|
|
Article: Across the road from the barbecue house.(Report)
- Article from:
- The Mississippi Quarterly
- Article date:
- January 1, 2008
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2008 Mississippi State University. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
AS CALLOUS AS IT IS TO SAY IT, SOME LYNCHINGS ARE MORE HORRIBLE THAN others. While any extrajudicial mob execution should outrage us, nevertheless some so far exceed our capacity for understanding in their degree of brutality, in the extravagance of their ritual and rendition, that they seem at once both singular events and emblematic of a broader pathology. Such is the case with the 1899 execution of Sam Hose, whose torture and death became a cause celebre at the time of his killing, decried and debated far beyond the region of west Georgia in which it occurred. The fear Hose inspired among white residents greatly exceeded the scope of his acts, both actual and supposed. ...