A Red Record

The history and lasting legacies of lynching in North Carolina and throughout America remains with each of us, even though many prefer to avoid such hard and violent history. In this activity, students will be introduced to the website A Red Record, which documents lynchings across North Carolinaby plotting the locations of these violent murders and linking each entry to primary source news articles. As part of this activity, students will explore the definition of lynching and its prevalence across the state throughout 1860-1950, as well as examine and discuss the countless lives impacted by lynching and how statistics, and even primary sources, fail to convey the substantial impact of this violent practice. Students will also explore the historical contextfor various periods and how local, state, national, and international events impacted and/or intersected with the practice of lynching. Finally, students will discuss and understand that eventhough difficult, it is critical that we face this aspect of our shared past today in order to heal, as well as effectively respond to present-day issues of racial injustice.

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Essential Questions:

What is lynching and what was its purpose?

Who were the victims and perpetrators of lynchingsin North Carolina?

For what reasons were black people lynched(both in reporting, and in reality?)

What information do statistics and primary sources fail to convey about the countless lives impacted by lynching?

How did lynchings impact: thefamilies & descendants of those lynched? The NC communities in which the lynching took place?The perpetrators and descendants of those in the mob?Society in general?

What were the immediate and long-term consequences of lynching?

Even though this is hard history to study and comprehend, why is it nonetheless critical that we face this aspect of our shared past today?

How can the history of lynchinghelp us understand and respond to present-day issues of racial injustice? How does ignorance of the history of lynching make us susceptible to misunderstanding the present?