OXFORD, Miss – Historic lynchings are the subject of a
discussion by a respected historian Tuesday (Feb. 19) at
the University of Mississippi.
Edwin T. Arnold, professor of English at Appalachian State
University, plans to present the program “The Torture
Deaths of Henry Smith and Sam Hose and the Creation of the
Modern Lynching Narrative” at 8 p.m. in the Ford Center
Rehearsal Hall. The event is free and open to the public.
“My talk will be on the idea of spectacle lynching, a
phenomenon that developed in the late 19th century and
continued into the first decades of the 20th,” Arnold said.
“Spectacle lynchings were a public event, often advertised
in local papers or later by radio, and crowds in the
hundreds or even thousands sometimes gathered to witness
the torture and execution of the victims.”
Arnold said he plans to discuss the executions of Henry
Smith in Paris, Texas, in 1893 and Sam Hose in Newnan, Ga.,
in 1899, two of the earliest spectacle lynchings, both
involving mutilation and public burning.
The Hose lynching is the subject of Arnold’s new book,
“What Virtue There is in Fire: Sam Hose, Southern Justice,
and the Making of a Black Martyr.”
“What I plan to do is describe the concept of spectacle
lynching and then examine both the Smith and Hose cases to
illustrate the development of communal rituals,” he said.
The event is sponsored by the University Lecture Series and
the departments of English, history and Southern studies.
It is part of the university’s celebration of Black History
Month.
“Professor Arnold is a noted and widely published scholar
on Southern literature and culture,” said Jay Watson, UM
professor of English. “In this lecture, which is based on
his forthcoming book, he explores a pair of notorious
turn-of-the-century spectacle lynchings.”
One lynching occurred in a small Georgia community where
Arnold spent his childhood a few generations later. “He
also focuses on the attempts of local individuals and
groups to find reconciliation and healing in the aftermath
of the lynchings,” added Watson.
Arnold received his bachelor’s degree from the University
of Georgia, master’s from Georgia State University and
Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina.
For more information or assistance related to a disability,
call 662-915-7671.