We Remember Tyler invites you to attend a discussion on the groundbreaking book, At The Hands Of Persons Unknown by Philip Dray.
Tyler Public Library, 201 S College Ave.
Thursdays | Aug 17, Sept 21, Oct 19
Join us for a powerful journey into the painful history & impact of racial violence in America with our study of "At the Hands of Persons Unknown: The Lynching of Black America." Winner of Robert F. Kennedy Book Award & 2003 Finalist for a Pulitzer Prize in history.
In this eye-opening exploration, we will delve into the deeply rooted legacy of lynchings and their impact on Black communities. Through thought-provoking discussions and shared insights, we aim to shed light on this dark chapter and ignite conversations about racial justice, healing, and solidarity.
Don't miss this opportunity to expand your knowledge and understanding of our nation's history. Together, we can confront the past, foster empathy, and work towards a more inclusive future. Join us for this transformative study and let's stand united against racial violence.
“Is it possible for white America to really understand blacks’ distrust of the legal system, their fear of racial profiling and the police, without understanding how cheap a black life was for so long a time in our nation’s history?” asks Dray (African-American History/New School), who suggests the answer is no and draws on recent scholarship that sees lynching as a systematic means of maintaining white power.
The text begins with an account of the 1899 lynching of Sam Hose, a particularly brutal case—Hose was chained to a tree, tortured, emasculated, and burned alive before a cheering crowd—which so profoundly disgusted W.E.B. Du Bois that he resolved to devote himself to the anti-lynching cause.
Dray’s narrative then moves back to 1835, year of the first widely publicized lynching, and proceeds chronologically to summarize some of the darkest moments in the annals of human depravity, ending with a brief account of the 1998 murder of James Byrd Jr. in Jasper, Texas.
Interspersed are accounts of the heroes of the anti-lynching movement (some of whom had close encounters with lynch mobs themselves), including Du Bois, Ida B. Wells, Booker T. Washington, James Weldon Johnson, Lillian Smith, Walter White, and Thurgood Marshall. Dray does a particularly effective job relating the scandalous behavior of legislative, law-enforcement, and judiciary systems in the South and North, providing a much-needed historical and psychosocial context for the lynching phenomenon.