Rope & faggot : a biography of Judge Lynch / by Walter White ; with a new introduction by Kenneth Robert Janken.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

White, Walter, 1893-1955.

Series:

African American intellectual heritage series

African American intellectual heritage

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Lynching--United States.

Lynching.

African Americans.

United States--Race relations.

United States.

Race relations.

Physical Description:

xxv, 272, iv pages : illustrations ; 21 cm.

Other Title:

Rope and faggot

Place of Publication:

Notre Dame, Ind. : University of Notre Dame Press, [2001]

Summary:

In 1926, Walter White, assistant secretary of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, broke the story of a horrific lynching in Aiken, South Carolina, in which three African Americans were murdered while more than one thousand spectators watched. Because of his light complexion, blonde hair, and blue eyes, White, an African American, was able to investigate first-hand more than forty lynchings and eight race riots. Following the lynchings in Aiken, White took a leave of absence from the NAACP and, with help from a Guggenheim grant, spent a year in France writing Rope and Faggot. Ironically subtitled "A Biography of Judge Lynch," Rope and Faggot is a compelling example of partisan scholarship and is based on White's first-hand investigations. It was first published in 1929.

Rope and Faggot debunked the "big lie" that lynching punished black men for raping white women and it provided White with an opportunity to deliver a penetrating critique of the southern culture that nourished this form of blood sport. White marshaled statistics demonstrating that accusations of rape or attempted rape accounted for less than 30 percent of all lynchings. Despite the emphasis on sexual issues in instances of lynching, White insisted that the fury and sadism with which white mobs attacked their victims stemmed primarily from a desire to keep blacks in their place and control the black labor force. Some of the strongest sections of Rope and Faggot deal with White's analysis of the economic and cultural foundations of lynching. Walter White's powerful study of a shameful practice in modern American history is now back in print, with a new introduction by Kenneth Robert Janken.

Contents:

Introduction to Walter White, Rope & Faggot: A Biography of Judge Lynch / Kenneth Robert Janken vii

Chapter 1 The Mind of the Lyncher 3

Chapter 2 The Extent of the Industry 19

Chapter 3 Religion and Judge Lynch 40

Chapter 4 Sex and Lynching 54

Chapter 5 The Economic Foundations of Lynch-Law 82

Chapter 6 Science, Nordicism, and Lynching 114

Chapter 7 The Price of Lynching 152

Chapter 8 The Changing Scene 171

Chapter 9 Lynching and Laws: Is There a Way Out? 196.

Notes:

Originally published: New York : Knopf, 1929.

Series title taken from the front cover of the paperback version.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 269-272) and index.

ISBN:

0268040060

0268040079

OCLC:

47282884