Summary Of Lynchings In Incognegro

In Incognegro, lynching is a gruesome image that is portrayed. It was portrayed as a social gathering that everyone in the community attended. The community was filled with men, women, children, and a member of the Klu Klux Klan. They would tie a rope around black man’s head and hang him from a tree. “After they beat him near to death, they usually cap it off with some ritual de-masculation” (Johnson 8). They would even sometimes dress the black man in a humiliating uniform if he were a soldier (Johnson 7). This social gathering was a day of remembrance where pictures were taken and postcards were sent to their families. These postcards were also a part of the ritual (Johnson 9). The graphic novels in this book express the mistreatment and cruelty that the black people endured.

Lynchings were so commonly held that it meant nothing to the white people in the community. “Now, since the beginning of the 30’s, most of the white papers don’t even consider it news” (Johnson 7). It was not a story to them (Johnson 7). However, the point of this book was to make the lynchings a story. Johnson wanted to let all know what was happening and how horrible these conditions were. There would be many reporters who would risk their lives to find out information about these lynchings. These reporters would gather information and publish it to keep everyone in the communities aware of what was happening.

Lynching began when Charles Lynch worked the practice of lynching (Rushdy 24). “It began quickly to spread throughout the rest of the Southern states” (Rushdy 24). Lynching came to bring capital charges against an individual. It was said that African Americas suffered more from the lynchings than white people did. “Although white c...

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...ching in Incognegro was essentially accurate. The history of the lynchings and the lynching portrayed in the book are very similar. The actual killing was very similar to the killing in Incognegro. The criminal was hung by a rope on the tree. Also, the lynching could have been burning at the stake. The torture was also very similar. “The victim might be beaten, choked, or mutilated, and it was common for fingers and toes to be cut off and distributed to the crowd as good luck charms” (Buckser 18). The torture showed the brutality of the lynchings. The lynchings according to the white people were very similar. In Incognegro, lynching to the white community was no new news. It happened constantly. In Buckser’s journal, he states that the lynchings were a community activity for the white people. It happened so often that it became a hobby for most people.