racism. Before I give it to you straight, let me take you on a journey through Ida’s
Lynching is when a mob of people gather in one place to hang a person is a general idea. However, lynching is just an execution of an accused person by a mob (Lynching). A lynching could happen for many reasons including severe crimes like murder or theft, simple custom violations, or to make a simple example to strike fear into the “other” population. According to the article, “Lynching in America,” over 4,000 African Americans were lynched between 1877-1950. Though majority of the African Americans lynched were men, there were some women that were lynched, too. Lynching has become illegal within the United States today, but it was a difficult time coming to the end of “legal” lynching. This essay discusses how several factors led to the
Lynching has been a serious case in the history of America. What does lynching mean? Lynching means an illegal execution of someone who is accused by a jury. Dating back to the early 1600s, lynching cases were rapidly spreading and can be traced throughout the years. John Billington was one of the first victims of lynching. Billington was lynched in the year 1630 when the pilgrims he was with at Plymouth Rock accused him of “blasphemous harangues.” As years went on lynching became a punishment towards people of a different race and ethnicity. During the 19th century racial tension was on the rise throughout America, especially in the southern parts. Between the years 1882 and 1968 there has been a total of 4,743 lynching, 3,446 of them were
“Inventions whereby they lynch men”. (Hill, Line 57) Lynching was very popular in the climax period of racial equality against African Americans. This was considered a corporal type of discipline, slaves didn’t have to get in trouble to receive this most of the time whites would be bored and band together and go find and lynch and African American regardless of sex or age. Whites would tie an African American male or female to a wooden cross or pole and burn them alive and just sit back and watch. This type of behavior is demonic and shows how strong racial equality against black people can be. Hill uses her voice to shine light this topic, especially the people who were ignorant to the fact these atrocities took place. “Our communities are being destroyed by racial tension - and we're too polite to talk about it. “(Randall L. Stephenson) this is a very accurate statement applying directly this country. Race has forever been a very sensitive subject in this country so most people develop their thought and stereotypes towards a certain group of people and socialize to a certain extent with other groups of people according to their stereotypes. These people never actually talk about how they really feel about a certain group of people because they don’t want to be judged. Hill uses her poem “Mystery of Iniquity” to bring memories back on race inequality against