Commemorating Wilmington's Racial Violence of 1898: From Individual to Collective Memory

McLaurin, Melton A.

doi:10.1353/scu.2000.0011

Cited by 6 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 9 publications

(2 reference statements)

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“…Those occupying dominant social positions are able to advance a particular “official” version of the past by controlling access to information, the means of dissemination, and the very terms of discussion (Boyarin ; E. Zerubavel ). Agents of official public memory, moreover, advance their agenda by colonizing public space with their version of the past, often at the expense of “vernacular” countermemory—a phenomenon well documented by historians of the American South (Blight ; Bodnar ; Brundage ; McLaurin ).…”

Section: Acknowledging Silenced Pastsmentioning

confidence: 99%

From Countermemory to Collective Memory: Acknowledging the “Mississippi Burning” Murders

Whitlinger

2015

Sociological Forum

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Sociologists have long been interested in collective representations of the past, as well as the processes through which individuals, groups, or events have been excluded from those representations. Despite this rich body of literature, few studies have examined the processes through which long‐silenced countermemory becomes integrated within “official” public memory. This study examines two instances of silence breaking in Philadelphia, Mississippi—the town notorious for the silence, denial, and collective obstruction of justice surrounding the 1964 “Mississippi Burning” murders. By reconstructing and comparing the event structure of the twenty‐fifth and fortieth anniversary commemorations—both interracial community‐wide events unique for having punctuated Philadelphia's prevailing silence on the murders—this article finds that commemorability and mnemonic capacity are necessary but insufficient factors for “silence breaking” commemorations to emerge. This study identifies two additional criteria necessary for commemorations that publicly acknowledged long‐silenced pasts: pressure from external forces, and the convergence of interests between those previously opposed to and those in favor of acknowledgment.

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Section: Acknowledging Silenced Pastsmentioning

confidence: 99%

From Countermemory to Collective Memory: Acknowledging the “Mississippi Burning” Murders

Whitlinger

2015

Sociological Forum

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“…On the contrary, the growing number of efforts to address historic instances of racial violence in the United States seems to suggest otherwise. In addition to transforming the discourse on southern history (Brundage, 2005), advocates for racial justice have sought financial compensation (Griffin & Hargis, 2012, McLaurin, 2000 and, more often, legal justice (Cochran, 2006;Gill, 2007;Russell, 2005;Vollers, 1995). 1 Despite the growing number of civil rights era cold cases brought to trial, there has been surprisingly little social scientific research on these cases.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

From Commemoration to Conviction

Whitlinger

2015

Race and Justice

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Despite the growing number of civil rights era cold cases brought to trial over the past 20 years, surprisingly little social scientific research has examined how these cases emerged. This article examines one such case—the 2005 prosecution of Edgar Ray Killen for the 1964 murder of civil rights workers James Chaney, Andrew Goodman, and Michael Schwerner. Using event structure analysis and drawing on archival sources, media accounts, and interview data, this study finds that the trial would not have occurred without the 40th anniversary commemoration in Philadelphia, Mississippi. Furthermore, this study suggests that commemorations can serve as mechanisms connecting collective memory with broader social change by catalyzing mnemonic entrepreneurship and cultivating organizational structures and resources necessary to achieve positive legal outcomes. Such outcomes, however, can only occur when political opportunities are favorable and potential jurors have been primed through the “memory of commemoration.”

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“…Collective memory plays a role in social conflict and in struggles over the legitimization of social institutions, policies, values, ideas, and rhetorical forms (McLaurin 2000;Uchida 1999;Wood 1999). An example is the challenge posed by the collective memory of the CRM to white supremacist institutions and ideologies, including that of American exceptionalism.…”

Section: Film Oral History and Collective Memorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Representations and Remembrance: Tracing Civil Rights Meanings in the Narratives of Civil Rights Activists and Hollywood Filmmakers

Liberato

Foster

2010

J Afr Am St

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In this article, we examine the narratives of the Civil Rights Movement as presented in cinematic narratives and in accounts of civil rights leaders. We conduct a comparative analysis focusing on the comparison of the Civil Rights narratives of the Hollywood films The Long Walk Home (1989) and Driving Miss Daisy (1989), to the 1997 audio series Will the Circle Be Unbroken? In the analysis, we identify a Hollywood and a black consensus narrative, but there are important differences in the representational politics of black activists who participated during the Civil Rights Movement and that of Hollywood filmmakers. In particular, our findings reveal that the two Hollywood films downplay black agency, deploy the white heroin character, privilege sentimental aspects over historical references, limit the historical scope of the movement, and use a language of intimacy and optimism about race relations. These depictions sharply differ from the black consensus narrative in which life under Jim Crow, black activism, unity, struggle, and group resilience are emphasized.

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Commemorating Wilmington's Racial Violence of 1898: From Individual to Collective Memory

Abstract: The mythic view of southern history says that to save white civilization and the virtue of white womanhood, gallant men organized into such groups as the . The Klan, demonstrating in

Cited by 6 publications

References 9 publications

From Countermemory to Collective Memory: Acknowledging the “Mississippi Burning” Murders

From Countermemory to Collective Memory: Acknowledging the “Mississippi Burning” Murders

From Commemoration to Conviction

Representations and Remembrance: Tracing Civil Rights Meanings in the Narratives of Civil Rights Activists and Hollywood Filmmakers

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