Lynching. The word itself conjures up a deeply disturbing image of the American past and of a piece of our national character. Between the era of 1865-1945, thousands of African Americans, as well as Mexican Americans, Native Americans, Italian Americans, and others, were lynched in the defeated Confederate South and throughout the nation, profoundly impacting race relations in this country to this very day. Racial terror, segregation, white supremacy, the death penalty, local and national apologies (or the lack thereof), and a deeply flawed criminal justice system...these are all legacies of an era of lynching and impunity.