Lynching
in America
Made with EJI with support from Google
A multidisciplinary storytelling project that helped the public understand the lasting impact of racial terror in the modern world.
AT-A-GLANCE
WHAT WE DID
Development
Showrunning
Production
Post Production
Film
Book
Interactive
Podcast
Photo Essays
Data Visualizations
Museum Installation
PROJECT OVERVIEW
Bryan Stevenson and the Equal Justice Initiative uncovered the lynchings of over 4,000 African Americans between abolition and the Civil Rights movement and published them in a landmark academic report.
With support from Google, our team approached EJI about telling the human stories behind the research to the broadest audience possible–an extension of the organization’s mission to change the narrative around race in America.
“Slavery didn’t end in 1865. It evolved.”
BRYAN STEVENSON, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, EQUAL JUSTICE INITIATIVE
OUR SOLUTION
Driven by the insight that different storytelling mediums appeal to different people when dealing with difficult subject matter, our team of filmmakers, writers, designers, content strategists, and technologists wove together a multidisciplinary tapestry of film, photography, podcasts, interactive experiences, educational initiatives, and museum exhibitions.
THE STORIES
To craft the stories at the heart of the project, we worked closely with EJI and the descendants of four lynching victims whose personal histories conveyed the impact on their families over 100 years later–as well as a man who was exonerated after 30 years on death row.
PHOTO ESSAYS
Photographers Andre Wagner, Melissa Bunny Elian, Kris Graves, Raymond Thompson, Rog Walker, and Bee Walker teamed up with writer Allison Davis to bring to life the stories of the generations affected by lynching.
We created a collection of audio driven photo essays, as well as a printed book.
DOCUMENTARY FILM
A short documentary, Uprooted, told the story of one family’s journey back to the south, 100 years after the lynching of their great grandfather.
INTERACTIVE DATA VIZUALIZATION
Telling stories through data helped the public understand the human scale of this tragedy, both online and at in-person events.
INTERACTIVE DATA VIZUALIZATION
The interactive site lynchinginamerica.eji.org brought all of these elements together into one fluid experience and allowed for maximum reach at launch.
RESULTS
The entire project was designed to create an impact in culture, so our launch was built around activating these stories across social, press, and the arts.
MUSIC COLLAB
We approached Grammy and Golden Globe Winner Andra Day about reimagining Billie Holiday anti-lynching classic, Strange Fruit. The song and the music video helped extend awareness of the project into popular culture, paired with a press push and features on The Daily Show with Trevor Noah.
MUSEUM
The project culminated in a three month exhibit at The Brooklyn Museum, titled ‘The Legacy of Lynching: Confronting Racial Terror in America’, where the photographs, films, and stories from our project were shown alongside artwork from seminal artists like Kara Walker, Sanford Biggers, and Glenn Ligon.
RESULTS
EJI found that the project brought these long-hidden truths into the public spotlight in a major way, sparking conversations and fostering a deeper understanding of our shared past.
Google saw that their support of the initiative and the impact it made created the most inexpensive cost per lift and reach of any campaign they ran that year. This demonstrated the tangible benefits of telling stories in alignment with the brand’s core value of access to information.
The project was covered in The New York Times, The Guardian, Huffington Post, AV Club, and many more.
We crafted over 150 assets for a months long social campaign that saw a massive outpouring of support from notable figures across the country – from Ms. Lauryn Hill to Deepak Chopra, Samuel L. Jackson and Ryan Gosling, to name a few.
We also had the backing of civil rights leaders at organizations like Color of Change and NAACP, who activated the project through their own channels.
Perhaps the most gratifying and impactful part of this project is the comprehensive curriculum created to bring this history and these stories into classrooms across the country. We partnered with a PHD African American studies professor to create curriculum at every grade level from middle school to university–and took it to education conferences to get teachers on board.
And the engagement, impressions, and impact numbers don’t lie.
Impact & Recognition
4.75 Million
Video Views
1.3 Million
Site Visits
102,000
Event & Museum Attendees
540 Million
Impressions across content & campaign
Webby
Winner
Webby for Good
People’s Voice
Best Cause Related
Campaign
Cannes Lion
Digital Craft
Bronze
120 Press Stories
Including the New York Times, The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, and more.
97,000 Posts
Related to EJI / Google Content
CREDITS
Creative Directors
Rebecca Sills & Nico Carbonaro
ECD
Michael Tabtabai
Story Producer & Writer
Allison Davis
Executive Producer
Eloise Harper Connolly
Producer
Jon Campbell
Ben Lebovitz, Andrew Braswell, Kendall Henderson, Francis Almeda
Design
Interactive Producers
April Ayala, Blake Davidoff
UX
Christine Cruz
Film Directors
Allison Davis & Nico Carbonaro
Cinematographers
Shawn Peters, David McMurry
Photographers
Rog & Bee Walker, Raymond Thompson, Melissa Bunny Elian, Andre Wagner