Browse Exhibits (10 total)

This exhibit, curated by Paul Blom, focuses on Mississippi and the Mob, a paper book printed in 1926 and compiled by J. N. (James Nathaniel) Flowers, President of the Mississippi State Bar Association at the time of its composition in 1925. The book serves as a condemnation of lynching and mob violence and a call to local law enforcement officers to uphold their duties to protect prisoners, thereby preventing the execution of mob violence. It also calls for the Mississippi state legislature to afford powers to the governor to remove any law enforcement officials who fail to uphold their duties. Despite the book’s anti-lynching sentiment, its main concern seems to be not the loss of black lives but the threat of mob violence towards law and order in the state of Mississippi and the possible resultant intervention of the federal government into more local affairs. According to Flowers and the “prominent citizens” (35) he quotes, the ultimate victim of these lynchings is not black human beings but law and order, the very fabrics of civilized Mississippian society.

For a more thorough analysis of the context for and contents of Mississippi and the Mob, as well as a brief discussion of its public reception, enter the exhibit, where you can read the full text of the book as a .pdf, view images from the book, and learn more about this unique response to mob violence in the early twentieth century.

Navigation: This exhibit consists of two main pages. The "About" page provides an overview of the book, a physical description of the book, the current ways in which the book's contents can be accessed, its speculative provenance, a brief historical context of lynchings in general, and background information on the book and its compiler, J. N. Flowers. The "Analysis" page provides a thorough textual analysis of the book's contents, briefly touches upon responses to the book, provides a list of works cited in the exhibit, and consolidates all of the exhibit items into a single gallery for a chance to revisit any particular item of interest for further reflection and study.

The exhibit, curated by Tyler Bunzey, is a critical fabulation or narrative exhibit of the lynching of Eugene Daniels in Pittsboro in 1921. This exhibit uses a newspaper article from the Concord Times as a foundation, and then rebuilds the narrative of Eugene's life and death through Federal Census records, marriage records, death certificates, draft cards, deed records, and photographs.

Proceedings of the annual meetings of the North Carolina Conference of the African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church for the years 1935, 1937, 1940, 1943-1946, and 1950. The meetings were held in Wilmington, Fayetteville, Kinston, and Rich Square, N.C. Presiding bishop for most of them was Monroe H. Davis of Baltimore, Md., who was suspended by the National Conference in 1946. Minutes for annual conferences begin with a roll of elders, deacons, lay members, prominent visitors, and other groups present. The Journal of Proceedings documents the activities of the Conference in three sessions per day over the five days of the Conference. 

This exhibition portrays an article on the lynching of Dock Rogers. It was published in the News & Observer on August 29, 1933. Curated by Ina Falkeid.

This exhibit, curated by Paul Blom, focuses on a linocut printing titled Giddap. The linocut block was created by artist Hale Aspacio Woodruff in Atlanta, Georgia circa 1935, and the print of this block was printed in 1996 by Robert Hamilton Blackburn in New York. The print features the image of a black man in a wooded area, standing on the back of a cart with a noose around his neck, about to be hanged, while a white crowd gathers around the man, watching and screaming at him. It is clearly a depiction of a lynching rather than a judicial execution.

For a more thorough analysis of the context for and contents of Giddap, as well as a brief discussion of people’s responses to the piece, enter the exhibit, where you can view the image closely, engage with its content, and learn more about its production and composition.

Navigation: This exhibit consists of two main pages. The “About” page provides an overview of the art work; a physical description of the piece; the current ways in which the piece can be accessed; background information on the piece, its production, its distribution, and the artists involved; and the art work’s provenance. The “Analysis” page provides a thorough analysis of the art work, briefly touches upon responses to the piece, provides a list of works cited in the exhibit, and consolidates all of the exhibit items into a single gallery for a chance to revisit any particular item of interest for further reflection and study.