About
I am the author and creator of the collection and book - published in late 1999 - Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America. Three prominent individuals contributed essays to the book: Congressman John Lewis, Pulitzer prize-winning historian Leon Litwack, and Hilton Als. The book has been very successful, measured by its reawakening of a desperately oppressed history, by influencing the thinking in the Academy, and by engaging many thousands of African Americans who have experienced racial violence. The book has broken societal taboos against discussing the personal, violent traumas in African American families.
I have spent the past 40+ years picking in the Deep South, acquiring African American cultural objects, art and ephemera. (dealing, as well, in southern antiques and American folk art)
Featured Work
Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America
Confronting American racial violence with photograph evidence. Includes 99 period images of lynching, most taken by participants and spectator/participants in the murder. Many are on postcards with messages to family and friends. Essays contributed by Congressman John Lewis, Leon Litwack and Hilton Als. Was given the annual Robert F. Kennedy in 2001, a distinction I shared with George Packer for his book, Blood of the Liberals.
