Without Sanctuary

Description

Many people today, despite the evidence, will not believe — don’t want to believe — that such atrocities happened in America not so very long ago. These photographs bear witness to an American holocaust. — John Lewis, US Congressman. The Tuskegee Institute records the lynching of 3,436 Black Americans between 1882 and 1950. Many times, a photographer was present to capture these events. Without Sanctuary preserves these harrowing, death-marked depictions, saving them so that we may recognize the terrorism unleashed on America’s African American community. Editor James Allen includes nearly 100 images of lynchings in America from his own collection. These images are accompanied by Allen’s own notes, as well as texts from John Lewis, Leon Litwack, and Hilton Als. Now in its 18th printing, Without Sanctuary remains a singular testament to the camera’s ability to make us remember what we often choose to forget.