A review of Living with Lynching appears in the March 2012 issue of CHOICE.
3 Stars, Highly Recommended. Here's an excerpt:
"Mitchell contends, in part, that black-authored lynching plays helped African Americans navigate lynching by de-emphasizing or completely eschewing the lynched black body in their narratives. Rather, the plays dramatized the effect lynching had on African American families, soldiers, and lawyers. Mitchell makes the interesting argument that African American playwrights intended their lynching dramas to be performed in community spaces such as black churches, schools, and homes rather than on stage. She shows how performing lynching plays in community spaces allowed African Americans to actualize the various subjectivities...that lynchings sought to expunge. This book is required reading for understanding the ways in which narrative and performance have been central to challenging white oppression as well as (re)imagining black identity in America."
