{"id":17,"date":"2023-03-08T14:44:28","date_gmt":"2023-03-08T19:44:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/decolonizingmuseums23\/?page_id=17"},"modified":"2024-04-19T13:02:50","modified_gmt":"2024-04-19T18:02:50","slug":"mount-vernon-indiana-lynching","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/commons.mtholyoke.edu\/decolonizingmuseums23\/mount-vernon-indiana-lynching\/","title":{"rendered":"Mount Vernon Indiana Lynching"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Project Overview<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For our project, we are addressing a photographic image of a lynching from 1878 exhibited in the online database of Emory University’s Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library. The image is accompanied by minimal information on the library’s website. Our goal is to present the Rose Library with a formal proposal, based on consultation with descendants and stakeholders, to include the names of the victims from this lynching and other contextualizing information in any digital display of this deeply disturbing image. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our project involves a series of linked lynchings in Mt Vernon, Indiana, from October 9-11, 1878. Seven men were murderd in this mass killing, outside of the bounds of law or judicial proceedings, including four men hanged in a public “spectacle lynching” on October 11. A photograph taken of this event, by local white photographer Leroy William Jones, currently resides in Emory University’s Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library, in the Robert Langmuir African American Photograph Collection<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the 19th to 20th centuries, lynching photos were used as a form of racial terror and induced fear in the lives of black individuals. These were souvenirs for lynching events and were often used as postcards. Photographs of lynchings had a political and cultural impact by intensifying black fear and reproducing structures of white supremacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The particular photograph we are investigating from 1878 can be viewed at this link<\/a> on the Rose Library site. However, at this moment, the image is accompanied by no information about this horrific event. We propose that the Library add the names of all the murdered victims and give proper context to this image.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Names of Victims<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Jim Good<\/p>\n\n\n\n

William Chambers<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Edward Warner (or maybe William Edwards)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jeff Hopkins<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Daniel Harrison Sr.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dan Harrison Jr. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

John Harrison (also known to be the Harris family).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Events of October 9-11, 1878<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The precipitating events that led to the murder of the seven men remain shrouded in uncertainly. Most of the sources drawn upon by subsequent writers were journalistic accounts in white newspapers that reflected the racial biases of the era, and which must thus be read skeptically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some white press reports asserted that several of the murdered had been implicated in the robbery and assault of white women working at a local brothel. In some accounts, white vigilantes lynched Dan Harrison (Harris) Jr by forcing him alive into a locomotive steam engine firebox. John Harrison (Harris), his brother, was attacked at their home, where their father, Daniel Harrison (Harris) Sr., shot at the attackers and killed a white man. Daniel, Sr. was injured, and was taken to the Mt Vernon jail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the same time period, officers arrested Good, Chambers, Warner (Edwards), and Hopkins and took them to that same jail. On October 11, those four men were lynched by hanging at the town square before a crowd of hundreds of white onlookers. Earlier the same day, Daniel Harrison Sr. was reportedly killed and his body mutilated by white mob members, although the Harrison\/Harris descendants believe his body may have been rescued by African American Masons and buried secretly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through the efforts of a local memorial committee in 2022, led by high school student and activist Sophie Kloppenburg, Posey County formally memorialized the seven victims of this racial terror lynching in October 2022. <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Identifying and Communicating with Descendants <\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Aaron Bonds – Director of Actor Interpretation & Theater, Children\u2019s Museum of Indianapolis<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Andre Le Mont Wilson – Poet, storyteller, author of Hauntings<\/em> (Newfound Press, 2023)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Diana Daniels – Executive Director at National Council on Educating Black Children<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other Individuals Involved<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sophie Kloppenburg – High School Senior; advocate from Mt Vernon, Indiana. Ms Kloppenburg has led community efforts to memorialize the victims of the 1878 racial terror lynching<\/a>, <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Clint Fluker.<\/a> Curator, African American Collections (Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library, Emory University)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deborah Richards -Head of Archives and Special Collections, Mount Holyoke College.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Discussions with Descendants<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n