The postcards were available in drugstores and grocery stores. One image we have, the photographer went door to door, sold them to the citizens of the community. This year, Allen and Littlefield took their photos to New York City for a small show at a gallery in Manhattan. Hundreds of people a day were turned away but some critics complained that the show's lack of context gave it more shock than educational value. So when the New York Historical Society invited them to remount the show, multimedia displays, description and information about the nation's anti-lynching movement were added.
Facilitators also lead discussions on weekends.
Lynchings were celebrated like a birthday party, or someone giving birth or, you know, it was like a happy occasion. You know, barbecues are associated with family events and, you know, bringing people together, and it's a shame for me to see how that was depicted. What is most dramatic and most revealing are the faces of the spectators. Leon Litwack, a UC-Berkeley historian, has written a book about Southern Reconstruction. He says lynching photos invariably include images of the crowd.