This article describes a class project designed to develop students’ abilities to use their sociological imagination to better understand the structural sources of racial inequality. The event consisted of a memorial reading of the names of more than 4,000 documented lynch victims in the United States. Authors conducted a pretest and posttest on racial attitudes in large Introduction to Sociology courses. Posttest responses evidenced less support for “colorblind” ideologies and greater support for structural sources of inequality.
Analysis, Assessment, and Accreditation. 2011. “Enrollment Summary: Fall Semester 2011.” No. 57, October2011. Utah State University. Available online at www.usu.edu/aaa/pdf/enroll_sum/Fall2011Summary.pdf.
2.
BeckE. M.TolnayStewart E.2008. Inventory of lynch victims. Electronic file available online at csde.washington.edu/lynching.
3.
EduardoBonilla-Silva. 2006. Racism without Racists: Color-blind Racism and the Persistence of Racial Inequality in the United States. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
4.
Bureau of the Census. 2012. “Table 18. Resident Population by Hispanic Origin and State: 2010.” Statistical Abstract of the United States. Retrieved December28, 2013 (www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2012/tables/12s0018.pdf).
5.
BurkeMeghan A.BanksKira Hudson. 2012. “Sociology by Any Other Name: Teaching the Sociological Perspective in Campus Diversity Programs.” Teaching Sociology40(1):21–33.
6.
CarriganWilliam D.2006. The Making of a Lynching Culture: Violence and Vigilantism in Central Texas, 1836–1916. Champaign: University of Illinois Press.
7.
DavisJeff. 2000. “Social Stress and Mental Health in the Southern Black Belt.” Sociological Spectrum20(4):465–94.
8.
DavisNancy J.1992. “Teaching about Inequality: Student Resistance, Paralysis, and Rage.” Teaching Sociology20(3):232–38.
9.
Gonzalez-DayKen. 2006. Lynching in the West: 1850–1935. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
10.
GrantLindaHierichMaxMartinSteven S.Van EckEllen. 1981. “The Detroit Tours: Experiential Learning within the Framework of a Large Lecture Course.” Teaching Sociology9(1):15–29.
11.
JacobsDavidCarmichaelJason T.KentStephanie L.2005. “Vigilantism, Current Racial Threat, & Death Sentences.” American Sociological Review70(4):656–77.
12.
JacobsDavidMaloneChadIlesGale. 2012. “Race and Imprisonments: Vigilante Violence, Minority Threat, and Racial Politics.” The Sociological Quarterly52(2):166–87.
13.
KolbDavid A.1984. Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
14.
LeonardStephen J.2002. Lynching in Colorado, 1859–1919. Boulder: University of Colorado Press.
15.
Levitt Public Affairs Center. 1999. Survey of Racial Attitudes of Young Americans. Clinton, NY: Hamilton College.
16.
MandleJay. 1983. “Sharecropping and the Plantation Economy in the United States South.” The Journal of Peasant Studies10(2–3):120–9.
17.
MarulloSam. 1998. “Bringing Home Diversity: A Service-learning Approach to Teaching Race and Ethnic Relations.” Teaching Sociology26(4):259–75.
18.
MessnerStevenBallerRobert D.ZevenbergenMatthew P.2005. “The Legacy of Lynching and Southern Homicide.” American Sociological Review70(4):633–55.
19.
MobleyCatherine. 2007. “Breaking Ground: Engaging Undergraduates in Social Change through Service Learning.” Teaching Sociology3 (2):125–37.
PatAntonio Goldsmith. 2006. “Learning to Understand Inequality and Diversity: Getting Students Past Ideologies.” Teaching Sociology34(3):263–77.
22.
Pew Research Center. 2013. King’s Dream Remains an Elusive Goal; Many Americans See Racial Disparities. Washington, DC: Pew Research Center.
23.
PfeiferMichael J.2006. Rough Justice: Lynching and American Society, 1874–1947. Champaign: University of Illinois Press.
24.
RansomRoger L.SutchRichard. 2001. One Kind of Freedom: The Economic Consequences of Emancipation. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
25.
StephanWalter G.StephanCookie W.1993. “Cognition and Affect in Stereotyping: Parallel Interactive Networks.” Pp. 111–36 in Affect, Cognition, and Stereotyping: Interactive Processes in Group Perception, edited by MackieD. M.HamiltonD. L.Orlando, FL: Academic Press.
StephanWalter G.StephanCookie W.2000. “An Integrated Threat Theory of Prejudice.” Pp. 23–46 in Reducing Prejudice and Discrimination, edited by OskampS.Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
28.
TolnayStewart E.BeckE. M.1995. Festival of Violence: An Analysis of Southern Lynchings, 1882–1930. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
29.
Wells-BarnettIda B.1969. On Lynchings: Southern Horrors, A Red Record, Mob Rule in New Orleans. New York: Arno Press.
