Lynching Resources

As we discussed in our last class, "Pantaloon in Black" alludes to the widespread practice of lynching in the late nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century South. Interestingly, though, Faulkner chooses not to depict the scene itself, and instead describes the events leading up to the lynching through the perspective of the white sheriff's deputy; to me, this move raises the specter of racial violence while deflecting any real examination of this violence or of white complicity in it. This fits with the ambivalent depiction of Rider that we discussed: Faulkner is trying to say something critical about Southern racism, but he doesn't seem to be able to successfully translate this impulse into fictional representation (in this story, at least).

To help fill in the incomplete picture we have, here are some links to websites that deal with lynching. For a basic overview, visit http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1979/2/79.02.04.x.html. You may also want to visit the Without Sanctuary site http://www.withoutsanctuary.org, which includes a flash movie and photo gallery describing the grotesque phenomenon of lynching photography. Please be forewarned that this site includes deeply disturbing images.