On the Courthouse Lawn, Revised Edition Confronting the Legacy of Lynching in the Twenty-First Century

This exploration of the effects of lynching in the U.S. speaks powerfully to us in these times that have witnessed the creation of the Legacy Museum and the National Memorial for Peace and Justice.

Nearly five thousand black Americans were lynched between 1890 and 1960, and the effects of this racial trauma continue to resound. Inspired by South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and drawing on techniques of restorative justice, Sherrilyn Ifill, president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, offers concrete ways for communities to heal. She also issues a clarion call for communities with histories of racial violence to be proactive in facing this legacy.

This revised edition speaks powerfully to us in these times that have witnessed the creation of the Legacy Museum and the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama. e new foreword from Bryan Stevenson helps readers to better understand contemporary struggles and come to terms with the legacy of racial terror in the United States. In a new afterword, Ifill reflects on the recent strides made throughout the country to break the silence surrounding lynching and to recognize the victims of violence.Th

Noted civil rights attorney, Sherrilyn Ifill is the seventh President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. and former professor at the University of Maryland School of Law. Ifill is a nationally recognized advocate for civil rights, voting rights, and judicial diversity.

Foreword
Introduction

PART 1: A SEASON OF MADNESS: TWENTIETH-CENTURY LYNCHING ON THE EASTERN SHORT

CHAPTER 1
A Conversation on Race: Lynching and the Courthouse Lawn

CHAPTER 2
Mob Rule on the Shore, 1931–1933

CHAPTER 3
A Conspiracy of Silence: Ordinary People and Complicity in Lynching

CHAPTER 4
“The Law in All Its Majesty”

CHAPTER 5
“Serving the Peninsula”: Local Newspapers and Lynching

PART 2: TRUTH AND RECONCILIATION FOR LYNCHING IN THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY

CHAPTER 6
Reconciliation and Lynching in International Context

CHAPTER 7
Breaking the Silence: “Words Are the Most Powerful Tools of All”

CHAPTER 8
Confronting the Role of Institutions in Racial/Ethnic Violence

CHAPTER 9
Reconciliation in the Twenty-First Century

Afterword to the Tenth-Anniversary Edition

Petition to the Governor of Maryland Regarding the George Armwood Lynching at Princess Anne, MD, October 18, 1933

Acknowledgments
Notes
Index