There’s a rich sonic archive of anti-lynching activism that contains both political and cultural texts of organizing and speaking out against the violent practice. This talk traces those sources from NAACP protest parades to Harlem Renaissance fiction and suggests that many of these sources actively create listening positions to advance the cause. While many white contemporary reformers disregarded antiblack racism, the attention paid to sound and the sociopolitical work it does is in line with Progressive Era reform efforts of the early 20th century.

Alexandra Hartmann holds a PhD in American Studies from Paderborn University where she teaches classes on US American literature and culture. Her book The Black Humanist Tradition in Anti-Racist Literature: A Fragile Hope came out in 2023 with Palgrave. In her second book project, Hartmann studies the Progressive Era and the cultural, social, and political work that sound did. It analyzes both sound’s oppressive and subversive potentials. Hartmann’s research interests include African American studies, intellectual history of the late 19th and 20th century, sound studies, and affect theory. DAAD- and Fulbright-funded research stays have led her to Washington University in St. Louis, Harvard University, and most recently, The New School.