Political Cartoons By John Mitchell Jr.

Ida Wells-Barnett, writer of Lynch Law in America, offers an eye-opening article that reflects back on the negative experiences the black community suffered just because of their racial background. Wells-Barnett first starts by describing that there is an “unwritten law” that justifies every action against blacks because it proclaimed that for certain crimes no white person should be compelled to charge an assault under oath. This unwritten law, according to her, was advocated by “red-shirt” groups whose purpose, initially, was to “intimidate, suppress, and nullify the negro’s right to vote” (71). Then, she describes that in order to accomplish the main purpose, it was necessary to “beat, exile, and kill negros” (71). Therefore, the lynchings began in the South; and, on average, two hundred women and men were put to death annually. These lynchings were extremely publicized; the lynching mobs cut off extremities.

In the words of Miss Ida B. Wells: The student of American sociology will find the year of 1894 marked by a pronounced awakening of the public conscience to a system of anarchy and outlawry which had grown during a series of ten years to be so common, that scenes of unusual brutality failed to have any visible effect upon the humane sentiments of the people of our land. She is depicting a period of time in American history stained with the blood of hundreds of free African American men, women and children. These people were unjustly slaughtered through the practice of lynching within the South. Wells was an investigative journalist and was involved in exploring, reporting, publishing literature on, and eventually campaigning against the

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

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

The death of a young African American male in 1955 haunted the south and the African American society. Images of Emmett Till hanging in a tree were plastered on television and in newspapers for Joseph McNeil, Ezell Blair Jr., Franklin McCain, and David Richmond to see while attending North Carolina A & T College in 1960. These four African American men would soon become known as the Greensboro Four after instigating a sit-in at a Woolworth’s store in Greensboro, North Carolina. Their courage and determination ignited a movement to end segregation not only in their state but across the nation. History was being made that day as the young men sat at the counter, customers inside watching as the events unfolded, and the impact of this incident permeating across American’s eyes.

The Charles C. Green v County School Board of New Kent County decision of 1968 was a pivotal point in the history of the civil rights movement. It was the court case that finally forced school boards across the country to desegregate their public schools. This did not happen until over a decade after Brown v. Board had deemed segregation unconstitutional and Brown II had sought to abolish it and overturn the “separate but equal” decision of Plessy v. Ferguson. The goal of this paper is to tell the story of how the state of Virginia moved through Brown I, Brown II, and Green v. New Kent County to put an end to segregation in schools.

First, ask yourself how would you feel after hearing the news that one of your family members had been lynched? Throughout the chapters 1-8, we can experience and observe the disheartening history of violence and lies. It is additionally an irritating depiction of a partitioned country on the very edge of the social equality development and an eerie contemplation on race, history, and the battle for truth. Throughout history, the conditions of the lynching, how it affected the legislators of the day, quickened the social equality development and keeps on shadowing the Georgia people group where these homicides occurred. During the 1900s until 19600s various African-Americans experienced various harsh conditions of violence, never being granted the right to vote and being segregated from whites based on their race and skin-color from their white masters. In general racism between whites and blacks can be seen throughout the globe during the era of slavery

Political cartoons are an illustrative technique that political cartoonist use to display a message to the viewers about government, world affairs, and politics. In 1754, publishers of the Pennsylvania Gazette published the first political cartoon illustrated by Benjamin Franklin (West, par. 1). Benjamin Franklin used his first political cartoon, titled Join or Die, to gain support from the colonies for the Crown’s war against the French (West, par. 1). Since the 1700s, illustrators use political cartoons as a medium to display political messages to its viewers (West, par. 1). On March 10, 2015, publishers of the Columbia Daily Tribune published a political cartoon, illustrated by John Darkow, titled Hillary Has A Primary Opponent (Darkow,

2. One of the texts most focused on educating readers about race and the challenges it presents to American culture is Ida B. Wells’ “Lynch Law in All its Phases.” As discussed in previous reading responses, Wells’ speech is made up primarily of evidence due to the limitations placed on women of colors’ speech but even more so due to her “deep-seated conviction that the country at large does not know the extent to which lynch law prevails in parts of the Republic” (189). In this way, Wells endeavours to educate the US both about lynching and about the repercussions of allowing lynch law to prevail. That is, Wells forces audiences to acknowledge the fact that lynching, and thus white supremacy and racism, actively threaten the moral pillars that the United States is built on.

Despite nearly one hundred years passing since the Emancipation Proclamation, African Americans in Southern States were still faced with the most distinct forms of racism. The so-called “Jim Crow” laws that were present in United States at the time, served to segregate blacks and whites from all aspects of public life, including schools, public transport and juries. Often faced with extreme right-wing terrorist groups such as the white supremacist Klu Klux Klan, many among the African American community chose to live in a society of oppression that to actively campaign for equal rights for all humans regardless of the colour of their skin. It wasn’t until the 1950’s and 60’s that the people attempted to challenge the established order by engaging in influential protest movements with the help of key activist groups and their leaders. In particular, one key example of a powerful protest campaign was that which occurred in 1965 in Selma, a small town in Alabama. Here, the African American community united in an effort to ensure that all citizens were equal before the law in regards to their ability to register to vote. Their work in banding together and marching from Selma to the state capital Montgomery, was vastly important to both the Civil Rights Movement as a whole, as well as the assurance of the Black vote within the United States. Consequently, this essay seeks to emphasize just how influential this act of protest was to the movement as a whole, whilst analysing the

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

. . but specifics [to him] didn’t matter because the victims were now symbols of injustice: a NAACP cause” (78). Especially given the long-past, over-60-years-old nature of the lynching, Wexler’s goal, and therefore also her writing, must more profound, and compelling, than this, and therefore she, unlike White, is interested in the specifics: “Roger and Dorothy Malcolm, and George and Mae Murray [the lynching victims] . . . I have tried to bring them to life” (266). Wexler succeeds in that, rather than merely mentioning these victims in the context of the lynching, she includes detailed biographies of each, as well as of their relations, and describes their actions long before and immediately leading up to the lynching, in an attempt to give the reader a better understanding of and greater empathy for them.

Freddie Watts and Jimmy Brothers were put in a very tough and uncomfortable situation, as principle and vice principal, when Ann Griffin made a racial comment. Watts and Brothers administered a primarily African American school. Ann Griffin is a Caucasian teacher who made a racial remark to the principle, Freddie Watts, and vice principal, Jimmy Brothers, of the school she was administered to. She stated that she, “hated all black folks.” This required them to question her ability to perform her job correctly without having a racial bias towards black students. A decision must be made regarding her removal. Ann Griffin does have the right to free speech however, discrimination could also effect her students in a negative way.

C. Vann Woodward’s book, The Strange Career of Jim Crow, has been hailed as a book which shaped our views of the history of the Civil Rights Movement and of the American South. Martin Luther King, Jr. described the book as “the historical Bible of the civil rights movement.” The argument presented in The Strange Career of Jim Crow is that the Jim Crow laws were relatively new introductions to the South that occurred towards the turn of the century rather than immediately after the end of Reconstruction after the Civil War. Woodward examines personal accounts, opinions, and editorials from the eras as well as the laws in place at the times. He examines the political history behind the emergence of

Recently, an L.A. Times article (dated 2/13/00) reviewed a new book entitled "Without Sanctuary", a collection of photographs from lynchings throughout America. During the course of the article, the author, Benjamin Schwarz, outlined some very interesting and disturbing facts related to this gruesome act of violence: Between 1882 and 1930, more than 3,000 people were lynched in the U.S., with approximately 80% of them taking place in the South. Though most people think only African Americans were victims of lynchings, during those years, about 25% were white. Data indicates that mobs in the West lynched 447 whites and 38 blacks; in the Midwest there were 181 white victims and 79 black; and in the South, people lynched 291