Another big surprise was that the 5,000 lynching’s were
recorded in 44 of the 48 contiguous states; the only 4 dissenting states being
Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Hampshire. This was really a
surprise to me, as I have always thought of these murders as being in the “pastoral
south”, as Billie Holiday hauntingly sings in “Bitter Fruit”, which happened to
be playing during the exhibit. I was very relieved to hear the song in that
setting, as I had earlier remarked to both Sue, and a friend, that it would be
most appropriate for the exhibit.
I don’t have to go into the viciousness of the topic of
lynching, as I assume my “audience”; small though it may be; is way beyond that
type of thinking, let alone action. There was a billboard provided for the
people who chose to leave a comment. Most of them were along the lines of “God
is great”, or, “Politicians kill people.” There were some that blamed the
culture of the times; which to a certain extent may be true. I had to leave one
of my own, which I felt really summed it up nicely. I wrote that in every era,
and every nationality; be they Asian, as with the Japanese; or German, as with
the Second World War; or Napoléon in his quest to conquer Europe and parts of
Asia in the early 19th century; or even Caesar himself, with his holy Roman
Empire; all the way to the tribal and cultural wars of the Middle East and
Africa today; people are all capable, when properly manipulated; of the most
horrendous horrors imaginable. It’s a sobering, and sad, reality, but history
bears it out.
The exhibit was very informative; even to the armchair
historian such as myself; and several facts were revealed to me regarding how
widespread the practice of lynching was. And when that part of the exhibit was
through, you get to walk through the “standing” exhibit of the Levine Center
itself; which chronicles the emergence of the Charlotte region post-Civil War
up until today. That’s me sitting at a mockup of the original Woolworth counter
which was part of the early Civil Rights Movement here in Charlotte in 1960.
Since I remember those events more clearly, this exhibit was extra special.
The cotton gins and the mills were represented in several
exhibits which highlighted the plight of the mill worker in the earlier days of
the 20th Century. The rise of the millworkers eventually caused the area to
change from an agricultural to banking community, as the rising wages drove
some of the mills out of business. The photographs of the millworkers; living
in all but abject poverty; while toiling away for 60 hours a week; and always
in hock to the “company”; were heart wrenching. These were people in their
30’s, who looked as if they were 60 years old.
This was a very educational and thought provoking exhibit.
It asks you, as the patron, to examine the past, and judge the present and the
future for yourselves. When confronted with the misery endured by others
yesterday, it is often much easier to understand the present.
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