ABSTRACT
With the permanent change in title from "Witness" to "Without Sanctuary" that occurred with the transition from Roth Horowitz to the New York Historical Society, attention was relocated from the spectator/participant (the "witness") to the spectated. Grace Hale, after seeing the exhibit in Atlanta, regretted such a shift in emphasis: Viewers are left with an exhibit that is too close to the spectacle created by the lynchers themselves. "Sanctuary" is a term many now associate with the protective segregation of animal conservation and defense (one need only think of wildlife sanctuaries, bird sanctuaries, and, more recently, sanctuaries for "farmed" animals). "Without Sanctuary's" contemporary use of animal welfare discourse perpetuates the (racist) myth that whites were and are the only ones interested in animal politics—and who care about the lives of animals. "Without Sanctuary's" call for retroactive black protection is troubling in its elision of white criminality.
