ECU Libraries Catalog

At the altar of lynching : burning Sam Hose in the American South / Donald G. Mathews, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (emeritus).

Author/creator Mathews, Donald G. author.
Format Book and Print
Publication Info New York, NY, USA : Cambridge University Press, 2018.
Copyright Notice ©2018
Descriptionix, 347 pages ; 23 cm.
Subject(s)
Series Cambridge studies on the American South
Cambridge studies on the American South. ^A1092281
Contents Introduction : lynching and altars : family memory -- Before the burning : Southern mastery -- Sex, danger, and religion : facing a "savage fury" -- Kindling for the fire -- Burning Sam Hose -- After the fury : rape and history -- After the fury : the blind and the sighted -- At the altar : crucifixion.
Scope and content "The story of a black day-laborer called Sam Hose killing his white employer in a workplace dispute ended in a lynching of enormous religious significance. For many deeply-religious communities in the Jim Crow South, killing those like Sam Hose restored balance to a moral cosmos upended by a heinous crime. A religious intensity in the mood and morality of segregation surpassed law, and in times of social crisis could justify illegal white violence--even to the extreme act of lynching. In At the Altar of Lynching, distinguished historian Donald G. Mathews offers a new interpretation of the murder of Sam Hose, which places the religious culture of the evangelical South at its center. He carefully considers how mainline Protestants, especially women, not only in many instances came to support or accept lynching, but gave the act religious meaning and justification"--Provided by publisher.
Bibliography noteIncludes bibliographical references (pages 285-332) and index.
LCCN 2017019541
ISBN9781107182974 (hardcover alkaline paper)
ISBN1107182972 (hardcover alkaline paper)
ISBN9781316633984 (paperback alkaline paper)
ISBN1316633985 (paperback alkaline paper)

Available Items

Library Location Call Number Status Item Actions
Joyner General Stacks HV6465 .G4 M37 2018 ✔ Available Place Hold