They said that the man, a black man, had done the crime. Perhaps he had, perhaps he had
not. The probabilities seemed to indicate that he had, but it is not certain, was not
certain then, and is not certain now. Those who conducted the lynching proceded of
course, upon the assumption that he was guilty...
One of the four men lighted the pile, the cane blazed up, and the night turned red and
horribly loud—like hell.—
-Mary Johnson, from Nemesis
This graphic image of a black man being burned at the stake was created as an
illlustration for a story by author Mary Johnson called Nemesis, which
appeared in the May 1923 issue of Century Magazine. In the story, the black man
had been accused of killing a white woman and white vigilantes took justice into their
own hands. Bellows' showed superior draftsmanship in this peice, especially in the torso of the black man.
Buy the catalogue An American Pulse: The
Lithographs of George Wesley Bellows.
