Earl Ofari Hutchinson
May 5, 2002

The much disputed opening in Atlanta last week of the controversial photo exhibit of lynchings, “Without Sanctuary,” dredged up horrid memories of the period when lynch law ruled the South. The exhibit, organizers say, is further proof that the South is finally facing up to a hideous part of its past. And it is a gruesome past. During the years from 1882 to 1968 nearly 5000 persons, the majority of whom were blacks were burned, shot, and mutilated by white mobs. That number is almost certainly a gross undercount of the carnage. Many deaths were never reported, and officials never investigated many that were reported.