There was a lynching in Coatesville Pennsylvania sometime around
1934. The mans' last name was Walker, and he was accused of raping a
white woman. There was a man (named Johnson, or Johnston), who was
either the governor, or running for Governor, who attended the
Lynching, and made a speech. My mother said that they burned his
body , and nothing ever grew at the site again. She said that they
took Coatesville off of the map after the lynching.
There was a play about the Lynching titled, A Pennsylvania Lynching.
Although they did not show the man who was lynched I found the play
interesting. It was shown on PBS, and gave insight about how the
whites who immigrated to America felt about what was going on. The
immigrants wanted to go and do something, but were told by the local
authorities to stay out of it. One man said this was why they had
left their country and come to America, to escape persecution. In the
end they decided to listen to the authorities and stay inside.
According to my mother, the white woman was married to a policeman,
and having an affair with this black man. Her husband was teased by
his white friends, and confronted his wife. She then came out and
said that this black man had raped her. This set in motion a tragic
chain of events.
Anita
-- "Lyle E. Browning" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
On Jun 23, 2007, at 8:30 PM, gcg wrote:
> While there has been some discussion as to an urban legend that
the
> word
> picnic is derived from the term "pick a ni$$er," one can say that
> this is
> not the case. Yet, with the majority of myths circulating if one
> digs deep
> enough the is a modicum of truth that is usually wrapped in a lie.
>
> As genealogists, both amateur and professional, it is our duty to
> seek the
> truth. The word picnic does have a connection not to derogatory
> terms about
> African Americans. But, it does have a connection to derogatory
> actions and
> terrorism done to African Americans.
>
> The lynching of African slave descendants in the South especially
> during the
> post "Reconstruction" era and the days of the "Jim Crow" laws took
> on morbid
> carnival atmospheres including picnics, picture taking, and
> postcards. These
> are no urban legends. The work picnic can be considered derogatory
> as these
> public spectacles and historical proof in the words of the
terrorists
> themselves are preserved for the whole world to see.
...snip...
>
> So now you know the rest of the story, and have a good picnic or
> barbecue
> even though it is now illegal to watch a ni$$er swing.
I cringed when I read that last paragraph, although I understand the
context in which it was used. I find it laudatory that perceptions
of
the use of such terms have changed for the better in the last 40
years for the vast majority of Americans.
But, I do have to question whether it was ever legal to watch a
lynching. Lynching was murder, pure and simple. The vast crowds so
memorialized in those macabre photos and postcards would today
presumably be charged as accessories. Would I be correct in assuming
that laws were written outlawing the watching of lynching as a
response to it?
Lyle Browning
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