A New History of the American South Season 1 Episode 21 Lynching and Disfranchisement

A New History of the American South season 1 episode 21, titled "Lynching and Disfranchisement," delves into the ugly and brutal history of racial terror in the Southern United States. The episode begins by highlighting how white Southerners, after losing the Civil War and facing the abolition of slavery, sought to maintain their dominance and power over the newly freed African Americans. By terrorizing and suppressing African American communities through violence, intimidation, and legal maneuvering like poll taxes, literacy tests, and grandfather clauses, white Southerners were able to enact disfranchisement and maintain white supremacy.

The episode then turns to an exploration of lynching, which was a form of extrajudicial violence and terror used by white Southerners to intimidate and control African Americans. Viewers are presented with the disturbing statistics of how, between 1882 and 1968, there were over 4,700 recorded lynchings in the United States, and the vast majority of them took place in the South. The episode highlights how lynching was not just a form of violence but also a social ritual that drew cheering crowds, including women and children. Viewers are introduced to the work of journalist and anti-lynching activist Ida B. Wells, who documented the horrors of lynching and called for the federal government to intervene, but her efforts were largely ignored.

The episode also covers how white Southerners justified lynching as a means of protecting white womanhood from supposed threats from African American men. Viewers are presented with the case of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old African American boy who was brutally murdered and mutilated in 1955 by white supremacists in Mississippi after being accused of making inappropriate advances towards a white woman. The episode highlights how Till's mother's decision to have an open-casket funeral and display her son's mutilated body for the world to see helped galvanize the Civil Rights Movement.

The episode concludes by examining how disfranchisement and lynching, while officially outlawed today, have had long-lasting effects on the political and social landscape of the South. Viewers are presented with the striking statistic that, as of 2021, nearly 10% of the adult African American population in the United States is disenfranchised due to felony convictions, with the highest rates in Southern states. The episode highlights how this legacy of disfranchisement has been upheld through practices such as redistricting and voter ID laws that disproportionately impact African American voters.

Overall, "Lynching and Disfranchisement" is a powerful and important episode that grapples with the difficult history of racial terror in the United States. Through interviews with historians, activists, and community leaders, viewers are presented with a nuanced and complex understanding of the ways in which disfranchisement and lynching were used to maintain white supremacy and terrorize African American communities, and how these legacies continue to shape the South and the country as a whole.