Before I took this class I really had no true understanding of the impact of racial violence in the American South. Of course, I was familiar with lynching as a crime that happened but I was unaware of its massive presence within the South and its effects on racial politics today. By researching a specific victim of a lynching I achieved an even more personal connection with this issue. I have always been passionate about social justice in America and this class’s research-heavy model helped me build a foundation to back my beliefs about social inequality in America. Whether it be visiting the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery or studying the Lost Cause ideology my eyes were opened to the racial prejudice that is still so prevalent in the American South. In my previous education I had been led to believe that lynching was over. In this class I learned that the effects of lynching still linger and that lynching itself has not disappeared, but rather it has just changed forms.