Description
Book SynopsisThe first full-length critical study of lynching plays in American culture
Trade ReviewWinner of the American Theatre and Drama Society (ATDS) Book Award, 2012.
Winner of the Society for the Study of American Women Writers (SSAWW) Book Award, 2012.
"Required reading for understanding the ways in which narrative and performance have been central to challenging white oppression as well as (re)imagining black identity in America. Highly recommended."--Choice
"Mitchell expertly brings in critical approaches from literary and performance studies to show how concepts such as 'circulation' and 'impact' held different meaning for citizens trying to survive traumatic events. . . . Her study offers significant new insights into a key historical movement and provides a model of academic scholarship."--
American Historical Review "Offers cogent insights into the cultural work of creative expression in a context of racial violence."--The Journal of American History
"Impressively researched and powerfully argued, this first full-length critical study of lynching drama shows the ways that these plays galvanized dynamic conversations about the racialized politics of privacy, citizenship, patriotism, and gender roles in American culture. Living with Lynching is a tremendously illuminating work that breaks new ground in theater and performance studies, African American literary history, and women's and gender studies."--Daphne A. Brooks, author of Bodies in Dissent: Spectacular Performances of Race and Freedom, 1850–1910
"This vivid book makes a major contribution to the literature on lynching in the U.S. by excavating an under-examined archive of black dramatic responses to it. Offering a new and convincing periodization of lynching drama, Mitchell moves beyond the best known texts to illuminate a range of plays diligently retrieved and scrupulously interpreted.
Living with Lynching is a testament to the endurance of black life in the face of social death."--Tavia Nyong'o, author of
The Amalgamation Waltz: Race, Performance, and the Ruses of Memory"In addition to unearthing an underexplored archive of black women's writing, Mitchell engages with one of the central problematics of feminist and critical race theories: the ethics of representing atrocity. Essential Reading."--
Legacy"Mitchell's
Living with Lynching is thoroughly researched and exquisitely written. It is timely and a necessary read for anyone committed to repurposing historical African American strife for reconstruction and celebration."--
Spectrum"[Mitchell] shows how performing lynching plays in community spaces allowed African Americans to actualize the various subjectivities . . . that lynchings sought to expunge. This book is required reading for understanding the ways in which narrative and performance have been central to challenging white oppression as well as (re)imagining black identity in America. Highly recommended."--
Choice "An emphatic push to change how we understand, write about, and teach the phenomenon of lynching."--
H-SHGAPE "Mitchell methodically documents and skillfully interprets lynching drama's important cultural work. . . . She illuminates an overlooked aspect African American literary history."--
Arkansas Review "If ever a lynching book could be described as beautiful, it would undoubtedly be Mitchell's for the gracious way she takes care to read, generously and meticulously, all that she sees and hears (as well as what she does not see and hear) when she enters the homes that these characters have struggled to build for themselves."--
Signs “Mitchell offers a cogent example of how African Americans deployed theater and performance to engage in quotidian acts of survival, belonging, self-affirmation, and citizenship that were not solely contingent on protesting white violence.”--
MELUS “These dramatic works examined by Koritha Mitchell represent a body of literature that spoke directly to the horror of lynching and its immediate and long-term effects on African American families and communities. . . . An intriguing book.”--
The Journal of African American HistoryTable of ContentsIntroduction: Whose Evidence? Which Account?; Capital Entertainment, Better Representation Part I: Making Lynching Drama and Its Contributions Legible 1: Scenes and Scenarios: Reading Aright; 2: Re-defining "Black Theatre" Part II: Developing a Genre, Asserting Black Citizenship 3: The Black Soldier: Elevating Community Conversation; 4: The Black Lawyer: Preserving Testimony; 5: The Black Mother/Wife: Blue Blood Safe; 6: The Pimp and Coward: Frances Conclusion: Documenting Black Performance: Key Considerations Bibliography
