Without Sanctuary

As part of my job with the school system, I received a request to unblock the web site withoutsanctuary.org. I examined the site and was disturbed by the images. I've seen lynching photographs before but it has been a while. Anyone of appropriate age should review the pictures on the site.

Slavery and lynching is not the South's only history but it is part of its history. The South was not the only part of the country to experience slavery or lynchings. New York had a large slave population at one time and there were slave cabins next to Independence Hall in Philadelphia.



Information about the above photo:

Blue stamp on reverse:

FROM KLUTTZ'S STUDIO E. Council St., near Court House, SALISBURY, N.C.

The mob numbered into the thousands that wrenched five black men from the civil authorities of Salisbury, North Carolina on the night of August 3, 1906. They accused the men of murdering members of a local family, named Lyerly. The New York Times reported that the victims were tortured with knives before being hanged and then riddled with bullets. The authorities in North Carolina, alarmed at what was one of the largest multiple lynchings of the 20th century, took unusual steps to punish the leaders of the mob.

After the Governor ordered the National Guard to restore order, local officials arrested more than two-dozen suspected leaders. One of the killers, George Hall, was convicted and sentenced to 15 years at a hard labor in the state penitentiary. The New York Times predicted that, by taking these measures, North Carolina's Governor Glenn was not improving his political prospects.