In recent years, scholars have synthesized the fields of digital humanities and race studies through embarking on digital projects that document historical racial and ethnic violence in the United States during the early and mid-twentieth century. Such studies serve to contextualize continuing and pervasive episodes of police violence and ethnic division today. Through this movement, key questions have emerged as to what records should be prioritized, as well as to what extent and in what manner they should be presented to the wider public as both educational and advocacy tools.
At the workshop, participants grappled with one of the core and enduring questions surrounding documentation of instances of racial violence - the classification of acts, specifically lynching. Since the Tuskegee Conference on lynching of December 11, 1940, debates have continued as to the necessity of classification for both conceptually and empirically maintaining records, and also to maximize their utility for scholarship and advocacy.
The second primary focus of discussion was how to synergize current collections and mobilize them for restorative justice efforts, including memorialization, public policy, education, civil or criminal prosecution and truth commissions.
