Annotated Bibliography

Dray, Philip. At the Hands of Persons Unknown: The Lynching of Black America. New York:
Random House, 2002. Print.
Philip Dray analyzes lynching throughout history in his book, At the Hands of Persons Unknown,
documenting and sourcing events and facts about lynchings from the past. Dray elaborates on
how Americans have shamefully dealt with lynchings from the people involved to the aftermath
of the lynchings.

This is a more than useful source that provides very detailed information. With the other
sources, Philip Drays extends beyond the subject. For example, in the event that sparked Ida B.
Wells activism against lynching, Dray goes into details the events regarding Wells friends,
Thomas Moss, Calvin McDowell, and Henry Stewart, and how the scuffle began with the white
storeowner.

This resource was an encyclopedia of information on lynchings. Dray utilizes a lot of Wells
works as a reference, which is beneficial for my project. The only setback is that there was more
information than needed for this particular assignment, which required more research time
than the other sources.


DuBois, W.E.B. Jesus Christ in Texas. American Protest Literature. Ed. Zoe Trodd. Cambridge:
Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2008. 256-263. Print.

Jesus Christ in Texas is about a savior posed as a mulatto stranger in an attempt to save the
black man. After mingling with the convict guard and the colonel, he is invited to the judges
house to discuss talks of hiring blacks for labor. As the party guests take a liking to the stranger,
they realize that he is a black man. A runaway in chains bumps into the stranger and the
stranger puts his coat on him covering his convicts stripes (DuBois 260). The stranger talks to
the farmers wife. After she realizes he is not a white man, she runs and bumps into the convict,
where the farmer accuses the convict of assaulting his wife. The wife says nothing and the mob
begin their lynching. She later sees the figure of the stranger flamed on the cross, like Jesus
Christ, and expresses remorse.

This source is useful in expressing lynching through the arts. Whereas the other sources are
based on hard facts, this source is more of a portrayal in which DuBois uses biblical imagery to
portray the lynched victims as a sacrifice for the people. This is fiction, therefore not a reliable
source in regards to Wells involvement on anti-lynching, but it is useful in regards to the art
form of storytelling.

This source is helpful in shaping my argument of expressing lynching through art, which have
also been used by various media.

"Ida Bell Wells-Barnett." Bio. A&E Television Networks, 2014. Web. 1 June 2014.

This is a biography on Ida B. Wells to provide information on her life and the key points in her
life. The web article covers her early life, her path in journalism and activism, and her later
career in life. We learn that she struggles with time between her family and her activism against
lynching. This article also includes videos and images of Ida B. Wells.

This source provides excellent background information as well as visuals that showcase Ida B.
Wells fight. In essence, we learn about Wells, before, during, and after the anti-lynching
campaign.

A&E often does a thorough research and documentation on its subjects. After reading the
biography on Wells, I did not know she co-founded the NAACP and that she parted ways with
the organization because it lacked action-based initiatives. I wonder if the organization today
is what Wells wanted in the organization.


Kieran, David. Remembering Lynching and Representing Contemporary Violence in Black Arts
Poetry. The Journal of the Midwest Modern Language Association. 41.1 (2008): 34-45. JSTOR.
Web. 13 Jun. 2014.

In his essay, David Kieran addresses Black Arts poetry and how the context of contemporary
violence is in relation to lynching. Kieran points out the continuation of violence towards
African Americans in terms that are similar to lynching. There are lynching signifiers that are
portrayed in contemporary Black Arts poetry, such as mutilation, castration, burning, shooting,
hanging, and gouging out eyes (Kieran 36). These signifiers are common in the witnessing
of the victims body. Kieran argues that these poets are using lynching signifiers to demonstrate
that violence still exists today, but in other forms with the reason being to put African
Americans back into *their+ place (38). He uses examples from poets from the Black Arts
Movement to demonstrate his point.

David Kieran analyzes Black Arts poetry to demonstrate the common day imagery of lynching.
This essay is helpful in the sense that it uses poetry to depict violence the way photographs
shows the lynching. Violence against blacks still occur today and Ida B. Wells fight may have
succeeded for the anti-lynching movement, but may not have been as successful for the fight
against violence. This is Kierans analysis on the Black Arts movement on contemporary
violence with lynching signifiers. His analysis is objective in relation to the signifiers and the
contemporary violence.

This essay supports my project in painting the imagery of the lynching with contemporary
poetry. It also shows that violence against African Americans still continue today.



McKay, Claude. The Lynching. American Protest Literature. Ed. Zoe Trodd. Cambridge:
Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2008. 264-265. Print.

The Lynching is a poem about a hanging body that is leftover after a lynching. McKay writes
the poem with the victim presented in a Christ-like depiction, to show the white women that
the protection from black rapists is untrue and inhumane, and to associate lynching to slavery
(Trodd 264). McKay utilizes imagery to represent the victim as a holy spirit and to show that
the next generation of lynchers are dancing round the dreadful thing in fiendish glee (McKay
14).

This source is useful for my through the arts section. Through poetry and other forms of art,
the audience is able to mentally picture the lynchings, which McKay does in the poem. We can
visualize the victims spirit travelling up to high heaven and imagining the confusion of how
this could happen to a son of god.

There are various poems that illustrate lynching powerfully in the form of protest. The
Lynching is one to include.


Meeropol Abel. Strange Fruit. American Protest Literature. Ed. Zoe Trodd. Cambridge:
Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2008. 274-275. Print.

In this poem turned song, Abel Meeropol writes a poem about lynching after seeing a
photograph of Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith. He later introduces the poem with a tune to
Billie Holiday and she performs the song in 1939. Strange Fruit is referring to lynching victim
hanging on the tree as if its natural. This song became the official anthem for the anti-lynching
movement.

This source, like Claude McKays poem, is useful for my through the arts section. Given that
this is the anthem for the movement, its necessary to include as part of the project. Music can
pull the emotion out from the listener, in which this song has become for the movement.

This source will be the audio portion of my presentation with the smooth sound of Billie Holiday
singing about the horrific lynchings.


Wells, Ida B. Southern Horrors. American Protest Literature. Ed. Zoe Trodd. Cambridge:
Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2008. 247-255. Print.

Upon the lynching of one of her friends, Ida B. Wells writes about the injustice against the Afro-
American. Southern Horrors is a collection of her essays regarding the mistreatment of blacks in
the South, mainly the lynchings that occur. Zoe Trodd includes excerpts from Southern Horrors,
which tackle the issue at hand, the mob mentality, and self help (252), where Wells addresses
the silent southerners to take matters into their own hand rather than to accept what they are
given.

This source is relevant because it uses Wells ideas first hand. The project is a look at how Ida B.
Wells fought against lynching and this provides a direct look at how Wells feels regarding the
issue, using her direct words. This source is objective in the sense that the topic is of Ida B Wells
and her activism.

This is definitely a helpful source where it provides insight as to how Wells used her words to
fight against lynching. She provided various reasoning to defend her argument, that lynchings
were directed towards blacks and without justification. This project may be organized the way
Southern Horrors is broken into. Although the sections overlap on the message, the sections are
easily distinguishable.


Wells-Barnett, Ida B. Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases. Project Gutenberg, 8 Feb.
2005. Web. 23 June, 2014.

This is the full version of the excerpt of Southern Horrors in American Protest Literature
written by Ida B. Wells. She addresses the issue at hand regarding who is being lynched and
who is doing the lynching. After realizing that rape was not always the reason behind the lynch
mobs, Wells researched and gathered facts for the public so they may also know the truth
behind the lynchings. Wells discovers that regardless of whether or not rape was committed, a
black man associated with a white woman is against the unwritten law. Also, for those who
claim to be protecting women against the black rapist, they only mean protecting white
women, black women and black girls are not included under their protection. In order to rise
from the injustice of the white rule, Wells advises for those silent observers to speak up and for
every black home to have a weapon. The Afro-American can do for himself what no one else
can do for him.

This source is useful because it using the direct words from Ida B. Wells, who is the focus of the
project. Due to the nature of the project, this source is objective in that it displays Wells
involvement and advisement in the anti-lynching movement. The goal of the source is to
educate the public of the nature of the lynching occurrences.

This source will be used for analysis on the anti-lynching movement with respect to Ida B.
Wellss involvement, since she is the first person to start the movement and dedicate her
activism to the movement.


Without Sanctuary. Collection of James Allen and John Littlefield. Web. 23 June 2014.

This is an online collection of photographs and postcards from the lynchings that have taken
place in American history as well as a narrative from James Allen. Allen mentions that these
images shock him and make him a spectator as if he were part of the lynchings. The collection
was sold to him because he was a white man researching the subject. Had it been a black man,
the opportunity may not have been available (Young 645).

Most lynching images online are from James Allens collection. The images I will be using will be
pulled from his collection due to extensiveness of it. Although words can describe the lynchings
in many ways, the images themselves will be able to capture the moment as it happens, with
the mob posing and the lynched person hanging.

This source will be very helpful because my visual presentation will mainly consist of images
from this collection of images. It also includes images of the souvenirs such as the hair of the
victims, which is included as part of my through the arts section.


Wright, Richard. Big Boy Leaves Home. American Protest Literature. Ed. Zoe Trodd.
Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2008. 266-273. Print.

In this excerpt, Richard Wright portrays a black man, Big Boy, running away from something. Big
Boy reaches over the hill and waits for his friend, Bobo, but hears a couple of men approaching.
Big Boy hides in a clay hole and hears the conversation of two white men hunting for Big Boy
and Bobo. As Big Boy continues to hide in the clay hole, a crowd approaches in excitement with
a victim to lynch, which happens to be Bobo, Big Boys friend. Big Boy witnesses his friend being
tarred and burned to death.

This depiction provides a different perspective on lynching that we normally wouldnt see. The
perspective is of a black man watching his friend being lynched to death and the fear of getting
caught with the same death. Wright writes in the perspective of Big Boy and even phonetically
sounds out the Southern accent. Along with DuBois Jesus Christ in Texas, were allowed an
insight to the mind of a person witnessing the lynching.

This source will be included in the through the arts section, since the art of storytelling allows
us to see Big Boys thought process and the angst and hopelesssness after seeing his friend get
lynched.


Young, Harvey. The Black Body as Souvenir in American Lynching. Theatre Journal 57.4
(2005): 639-657. JSTOR. Web. 13 Jun. 2014.

In the article, the Black Body as Souvenir in American Lynching, Harvey Young discusses the
possible thought process behind collecting body parts from a lynched victim. He breaks up the
essay into three parts, the body as a souvenir, the body as a fetish, and the body as a remain.
Young reviews how the body part is viewed. As a souvenir, the body part is a collectible item to
show the possessor was present in the event. As a fetish, the body part possesses a magical
element that can be passed along to the possessor. And as a remain, the body part is a
representation of what is and what was while in its incompleteness.

Harvey Young analyzes and compares various authors and sociologist as to how the remain is
interpreted. It allows us to see how the victims are seen or treated after their lynching. This
source is more supplemental to the other sources. This source isnt as useful since it doesnt
provide insight on the impact of the anti-lynching movement.

It has great background information and shows a different perspective. We normally just think
of the lynching as the person being burned or hung. Young teaches the other perceptions of the
lynching and the after math of it.