Greg Ganske: “Mr. Speaker, between 1882 and 1968, thousands of black men and women and children were hanged, burned, shot or tortured…”

“Mr. Speaker, between 1882 and 1968, thousands of black men and women and children were hanged, burned, shot or tortured to death by mobs in the United States. Of those crimes, only a handful ever went to a grand jury. In New York City at this moment, there is a photo exhibition in which 60 small black and white photographs are on display. The name of this exhibition is Witness. It is at the Roth Horowitz Gallery. I am looking on page 17 of the latest New Yorker Magazine which shows one of the photographs from this exhibit. It shows two men, James Allen and John Littlefield, two black men, who in August 1930 were lynched. It shows them hanging from a tree. It shows a large crowd at their feet. There are 13- and 14-year-old young girls in this crowd. Some of them hold ripped swatches of the victims' clothing as souvenirs. This photograph became a souvenir and 50,000 of these postcards were sold at 50 cents each. I think every American should see this as part of a very tragic part of our American history.”