Figure 7

Citation

W.G. Thuss, Emil Kollein, and Otto Giers (Nashville, Tennessee). “Amateur theatrical scene, with mock lynching.” circa 1880. Greg French Collection. Mirror of Race, 11 Feb. 2021, mirrorofrace.bc.edu/items/show/130. Accessed 21 Nov. 2024.

Title

Amateur theatrical scene, with mock lynching

Subject

Amateur theatrical scene, with mock lynching

Creator

W.G. Thuss, Emil Kollein, and Otto Giers (Nashville, Tennessee)

Date

circa 1880

Type

Studio Portrait

Identifier

Figure 7

Rights Holder

Greg French Collection

Original Format

Carte de visite (albumen print)

Factual Commentary

Amateur theatricals, where family or friends would put on their own plays, were a popular form of entertainment in the latter part of the 19th century, and groups would often commemorate their performances with a photograph. In this one, the player act out a lynching, with the African American on the left being hanged by the neck with a rope while one of the party holds a gun to him; even the photographer, Otto Giers, sits in his own photograph at the far right — holding the rope. This seems all in fun, but one must remember the horrific context: in the world of Jim Crow after the end of Reconstruction, even minor infractions of the racial norms that enforced white supremacy could result in the public murder, usually without any legal consequences for the killers.