Without Sanctuary

[melissa68]

As many of you have noticed, I sometimes make posts relating to historical information. I am a firm believer that if you forget history we are going to repeat it.

One of my hobbies growing up was stamp collecting. I amassed a large number of postcards from the early 1900s as well. I was alway surprised at some of the subject matter that was used as the picture on the post card. Today, when we think of postcards we tend to think of happy or pretty thoughts. Well, that isn't the way they have always been.

I have postcards that my Mother wrote to her sister during WWII - when she worked for a major airline company delivering parts on the production line on a 3 wheel cycle. I have others of my Grandfather when he was in Mexico chasing Poncho Villia around showing regular army life and dead bodies in the desert. In addition, there is one post card of individuals who were put to death by hanging.

I have always considered it strange that some of the pictures were put on postcards - but I was really surprised when I came across the site http://www.withoutsanctuary.org.

As many of you know, lynching was often a crime committed in the early 1900s - through the 60's (although there are still cases today). Some people at the time didn't think of the act as a crime, but instead they were correcting wrongs that were done by the people who they lynched. Some even believed they were cleansing the earth and would be closer to god.

Well, believe it or not it was a common practice of photographers of the time to take pictures and sell them as postcards. The site Without Sanctuary shows a postcard collection a man took 25 years to collect as well as additional information about the images. There is a book that has been published as well.

Now, this site isn't for everyone and I hope no one is offended. That is not my purpose. I just hope people take a look at the site and read some of the content. In so many ways, we have come so far as a nation...Yet, when we look at the big picture or the entire world...we still have a long way to go.

Melissa

Thats bad. These things still happen today across the world. History has not had the chance to repeat itself since these things have never stopped happening.