Those were some pretty disturbing postcards. I had to pace myself and view this website over a few days. It is unbelievable that these were simply souvenirs celebrating more or less the lynching of so many people. It made me take in to consideration our present day death penality.

As a history major i have seen many disturbing picutes and movies. However, it is still very disturbing (as you said)every time I see such senseless acts as these pictures portrayed. It also amazes me that these pictures are not aritifacts from long ago, it was less that 60 years ago! I agree with you about making me think about the death penalty. The expressions that the executors had on their faces makes me think...is the judical system that perfect that it can condem a human life to death?

My skin crawls to see images such as these. I know they're images of the past, but while I was looking at them, the faces of Saddam Huissein's two sons kept passing through my mind. I'm sure many of you saw the graphic pictures of their dead & bloated faces. And it just makes me wonder if the U.S. is any closer to real progress... Granted, people are always going to commit crimes against other people, and they deserve to be punished. The forms of punishment and the pictures that prove those forms of punishment are what worries me so. My heart just aches because no matter how many times I look at pictures like these, I still feel stuck because the problem seems so much bigger than me...

I too find these pictures to be very disturbing, but I also know of their great value to us as a society. In being a history major, I have seen my fair share of horrific photos of death and destruction. However, one must learn to look past the horror of such things, while not forgetting about it, and use these images to learn from our past. This must be done so that we don’t lose touch with the feelings that these images bring forth and so that we can see the truth of our past. This is the only way that we can make sure that we don’t allow ourselves to slip back into a certain way of thinking and perhaps end of making the same mistakes again. I think we as a society have moved forward in that we no longer allow this inhumane form of death to take place, but here is where the paradox lies. We still allow the death penalty in almost all of our states. I am neither condemning nor condoning the death penalty here. I am just showing that we still have a paradox on our hands. We have advanced our capital punishment to a more humane form, but how humane is a death penalty?

These photos were horrible! It is so disturbing to think about how terrible life was for black people so long ago. It breaks my heart looking back at those photos in realizing the terrible death of those people. I just don't understand how crowds of people could even bare to gather to watch such cruelty to another human being. I didn't enjoy seeing those photosl. I'm so glad that I didn't live in those days!

I do not understand why anyone would take such pictures or watch a lynching. I got part of the way through the pictures and decided I had had enough. I think people see such terrible things in life that they lose the horror of the images. Our children are seeing too much violence on TV and they are getting too use to it. What will our society be like in 30 more years

I agree with you that children have seen way too much violence on TV and are becoming accustomed to it. I showed the Lynching photographs to some friends of mine this week and they just shrugged it off like it was nothing. I was disturbed by their reactions because I could barely make it through half the photos and I had to stop.

Yes, I believe our culture is becoming coarse and hard, and cruel as a result.

Maybe people don't really want to feel. Maybe images like these stir up too much inside. We don't live in very reflective culture.

WOW....this website was so horrifying that I didn't know exactly how I felt about it. At first, I watched the movie where the reading was being done while the pictures were being shown. It took a lot out of me to look at all the pictures, but I also tried to listen to what was being said. I actually watched the movie over so that I could hear exactly what was said.

I've read a lot of the things yall have put up on this forum, and how you all related it to today and the death penalty. But that is not what was left in my mind after watching this movie. The part in this reading that really touched me and made me relate these images to today, was the section that said something like, I look in the eyes of neighbors and friends and see the eyes of these same people that were lynched. WOW, this was sooo heart ringing that I was somewhat numb by this sentence. Relating those images to the people that are a part of my life now is something that I cannot come to grips with. This website was undoubly the hardest one to watch/read.

I must agree that the pictures and postcards were terribly disturbing. However, my minor is in history and i think that it is important for people to see the past no matter how disturbing it may be. When people can put a face with the story it makes a stronger impact than if we just tell numbers. Also, after seeing those pictures it will hopefully help us from ever making the same mistakes again.

Although I definitely was shocked and disturbed by the postcards on this website (by far the one that said, "we had a barbeque last night..." was the worst), I also can definitely see the good that this website is doing. It takes a lot of determination and guts (I don't know if I could go and buy these postcards) to put something like this together but I praise their courage. I could not imagine that seeing a website like this would not open most people's eyes to the horrible realities of the early 1900's. This is a dark and shameful time in United State's history that I think everyone should be aware of. I was not sheltered from these realities growing up as I had some history teachers who liked to try and teach the truth, but many Americans are, especially in the generations older then us. I believe that it is so important for as many people to see this website as possible. Share it! Send the url address to people you know and share this bit of history with them. I know it is horrible to look at, to say the least, but you can't argue with the fact that its something that needs to be seen.
Also, just a note, if anyone looked at the website but didn't look at the feedback people have left about it, it is also very interesting. Especially the comments made by some regarding that people deserved these horrific deaths for the crimes they committed. I guess we can't expect the truth to sink in with everyone...

I found myself really connecting with what you all are saying, except for the death penalty connection. The reason this confuses me is because the people who were killed with killed by mobs, without benefit of any sort of trial. They were just accused by white people as a mob (in most cases) and then lynched. I don't know...

You are absolutely correct. The differences in the deaths illustrated on the postcards and the current day death penalty are two entirely different actions. I really dont know why the website made me think of the death penalty, it just did. I know there is fair trial with the death penalty and the postcards were showing unfair deaths due to racism...I just posted what came to mind.