On Lynchings

by Ida B. Wells-Barnett

Overview

The bleak years after the Civil War brought continuing oppression to African Americans. During the 1880s and 1890s, more than 100 black citizens were lynched each year. In 1892, Memphis newspaper editor Ida B. Wells-Barnett raised a lone voice of protest and was forced to flee for her life. So began the civil rights pioneer's crusade against lynching.
This compilation features Southern Horrors, Wells's first pamphlet on the subject of lynching, as well as its successors, A Red Record and Mob Rule in New Orleans. Substantiated by her meticulous research and documentation, these works remain as important to today's historians as they were to the author's original audience.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780486779997
Publisher:	Dover Publications
Publication date:	05/21/2014
Pages:	176
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.30(h) x 0.60(d)

About the Author

An early leader of the civil rights movement, Ida B. Wells-Barnett (1862–1931) was an African American journalist, newspaper editor, suffragist, sociologist, and lecturer. She founded the National Association of Colored Women, the National Afro-American Council, and the first civic organization for African-American women, known today as the Ida B. Wells Club.

Table of Contents

	Introduction	9
I.	Southern Horrors	25
II.	A Red Record	55
III.	Mob Rule in New Orleans	153

Editorial Reviews

Wells-Barnett (1862-1931) began speaking out against lynching as the editor of a small newspaper for Blacks in Memphis, Tennessee, and continued her campaign in New York and Chicago. Here are three of her pamphlets: (1892), (1895), and (1900). They are introduced by Patricia Hill Collins (sociology and African American studies, U. of Cincinnati). Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

Ida B. Wells-Barnett’s On Lynchings is not only prescient in our current moment when we’ve seen a resurgence of mob violence and state-sanctioned police brutality against Black people and others seeking freedom and justice; Wells-Barnett’s words provide the intellectual and activist concepts that we need to fight in our present. She pointedly illustrates how the brutalization and murder of Black people is of interest to all for both issues of humanitarianism and capitalism; ultimately, Wells-Barnett in her own right—and as situated beautifully by Patricia Hill Collins—is the foundation from which we can make sense of violence across the U.S. (and globe) and the paths we must take to end it. As we dismantle, reimagine, and create a world that sees the humanity in all of us by centering the most discriminated against among us, Wells-Barnett’s works should be the touchstone we come back to again and again for revelation, motivation, and world-making.

Aria S. Halliday

Ida B. Wells-Barnett's On Lynchings is not only prescient in our current moment when we've seen a resurgence of mob violence and state-sanctioned police brutality against Black people and others seeking freedom and justice; Wells-Barnett's words provide the intellectual and activist concepts that we need to fight in our present. She pointedly illustrates how the brutalization and murder of Black people is of interest to all for both issues of humanitarianism and capitalism; ultimately, Wells-Barnett in her own right--and as situated beautifully by Patricia Hill Collins--is the foundation from which we can make sense of violence across the U.S. (and globe) and the paths we must take to end it. As we dismantle, reimagine, and create a world that sees the humanity in all of us by centering the most discriminated against among us, Wells-Barnett's works should be the touchstone we come back to again and again for revelation, motivation, and world-making.

From the Publisher