On the Courthouse Lawn: Confronting the Legacy of Lynching in the Twenty-First Century by Sherrilyn A. Ifill

From the Publisher

Concrete ways for communities with histories of racial violence to move toward reconciliation

Nearly 5,000 black Americans were lynched between 1890 and 1960, and as Sherrilyn Ifill argues, the effects of this racial trauma continue to resound. Ifill traces the lingering effects of two lynchings in Maryland to illustrate how ubiquitous this history is and issues a clarion call for the many American communities with histories of racial violence to be proactive in facing this legacy. A landmark book, On the Courthouse Lawn is a much-needed road map to help communities finally confront lynching's long shadow by embracing pragmatic reconciliation and reparation efforts.

"Inspired by South Africa's post-apartheid Truth and Reconciliation Commission, civil-rights attorney Ifill offers a new approach to addressing the history of lynching in America. One legacy of [racial violence] is the difficulty blacks and whites have even of discussing it, since few really want to remember what, for most on both sides of the divide, were traumatizing events. Yet remembering is essential. An intriguing, immodest proposal that itself warrants discussion—and action."
—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

"A sobering and eye-opening book on one of America's darkest secrets. A must read for anyone willing to examine our history carefully and learn from it." —Professor Charles J. Ogletree, Jr., executive director of the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice

Kirkus Reviews

Inspired by South Africa's post-apartheid Truth and Reconciliation Commission, civil-rights attorney Ifill (Law/Univ. of Maryland) offers a new approach to addressing the history of lynching in America. Concentrating her case on Maryland's Eastern Shore, a place culturally, socially and geographically linked to the South, Ifill begins with what should have been a slam-dunk moment: a recent proposal to erect a statue in Easton to the onetime slave and emancipator Frederick Douglass, "Talbot County's most prestigious and perhaps only internationally known native son." The proposal instantly divided Easton along racial lines, with one white veterans' group insisting that the courthouse lawn was reserved for statues of those who had given their lives for their country. Douglass arguably had, but the most prominent monument nearby was given to the 84 men of the county who had died fighting for the Confederacy. The divide runs deep and deeper, as Ifill shows, examining the history of the lynching of black men for all the usual reasons-mostly for allegedly raping a white woman or even whistling at or looking at one. One notorious case in 1919, involving one such "rape," concerned a man named Isaiah Fountain, who narrowly escaped lynching only to be hanged before the same courthouse where Douglass had been jailed for being a runaway; the supposed victim gave testimony that "would not stand up in court today, or even in 1919, but for the fact that Fountain was black." That was enough, and it was enough in many other cases in Talbot County and its neighbors. One legacy of all this, argues Ifill, is the difficulty blacks and whites have even of discussing it, since few really want to remember whatfor most on both sides of the divide were traumatizing events. Yet remembering is essential. An intriguing, immodest proposal that itself warrants discussion-and action.

Product Details

• ISBN: 0807009881
  
• ISBN-13: 9780807009888
• Format: Paperback, 224pp
• Publisher: Beacon Press
• Pub. Date: February 2008
• Edition Description: Reprint
• Sales Rank: 242,094

• Table of Contents

Table of Contents