An Analysis on the Works Of Ida B. Wells Essay

DuBois and Ida B. Wells who both strongly believed in challenging inequality and pushing for African-American civil rights. Foner explains that in W.E.B. DuBois’s book The Souls of Black Folk, DuBois issued a clarion call for blacks dissatisfied with the accommodationist policies of Booker T. Washington to press for equal rights (Foner 595). He believed that educated blacks must use their education and training to challenge inequality. Another influential voice at the time was Ida B. Wells. Wells was a controversial newspaper editor. She once wrote an essay condemning the lynching of three black men in Memphis which consequently led a mob to destroy her newspaper, the Memphis Free Press. She later became a dominant voice and the nation’s leading antilynching crusader (Foner 523). In her brief pamphlet written in 1892 titled Southern Lynching Law in All Its Phases, Wells says that, “The men and women in the South who disapprove of lynching and remain silent on the perpetration of such outrages, are particeps, criminis, accomplices, accessories before and after the fact, equally guilty with the actual lawbreakers who would not persist if they did not know that neither the law nor militia would be employed against them” (Wells). Unlike Booker T. Washington, both DuBois and Wells encouraged African-Americans to not sit back and remain law-abiding but to act. Wells encourages black laborers to withdraw, that way capital will not

Wells-Barnett was an investigative journalist and was involved in researching, reporting, publishing pamphlets, and eventually campaigning against the historical tragedy known as lynching. She became aware of these atrocities occurring against African Americans at an alarming rate in the United States. Wells-Barnett had published a total of three pamphlets that had worked through the half-truths and outright lies to uncover the inhumane activity of lynching mob. In Mob Rule in New Orleans, Wells-Barnett stated, “Legal sanction was given to the mob or any man of the mob to kill Charles at sight by the Mayor of New Orleans, who publicly proclaimed a reward of two hundred and fifty dollars, not for the arrest of Charles, not at all, but the reward was offered for Charles’ body, “dead or alive.” (Wells-Barnett 842) This statement reflects the mindset of the majority of white Americans during this turbulent time. Consequently, Ida B. Wells-Barnett became not just a reporter of the facts, but a crusader for the cause of justice for

Ida B. Wells also bought an interest in the _New York Age_ and wrote two weekly columns entitled "Iola's Southern Field," and kept increasing her oral and written campaign against lynching mainly through lectures and editorials. Some of these works by Ida B. Wells include _Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases_; _A Red Record: Tabulated Statistics and Alleged Causes of Lynching in the United States_; and _Mob Rule in New Orleans_ (1900). In all of these works, Wells argues and contemplates the economic and political causes of racial oppression and injustices. In her writing she analyzes racist sexual tensions, and explains the relationship between terrorists and community leaders, and urges African-Americans to resist oppression through boycotts and emigration. Her

In the aftermath of the lynching and her outspoken criticism of it, her newspaper's office was sacked. Wells then moved to New York City, where she continued to write editorials and against lynching, which was at an all time high level in the years after Reconstruction. Joining the staff of The New York Age, Wells became a very respected lecturer and organizer for anti-lynching societies made up of men and women of all races. She traveled throughout the U.S. and went to Britain twice to speak about anti-lynching activities.

In the late 19th century, lynchings were commonplace occurrences, especially in Southern states. The lynchings were publicized in newspaper ads and were so accepted that postcards showing pictures of the event were sold as souvenirs. Apologists claimed that the lynchings took place to punish criminals for their crimes and to protect white women from black aggressors. To counter the claims that resulted in these “punishments,” many activists, including Ida B. Wells, wrote speeches depicting the harsh and racist reality of lynchings. In 1909, Wells gave a speech at the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s first annual conference in Atlanta, Georgia, in which she condemns lynchings and their public acceptance. By offering

In “The Case Stated” (1895), Ida B. Wells asserts that failure to speak up against racial injustices contributed to the lynch law phenomenon and the loss of many African American lives. Wells supports her claims by giving examples of injustices served to African Americans such as slavery, a constitution that fails to promote equity, and false accusations and lynching’s that resulted in the deaths of thousands of African Americans. In order to convey her passion and desire for change, Ida B. Wells pleads to all Americans, both black and white, to fight for change and stop “avow(ing) anarchy, condon(ing) murder, and defy(ing) the contempt of civilization” (74). Ida B. Wells is not asking for pity for African Americans, she is asking for all

Let’s examine the reality of violence during the Reconstruction Era. In the document, “Southern Horrors- Lynch Laws in All its Phases, by Ida B. Wells-Barnett we see countless examples of the continued violence in the south against African-Americans. The slogan “This is white man’s country and the

This question is important because it first reveals how American cities “simmered with hatred, deeply divided as always…. Time and again in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, urban white proved themselves capable of savagery toward their black neighbors…” (6). Unless documented in novels such as Arc of Justice, the deep racism and brutal mistreatment of black people in the past may fade away from memory. The question is also important because it explains how “the Sweet case did help move America away from the brutal intolerance of the

Emancipated blacks, after the Civil War, continued to live in fear of lynching, a practice of vigilantism that was often based on false accusations. Lynching was not only a way for southern white men to exert racist “justice,” it was also a means of keeping women, white and black, under the control of a violent white male ideology. In response to the injustices of lynching, the anti-lynching movement was established—a campaign in which women played a key role. Ida B. Wells, a black teacher and journalist was at the forefront and early development of this movement. In 1892 Wells was one of the first news reporters to bring the truths of lynching to proper media attention. Her first articles

Ida B. Wells was a woman dedicated to a cause, a cause to prevent hundreds of thousands of people from being murdered by lynching. Lynching is defined as to take the law into its own hands and kill someone in punishment for a crime or a presumed crime. Ida B. Wells’ back round made her a logical spokesperson against lynching. She drew on many experiences throughout her life to aid in her crusade. Her position as a black woman, however, affected her credibility both in and out of America in a few different ways.

The first action Ida B Wells took to stop lynching was in 1892. She composed a pamphlet exposing the fear and brutal treatment of mob violence ("Biography for kids: Ida B. Wells”). Meanwhile Wells led an anti-lynching crusade in the late 1890s for the United States for thoses who did not get a fair trial for an alleged offence ("Biography”). By Wells being so devoted and interactive with the movement it became stronger because she dedicated an excessive amount of time and effort proving that the lynching of men, women, children were considered murders ("Woman Journalist Crusades Against Lynching”). Currently, because Wells stepped up and chose to be brave, lynching is banned today. Not only did Ida B Wells expose lynching as this country’s national crime, her efforts directly affected us

Another way that white southerners were able to rolled back many of the rights held by African Americans is by lynching. Lynch is a mob of people killed, especially by hanging, for an alleged offense with or without a legal trial. The primary source, ““Lynch Law in America” the author Ida B. Wells organized a national fight against lynching in the early twentieth century. Born a slave, Wells became a teacher and civil rights leader in Memphis, Tennessee. When a white mob lynched three of her friends, she helped organize a black boycott of white-owned businesses and wrote harsh editorials in her own newspaper. According to Wells, lynching “ It represents the cool, calculating deliberation of intelligent people who openly avow that there is

In her book, Southern Horrors: Women and the Politics of Rape and Lynching, Crystal N. Feimster discusses how race, gender and politics shaped the post-civil war south from reconstruction into the 20th century through the use of historical statistics, narratives and recorded court cases. Through the juxtaposition of Rebecca Latimer Felton and Ida B. Wells, born a generation apart as a plantation mistress and the other into racism, Feimster explores the differences in the treatment of and the reactions to a white woman and an African American woman fighting against rape and for women’s rights. The author, discusses how institutionalized racism, patriarchy and mob violence helped and hurt these women on their quest for equal rights.

Ida B. Wells-Barnett dedicated her life to social justice and equality. She devoted her tremendous energies to building the foundations of African-American progress in business, politics, and law. Wells-Barnett was a key participant in the formation of the National Association of Colored Women as well as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). She spoke eloquently in support of Marcus Garvey and the Universal Negro Improvement Association. The legacies of these organizations have been tremendous and her contribution to each was timely and indespensible. But no cause challenged the courage and integrity of Ida B. Wells-Barnett as much as her battle against mob violence and the terror of lynching at the end of

4. Wells’ criticizes some African Americans for having false hope that education and financial stability would diminish the problems of lynching because African Americans were blind to see what was happing. The feds were blinding them by using their tax payer money to bribe them with schooling so they could avoid the fact that African Americans were being wrongfully tried. For instance when the three African American men were killed for killing a couple of police officers even though it was self defense. They had never been arrested, had a good education, owned a good business and were hard workers. That didn’t matter because in the end what only mattered was the color of their