Lynching in American Literature and Journalism

(Hardback)

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Lynching in American Literature and Journalism consists of twelve essays investigating the history and development of writing about lynching as an American tragedy and the ugliest element of national character. According to the Tuskegee Institute, 4,743 people were lynched between 1882 and 1968 in the United States, including 3,446 African Americans and 1,297 European Americans. More than 73 percent of the lynchings in the Civil War period occurred in the Southern states. The Lynchings increased dramatically in the aftermath of the Reconstruction, after slavery had been abolished and free men gained the right to vote. The peak of lynching occurred in 1882, after Southern white Democrats had regained control of the state legislators. This book is a collection of historical and critical discussions of lynching in America that reflects the shameful, unmoral policies, and explores the topic of lynching within American history, literature, and journalism.

Reviews

This important and timely collection explores diverse representations of lynching in twentieth-century American literature, including fiction and poetry by Dreiser, Faulkner, Wright, Dunbar, Ellison, Miriam Michelson, Leon Forrest, and others. The distinguished roster of contributors considers how, in different ways, creative writers transcended the limitations of conventional journalism that excluded reports of racial violence. An invaluable contribution to interdisciplinary scholarship in American, African American, and modernist studies.

Author Bio

Yoshinobu Hakutani is professor of English emeritus and university distinguished scholar at Kent State University in Ohio.