As published in the Campus Times
An associate professor of communication at SUNY Brockport, Carvin Eison held a screening of his new work in progress, ‘Shadow of the Lynching Tree,” in Morey 321 last Thursday. The documentary aims to shed light on the symbolism behind lynching in America.
The primary focus of the screening was to show the consistent use of lynching as a means to evoke punishment and terror. Eison’s documentary covers lynching from the past to its more modern use in society.
One of the earliest accounts that he focused on was the lynching of a mentally challenged 17-year-old African American, Jesse Washington, in front of a crowd of thousands of roaring spectators in Waco, Texas in 1916. He then moved on to discuss modern lynching in the events of the ‘Jena Six.”