In many cases there has been open expression that the fate meted out to the victim was only what he deserved. close Export to Citation Manager (RIS) Back to item Our country's national crime is lynching. The Negro has been too long associated with the white man not to have copied his vices as well as his virtues. . 2 Wells-Barnett sought a federal anti-lynching law that would Two months earlier, her friend . The red Indian of the Western plains tied his prisoner to the stake, tortured him, and danced in fiendish glee while his victim writhed in the flames. The world looks on and says it is well. Wells reports on the rising violence of lynchings in the United States. For the next four decades she would devote her life, often at great personal risk, to campaigning against lynching. Wells, "Lynch Law in America: The Arena vol 23 (January 1900):15-24. In 1892, Wells had left Memphis to attend a conference in . The sentiment of the country has been appealed to, in describing the isolated condition of white families in thickly populated negro districts; and the charge is made that these homes are in as great danger as if they were surrounded by wild beasts. ThoughtCo. In support of its plans the Ku-Klux Klans, the red-shirt and similar organizations proceeded to beat, exile, and kill negroes until the purpose of their organization was accomplished and the supremacy of the unwritten law was effected. Ida B. During the last ten years a new statute has been added to the unwritten law. This statute proclaims that for certain crimes or alleged crimes no negro shall be allowed a trial; that no white woman shall be compelled to charge an assault under oath or to submit any such charge to the investigation of a court of law. Aims and Objects of the Movement for Solution of t "The Bible," from Christianity and Liberalism. Although lynchings have steadily increased in number and barbarity during the last twenty years, there has been no single effort put forth by the many moral and philanthropic forces of the country to put a stop to this wholesale slaughter. The second subsection presents Ida B. . Ida B. Conversation-based seminars for collegial PD, one-day and multi-day seminars, graduate credit seminars (MA degree), online and in-person. The negro has suffered far more from the commission of this crime against the women of his race by white men than the white race has ever suffered through his crimes. Collection gutenberg Contributor Project Gutenberg Language . The photo is from about 1893. The Problem of Japan: A Japanese Liberal's View. It represents the cool, But the reign of the national law was short-lived and illusionary. The Chicago Tribune, which publishes annually lynching statistics, is authority for the following: In 1892, when lynching reached high-water mark, there were 241 persons lynched. 18. Paid Italy for massacre of Italian prisoners atNew Orleans 24,330.90 WELLS "Lynch Law," says the Virginia Lancet, "as known by that appellation, had its origin in 1780 in a combination of citizens of Pittsylvania County, Virginia, entered into for the purpose of . She did much to expose the epidemic of lynching in the United States and her writing and research exploded many of the justificationsparticularly the rape of white . Wells began her essay, "Lynch Laws in America," with the observation: "Our country's national crime is lynching" (Wells 1). Address Accepting Democratic Presidential Nominati State of the Union Address Part II (1901), State of the Union Address Part II (1904), State of the Union Address Part II (1905), State of the Union Address Part II (1906), State of the Union Address Part II (1907), State of the Union Address Part II (1908), State of the Union Address Part II (1911), An Address to Congress on the Mexican Crisis. There has also been a movement to honor Wells with a statue in the Chicago neighborhood where she lived. Wells in Chicago, Illinois, January, 1900," Civil Rights and Conflict in the United States: Selected Speeches, Lit2Go Edition, (1900), accessed March 01, 2023, https://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/185/civil-rights-and-conflict-in-the-united-states-selected-speeches/4375/speech-on-lynch-law-in-america-given-by-ida-b-wells-in-chicago-illinois-january-1900/. She did much to expose the epidemic of lynching in the United States and her writing and research exploded many of the justificationsparticularlythe rape of white women by black mencommonly offered to justify the practice. Wells-Barnett, Ida B., 1862-1931. Our countrys national crime is lynching. Ida B. The New York Times reported on her speech: In 1895 Wells published a landmark book, A Red Record: Tabulated Statistics and Alleged Causes of Lynchings In the United States. Our Core Document Collection allows students to read history in the words of those who made it. His fourteen-year-old daughter and sixteen-year-old son were hanged and their bodies filled with bullets ; then the father was also lynched. But the reign of the national law was short-lived and illusionary. Lit2Go Edition. Under the authority of a national law that gave every citizen the right to vote, the newly made citizens chose to exercise their suffrage. This condition of affairs were brutal enough and horrible enough if it were true that lynchings occurred only because of the commission of crimes against womenas is constantly declared by ministers, editors, lawyers, teachers, statesmen, and even by women themselves. Belated Honors. There it has flourished ever since, marking the thirty years of its existence with the inhuman butchery of more than ten thousand men, women, and children by shooting, drowning, hanging, and burning them alive. . . Wells went to heroic lengths in the late 1890s to document the horrifying practice of lynching Black people. During the last ten years a new statute has been added to the unwritten law. This statute proclaims that for certain crimes or alleged crimes no negro shall be allowed a trial; that no white woman shall be compelled to charge an assault under oath or to submit any such charge to the investigation of a court of law. Ida B. By challenging the white power structure, she became a target. A new name was given to the killings and a new excuse was invented for so doing. Hardly had the sentences dried upon the statute-books before one Southern State after another raised the cry against "negro domination" and proclaimed there was an "unwritten law" that justied any means to resist it. When Ida B. Desired Effect. This occurred in November, 1892, at Jonesville, La. Lynch Law in America Civil Rights Movement Domestic Policy Gender Gender and Equality Personal Race and Equality Social Reform by Ida B. Wells-Barnett January, 1900 Cite Free Study Questions No study questions Introduction Source: The Arena 23 (January 1900): 15-24. Wells in Chicago, Illinois, January, 1900." Ida B. The Tariff History of the United States (Part I), The Tariff History of the United States (Part II). Wells died she had faded from public view somewhat, and major newspapers did not note her passing. If a colored man resented the imposition of a white man and the two came to blows, the colored man had to die, either at the hands of the white man then and there or later at the hands of a mob that speedily gathered. Very scant notice is taken of the matter when this is the condition of affairs. ThoughtCo, Aug. 27, 2020, thoughtco.com/ida-b-wells-basics-1773408. She was the eldest of eight children. This condition of affairs were brutal enough and horrible enough if it were true that lynchings occurred only because of the commission of crimes against womenas is constantly declared by ministers, editors, lawyers, teachers, statesmen, and even by women themselves. The Tariff History of the United States (Part I), The Tariff History of the United States (Part II). This document was downloaded from Lit2Go, a free online collection of stories and poems in Mp3 (audiobook) format published by the Florida Center for Instructional Technology. Wells, "Lynch Law in America", January 1900 2 Again the aid of the unwritten law is invoked, and again it comes to the rescue. All the negro asks is justicea fair and impartial trial in the courts of the country. DuBois on Black Progress (1895, 1903), Jane Addams, The Subjective Necessity for Social Settlements (1892), Eugene Debs, How I Became a Socialist (April, 1902), Walter Rauschenbusch, Christianity and the Social Crisis (1907), Alice Stone Blackwell, Answering Objections to Womens Suffrage (1917), Theodore Roosevelt on The New Nationalism (1910), Woodrow Wilson Requests War (April 2, 1917), Emma Goldman on Patriotism (July 9, 1917), W.E.B DuBois, Returning Soldiers (May, 1919), Lutiant Van Wert describes the 1918 Flu Pandemic (1918), Manuel Quezon calls for Filipino Independence (1919), Warren G. Harding and the Return to Normalcy (1920), Crystal Eastman, Now We Can Begin (1920), Marcus Garvey, Explanation of the Objects of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (1921), Hiram Evans on the The Klans Fight for Americanism (1926), Herbert Hoover, Principles and Ideals of the United States Government (1928), Ellen Welles Page, A Flappers Appeal to Parents (1922), Huey P. Long, Every Man a King and Share our Wealth (1934), Franklin Roosevelts Re-Nomination Acceptance Speech (1936), Second Inaugural Address of Franklin D. Roosevelt (1937), Lester Hunter, Id Rather Not Be on Relief (1938), Bertha McCall on Americas Moving People (1940), Dorothy West, Amateur Night in Harlem (1938), Charles A. Lindbergh, America First (1941), A Phillip Randolph and Franklin Roosevelt on Racial Discrimination in the Defense Industry (1941), Aiko Herzig-Yoshinaga on Japanese Internment (1942/1994), Harry Truman Announcing the Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima (1945), Declaration of Independence of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (1945), Dwight D. Eisenhower, Atoms for Peace (1953), Senator Margaret Chase Smiths Declaration of Conscience (1950), Lillian Hellman Refuses to Name Names (1952), Paul Robesons Appearance Before the House Un-American Activities Committee (1956), Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954), Richard Nixon on the American Standard of Living (1959), John F. Kennedy on the Separation of Church and State (1960), Congressman Arthur L. Miller Gives the Putrid Facts About Homosexuality (1950), Rosa Parks on Life in Montgomery, Alabama (1956-1958), Barry Goldwater, Republican Nomination Acceptance Speech (1964), Lyndon Johnson on Voting Rights and the American Promise (1965), Lyndon Johnson, Howard University Commencement Address (1965), National Organization for Women, Statement of Purpose (1966), George M. Garcia, Vietnam Veteran, Oral Interview (1969/2012), Fannie Lou Hamer: Testimony at the Democratic National Convention 1964, Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (1968), Statement by John Kerry of Vietnam Veterans Against the War (1971), Barbara Jordan, 1976 Democratic National Convention Keynote Address (1976), Jimmy Carter, Crisis of Confidence (1979), Gloria Steinem on Equal Rights for Women (1970), First Inaugural Address of Ronald Reagan (1981), Jerry Falwell on the Homosexual Revolution (1981), Statements from The Parents Music Resource Center (1985), Phyllis Schlafly on Womens Responsibility for Sexual Harassment (1981), Jesse Jackson on the Rainbow Coalition (1984), Bill Clinton on Free Trade and Financial Deregulation (1993-2000), The 9/11 Commission Report, Reflecting On A Generational Challenge (2004), George W. Bush on the Post-9/11 World (2002), Pedro Lopez on His Mothers Deportation (2008/2015), Chelsea Manning Petitions for a Pardon (2013), Emily Doe (Chanel Miller), Victim Impact Statement (2015). In Texarkana, the year before, men and boys amused themselves by cutting off strips of flesh and thrusting knives into their helpless victim. (1900). It represents the cool, calculating deliberation of intelligent people who openly avow that there is an unwritten law that justifies them in putting human beings to death without complaint under oath, without trial by jury, without opportunity to make defense, and without right of appeal. Wells: "Lynch Law in America" (1900) Log in to see the full document and commentary. It has been to the interest of those who did the lynching to blacken the good name of the helpless and defenseless victims of their hate. 1) Anaphora listing injustice and arbitrariness. Ida B. Wells-Barnett's "Lynch Law in America" remains a compelling account of white violence as both savage and systemic, and of the US as irredeemable. A few months ago the conscience of this country was shocked because, after a two-weeks trial, a French judicial tribunal pronounced Captain Dreyfus guilty. This pamphlet was authored by Ida B. Wells-Barnett and widely circulated in the North. The horrendous practice of lynching had become widespread in the South in the decades following the Civil War. In many instances the leading citizens aid and abet by their presence when they do not participate, and the leading journals inflame the public mind to the lynching point with scare-head articles and offers of rewards. Lynch Law in America By Ida B. Wells-Barnett (1900) O ur count ry' s nat ional cri m e i s l ynchi ng. To those who fail to be convinced from any other point of view touching this momentous question, a consideration of the economic phase might not be amiss. Source: The Arena 23 (January 1900): 1524. It is not the creature of an hour, the sudden outburst of uncontrolled fury, or the unspeakable brutality of an insane mob. In many cases there has been open expression that the fate meted out to the victim was only what he deserved. In Memphis, Wells found work as a teacher. Ida B. Wells traveled through Great Britain in the summer of 1893 to promote the activities of her anti-lynching campaign, white leaders in Memphis, Tennessee, inundated England with dispatches and newspapers that were short on facts and heavy with ad hominem attacks. Andrew Carnegie on "The Triumph of America" (1885) Henry Grady on the New South (1886) Ida B. Wells-Barnett, "Lynch Law in America" (1900) Henry Adams, The Education of Henry Adams (1918) Charlotte Perkins Gilman, "Why I Wrote The Yellow Wallpaper" (1913) Jacob Riis, How the Other Half Lives (1890) No matter that our laws presume every man innocent until he is proved guilty; no matter that it leaves a certain class of individuals completely at the mercy of another class; no matter that it encourages those criminally disposed to blacken their faces and commit any crime in the calendar so long as they can throw suspicion on some negro, as is frequently done, and then lead a mob to take his life; no matter that mobs make a farce of the law and a mockery of justice; no matter that hundreds of boys are being hardened in crime and schooled in vice by the repetition of such scenes before their eyesif a white woman declares herself insulted or assaulted, some life must pay the penalty, with all the horrors of the Spanish Inquisition and all the barbarism of the Middle Ages. 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