Abstract
‘Narrating a Southern Tragedy: historical facts and historical fictions’ is first and foremost an experiment in historical narrative. In the spring of 1912 in a small South Carolina town, two African‐American men were accused of ‘raping’ a white man. They were lynched. The only thing certain in this case filled with homo‐erotic overtones was the two dead bodies. This essay explores the limits of evidence and the uncertainties of historical reconstruction. In the first section ‐ entitled Historical Facts ‐ newspapers accounts, a letter, and some information from the government census are presented. Then, the second section ‐ labeled Historical Fictions ‐exploits fictional devices to explore what might have happened on that tragic night in 1912. Shifting perspectives and voices, this part of the essay consists of four different versions of the same story. Each separate story overlaps, but also contradicts, the other separate stories. Together, however, they suggest what is possible in terms of race, class, and sex in this particular time and place. In a larger sense, this essay should be read as part of conversation amongst scholars about the state of the historical narrative, about what can and should be called history, and how to reconcile the contradictions and uncertainties that we find in the archives.
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