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CNN Live Today

Atlanta Exhibit Displays Photographs of Lynchings

Aired May 10, 2002 - 10:34   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Now this next story that we have for you this morning may disturb you a little bit. However, it also may inspire you. That's what we are counting on.

To translate painful memories into present day efforts for reconciliation and peace, here in Atlanta, the Martin Luther King Junior National Historic Site is presenting an exhibit called "Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America."

From 1882 to 1968, 5,000 lynchings were reported in the U.S. Countless others happened in secret, and were never, ever recorded officially, so the true number will never be known. Singer Billy Holiday drew attention to them in her song "Strange Fruit."

Here now is CNN's Kyra Phillips.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: They are images that will haunt you, teach you, and remind you about a time where some of America's worst crimes against humanity took place.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What came to my mind was the Jewish Holocaust, where people say, oh, it is not true, it is propaganda. I thought the same thing when I saw this.

PHILLIPS: Leon and Mary Lomax (ph) can relate to these brutal photos and postcards of lynching victims. They grew up around it. Their parents survived it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It reminds me of why my parents told me certain things about how to conduct my life. I didn't know it then, as a boy. But I can understand now what they were tempting to tell me, without saying what the consequences could be.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a part of our history, and it should be seen. And it's an emotional experience when you see it, to see what happens to so many people. A lesson to be learned from it.

PHILLIPS: "Without Sanctuary" will call to you witness a legacy of human cruelty and prejudice. It will move you, and it will anger you. No matter what your color, no matter what your background.

Shaken and disturbed, England's Prince Andrew toured this exhibit with Martin Luther King Junior's family. He couldn't finish the tour. Neither could a number of other visitors.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I thought it was very disturbing. Some of it was hard to look at. Some of the stories were very hard to read. But, once again, it is necessary to educate yourself on this subject, once again, to keep things like this from ever happening again.

PHILLIPS: There was controversy about bringing these photos to Atlanta. The arts community battled over that decision for a year. Some people thought these pictures were too graphic. Others worried it would open up old wounds and bringing people face to face with the dark side of the South.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is the story of this country, and it must be told. To really understand the struggle for civil rights in the United States, you have to understand issues like lynching, segregation, slavery.

PHILLIPS: After the Civil War, this illegal mob violence of lynching became a party. Historians say it became a weapon of social control, wielded against America's immigrant populations. But as you see by these horrific photographs, it became a way to terrorize black people.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you go through the exhibition, it is really difficult not to examine yourself and to see, how do I treat other people?

PHILLIPS: When you look at these pictures, you will see the dignity of men like Frank Embry, the pride of George Hughes. You will come to terms with a painful past. History and faces meant to provoke and to inspire, inspire justice and reconciliation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It can't help but get you thinking about your own attitudes towards your fellow man.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: It is impossible to look at this exhibit or even look at Kyra's report and not be touched by it, and not think about this. There is going to be a very, very good series you are going to have over the weekend on this. Kyra has done a lot of report on this. "Lynching in America," coverage will continue at 7:00 AM tomorrow. Kyra is going to be at the exhibit and she is going to be talking with the owner of the photos who happens to be, believe it or not, a white man who actually started this collection of photos and began -- hooked up with a whole network of other people, who had the same kind of photographs if in their home and their basements and just never talked about them. A lot of black people did not talk about this, sort of like -- we heard of World War II veterans not talking about what they went through.

Kyra is also going to be talking with a person who actually survived an attempted lynching. That should be a fascinating interview, and she is also going to be speaking with the curator of this exhibit about how we can learn more and heal from this. It is an amazing collection, and I went there yesterday to take a look at it, and I must say, the pictures you see here are some of the better pictures. There were some...

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: In terms of intensity?

HARRIS: In terms of what you can handle. There were some things that even I -- I'm a black person, and I'm basically -- I spent a lot more time than you have, no doubt, in reading about what's happened to black people throughout the history of this country. There were some things in there, I had no idea. Never knew. The pictures you saw there, were not the ones of the guys who were covered in coal tar and burned, and the ones who were beaten before they were hung. Incredible.

And, amazing to find out how many women were lynched.

KAGAN: Things you don't hear about.

HARRIS: Things you never hear...

KAGAN: You also were sharing with me that you were taken by all the different colors and shapes and different types of people you saw at this exhibit.

HARRIS: Phenomenal. For me, that was -- after I finished walking through the exhibit, I looked back and saw who else was in there with me, and it struck me that there were more white people in there, specifically white women who were in there watching that exhibits, but there were also Asians in there, there were Indians in there. Only a handful of men. Only a handful of men. I thought that was very interesting. I want to talk to Kyra about that too this morning to see what her thoughts are.

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