Interview with visiting scholar Dr. E.M. “Woody” Beck at the Georgia Historical Society’s “Recognizing an Imperfect Past: History, Memory, and the American Public.” Dr. Beck is Professor Emeritus of Sociology and Josiah Meigs Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the University of Georgia. His research focuses on the racial violence in the American South. He spent over four years compiling an inventory of threatened, failed, and averted lynchings; presently he is investigating factors influencing whether local authorities intervened to stop mob violence.