Portland Public Library

Our town, a heartland lynching, a haunted town, and the hidden history of white America, Cynthia Carr

eng

Includes bibliographical references (p. 483-486) and index

illustrations

index present

non fiction

Our town

bibliography

60373939

Cynthia Carr

a heartland lynching, a haunted town, and the hidden history of white America

On August 7, 1930, three black teenagers were dragged from their jail cells in Marion, Indiana, by a howling mob. Two were hanged, the third escaped. A photo taken that night shows the bodies hanging from the tree but focuses on the faces in the crowd. It is only one event in the history of race relations in Marion, a history considered by many to be best forgotten. But 63 years later, journalist Carr met the man who'd survived, which led her to examine how the town she loved could harbor such dark secrets. Spurred by the realization that millions of white Americans are intimately connected to this hidden history, she began to investigate the event, racism in Marion, the Ku Klux Klan in Indiana, and her own grandfather's involvement. She uncovered a pattern of white guilt and indifference, of black anger and fear that mark race relations across the country.--From publisher description

I: "A veil hangs over this town" -- My Marion -- The survivor's story -- "We never recovered" -- Things I didn't learn in school -- Marion's hooded order -- The three P's -- "They were strangers to me" -- "No likelihood of conviction" -- II: Good history/bad history -- The ironies -- The ancestors -- Underground -- Weaver -- A riot goin' on -- The auxiliary -- III: "This assemblage of pseudo-Americans" -- In his bulletproof vest -- "The white has fell" -- "Nowhere else to turn" -- God forgives/The brotherhood doesn't -- IV: "Truth does not bring back the dead but releases them from silence" -- The reconcilers -- Brothers and sisters -- What Aunt Ruth said -- A few bad apples -- The snake under the table -- Telltale -- V: The return of Oatess Archey -- History-maker: the primary/Spring 1998 -- Unity day: the election/Fall 1998 -- Poor Marion: the rally/July 1999 -- VI: Truth and reconciliation -- Four days in August -- In the picture