Blame, shame, and race terror: a case study examining the limits of blame epideictic

Abstract The production, unveiling, and reception of David Powers’ public mural American Nocturne, 1932, in Elgin, Illinois illustrates ongoing challenges of publicly memorializing race terror. In 2007 the mural was dedicated and deceptively introduced by Powers as an allegory of the American Depression. In May 2016 two Elgin citizens recognized the mural depicted the lynch mob from the infamous photograph of the August 1930 lynchings of J. Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith in Marion, Indiana. Their post about it to a community Facebook page began a controversy. African American citizens lead the Elgin community in successfully protesting and demanding removal of the mural. Using the methods of participatory critical rhetoric, I analyze interviews with various community members to understand different perspectives on the mural and the artist’s intent. I argue that epideictic theory explains why the artist’s arguments about the meaning and intent of the mural could not withstand protestors’ critical scrutiny. Powers departed from epideictic conventions in formulating his purpose and adapting to his audience, and his ethos could not compensate. I conclude that epideictic theory may help to explain other efforts to publicly acknowledge and memorialize incidents of race terror.