Google and the Equal Justice Initiative launched a website Tuesday that explores the history and legacy of racial terror in the United States, specifically during the period between the Civil War and World War II, when more than 4,000 black Americans were lynched in this country.
Lynching in America is an interactive website created with support from Google and based on a full report completed by the Equal Justice Initiative. The site features the full 80-page report; audio stories from generations affected by lynching; a documentary film called Uprooted, which features the story of the descendants of a man who was lynched; and interactive maps that have locations of lynchings, profiles of the victims and the stories behind their deaths.
“This site features painful stories of America’s history of racial injustice,” a note on the site reads. “In order to heal the deep wounds of our present, we must face the truth of our past.” It continues:
After slavery was formally abolished, lynching emerged as a vicious tool of racial control to reestablish white supremacy and suppress black civil rights. More than 4,000 African Americans were lynched across twenty states between 1877 and 1950.
These lynchings were public acts of racial terrorism, intended to instill fear in entire black communities. Government officials frequently turned a blind eye or condoned the mob violence.
The effects of racial terror lynchings are still felt today.
EJI says it hopes to “spark an honest conversation about our history of racial injustice that begins a process of truth and reconciliation.”
Explore the Lynching in America official website.