I wish these posts could be a bit more interesting for you, the reader’s sake. But this week I once again delved into making a finding aid for the race and segregation collection, while checking to see if things have been uploaded to the site.
The files I’m looking at this week are interesting at least, even if the subject matter is gruesome. The section I’ve been thumbing through this week has had to do with lynchings and race riots that occurred during Wilson’s presidency. The details are pretty horrible; people getting dragged from their homes, set upon by mobs and burned alive, and more things that turn one’s stomach.
As horrible as all those things are though, I think the worst thing is the reaction of the Justice Department when citizens brought pleas for them to them to do something. Time and time again, the Attorney General said that it was the responsibility of the states to resolve these issues, and that he had no jurisdiction. Essentially, he was saying it wasn’t his problem.
It’s a very dark chapter in this country’s history. Reading through these stories leave a sour taste in my mouth and a heavy pit in my stomach. The indignation and anger I feel that these people never received justice, not from the Justice Department and certainly not from their state and local governments, can be overpowering at times.
Wilson finally made a public statement denouncing the violence against African-Americans, but it was too little too late. So many had already been violently killed at that point, and a statement isn’t the same as actual legal change.
Hopefully I get through this section soon and get to something slightly less depressing. Luckily, I have plenty of podcasts about the crazy lives of others to keep my spirits up and the time passing.
