[Deathpenalty] death penalty news-----USA

[Rick Halperin]

Aug. 18



USA:

Research Examines the Black-And-White Issues Surrounding Executions in the 
South


An examination of post-emancipation executions in the South is revealing how 
race played a significant and under-examined role in executions. Annulla 
Linders, a University of Cincinnati associate professor of sociology, will 
present the research on Aug. 21, at the 106th annual meeting of the American 
Sociological Association in Las Vegas.

Linders combed through newspaper archives in the Library of Congress to examine 
the meanings and understandings about race and justice that were produced in 
newspaper accounts of legal, public executions of African-American convicts -- 
reports produced by white reporters for white readers.

Previous research has suggested that capital punishment in the South was used 
against African-Americans in the late 19th and early 20th century to ensure and 
reinforce white domination, says Linders. However, she writes that, "Partially 
concealed under the weight of oppression is evidence that the execution also 
served as a critical site of resistance."

She explains that the executions of black convicts also became black cultural 
events that evolved into sites of black resistance to oppression. "Thus it is 
evident, despite many accounts to the contrary, that the white authorities 
recognized the danger of using capital punishment as a form of racial 
domination, even as they held on to the belief that the (public) execution of 
black criminals was an important tool in the control and submission of blacks," 
writes Linders.

Linders explains that while "white justice" was put on public display, there 
could be hundreds of African Americans congregating at the site, taking off 
work and traveling long distances. "It's quite clear that these events posed a 
potential source of conflict. Thousands of black people are coming to town to 
see one black person publicly executed.

"So, there are two fundamental ways in which the reporters addressed that 
conflict," says Linders. "One was to try to reassure readers that the black 
community also felt the event was a 'just' execution. Also, the portrayal of 
hostility served different purposes, primarily to justify the oppression. So it 
was a difficult balancing act for the news writers in downplaying the 
oppression and legitimizing it at the same time."

Linders adds that the reports of the religious fervor of the audience was 
another signal that these executions had become sites for black resistance, 
adding that segregated churches were the sites where the Civil Rights Movement 
was eventually born. "Taken together, the subversion of executions by black 
audience members fits into the much larger mobilization of black resistance 
throughout the late 19th and early 20th century," concludes Linders.

The research was supported by the University of Cincinnati's Charles Phelps 
Taft Research Center.

(source: Science Daily)