Facilitator: Karlos Hill, CFD Fellow and Visiting Instructor in Africana Studies and History
Location: Borlaug – Dahl Centennial Union
Topic: Discussion of the second half of “The Lyncher in Me,” Warren Read’s provocative memoir about his family’s participation in the 1920 Duluth lynching.
This reading group will bring together faculty, staff and students interested in exploring contemporary race relations by investigating the history and legacy of lynching in the United States.
After signing for this discussion session (below) and the first session on January 8, stop by the Dean’s Office and pick up a free copy of “The Lyncher in Me.” All registered participants will also receive by email attachment Karlos Hill’s article on lynching published in “The Jim Crow Encyclopedia: Greenwood Milestones in African American History” (Greenwood Press, 2008).
Note that plans are under way to invite Warren Read to campus in the spring to visit classes and give a public presentation addressing the complex issues his memoir raises.
Synopsis of The Lyncher in Me
In June 1920, in Duluth, Minnesota, a mob of over 10,000 descended upon the police station, inflamed by the rumor that black circus workers had raped a white teenage girl. Three black men were dragged from their cells and lynched in front of the cheering crowd. More than eighty years later, Warren Read–a fourth-grade teacher, devoted partner, and father to three boys–plugged his mother’s maiden name into a computer search engine, then clicked on a link to a newspaper article that would forever alter his understanding of himself. Louis Dondino, his beloved great-grandfather, had incited the deadly riot on that dark summer night decades before. In Read’s memoir, The Lyncher in Me, he explores the perspectives of both the victims and the perpetrators of this heinous crime. He investigates the impact–the denial, anger, and alcoholism–that the long-held secret of his ancestors had on his family, calling even himself to task. Through this examination of the generations affected by one horrific night, he discovers that to fully realize ourselves we must take responsibility for “our deep-seated fears that lead us to emotional, social, or physical violence.”
More information on upcoming training and instruction is available at http://lis.luther.edu/learn.
