On the Courthouse Lawn

Revised edition of the groundbreaking book on the effects of lynching in the U.S. featuring a foreword from Bryan Stevenson

Nearly 5,000 black Americans were lynched between 1890 and 1960, and, as Sherrilyn Ifill argues, the effects of this racial trauma continue to resound. In On the Courthouse Lawn Ifill, President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, issues a clarion call for American communities with histories of racial violence to be proactive in facing this legacy. Inspired by South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and drawing on techniques of restorative justice, she offers concrete ways for communities to heal. Featuring a new afterword from the author and a new foreword from Bryan Stevenson, this revised edition will help readers to navigate and better understand contemporary struggles to come to terms with the legacy of racial terror in the United States including debates about the National Anthem and Civil War monuments.