Ida B. Wells

Alexa Calomiris, Sam Clark, Keeley Frost, Chip Olges, Blaire Smith

History 345 - Civil Rights in Memphis

Dr. Charles W. McKinney

9/12/16

Group Review #1

    “Somebody must show that the Afro-American race is more sinned against than sinning, and it seems to have fallen upon me to do so” (Horrors 50). There is no debate that Ida B. Wells was a trailblazer in the active advocacy of equality and justice for African Americans. The questions that she posed on lynch law shed new light on the injustice and cruelty that minorities, and blacks specifically, experienced in the Jim Crow south. Although her actions created new discourse on the topic of racial equality, some have questions on her motives and intentions. Did her radicalism hurt her or her case? She was an African American woman, which meant that many who listened or read her preachings did not claim her as trustworthy. This led her to work extra hard to spread the truth, as she did in her pamphlet A Red Record, where she listed off cases of lynchings and what they were accused of, pointing at the false accusations using legal terminology and facts. In Southern Horrors:\. Lynch Law In All Its Phases, she tells us how she came about these findings.

In 1892, Ida B. wells published her first significant work on lynching in the American South. Entitled Southern Horrors:\. Lynch Law In All Its Phases, this work was an account of several contact zones that had occurred throughout the nation since 1885. Notably, it includes the “People’s Grocery” lynchings, as well as the incident which led to the destruction of the “Free Speech” offices. In March of 1892, “three of the best specimens of young since-the-war Afro-American manhood” were lynched (Horrors 64). According to Wells, this was a reaction to the success of their business, the “People’s Grocery.” This manifestation of jealousy and anger came about when a white competing businessman entered the “People’s Grocery” and drew a pistol, and was disarmed violently (but necessarily) by an owner Calvin McDowell . The businessman then rallied the white mob (consisting of a dozen police officers) and attacked the building. In the ensuing firefight, three of the policemen were wounded; however, when the owners discovered they were firing upon (un-uniformed) officers, they immediately laid down their arms and fled from their own property. While under the letter of the law, the men who defended their business could not be executed for simply wounding a white man; according to Lynch law, they were dead men walking. In a blatant circumvention of the law, the three owners were taken from their jail cells in order to learn “the lesson of subordination” (Horrors 65). They were brutally lynched and the white press throughout the South vilified them even in death. In Memphis, the black newspaper “The Memphis Free Speech” attempted to fight back with journalistic integrity. Ida B. Wells published an article about the lynching, which was demonised in the white newspapers. On May 21st, 1892, the “Free Speech” published an editorial denouncing the practice of lynching throughout the South, including the famous line “Nobody in this section of the country believes the old thread-bare lie that negro men rape white women” (Horrors 52). This enraged the local (white) populace, and the other newspapers wrote scathing, retaliatory, and threatening responses. In an attempt to pander to a cult of white womanhood, these newspapers wrote “Those negroes who are attempting to make the lynching of individuals of their race a means for arousing the worst passions of their kind are playing with a dangerous sentiment” (Horrors 52). The white populace (including supposed “leading business men”), afflicted with a violent fever, met to discuss the fate of the “Free Speech.” Following that meeting, those same “leaders of the community” ransacked the “Free Speech” offices, forced the owners to flee town, and “advised [Ida B. Wells] that bodily harm awaited [her] return” to Memphis (Horrors 53).

So what do you do if you are a black man? Ida B. Wells writes in “Self Help” that “the only case where the proposed lynching did not occur, was where the men armed themselves in Jacksonville, Fla. and Paducah, Ky.” (Horrors 70). She then declares that the Winchester rifle is the one thing most needed to protect a family. However, moving from the South was just as effective. For instance, Wells gives an example of a situation from the North, in Elyria, Ohio (a suburb outside of Cleveland). Here, after an allegation from the wife of a minister that a black man “overpowered and chloroformed her and when she revived her clothing was torn and she was in a horrible condition” (Horrors 54). The man was arrested, but he was protected in his cell, he was granted a trial and was found guilty and sentenced to 15 years in prison. However, four years later, the wife recanted her story and confessed that it was a consensual extramarital affair. Because of the protections afforded the vindicated man, he was released from jail and was able to live his life. In the South, this man would likely have been lynched even before his trial. There would have been no opportunity for the wife to recant and save the life of the falsely accused. Ida B Wells shrewdly writes about this event again in A Red Record, demonstrating the contrast between the horrors of the South and the hope in the North.

In A Red Record, Ida B. Wells continued to grapple with segregation in the United States and especially in the South. In her efforts to attempt to expose the truth about the white population's commitment to black subordination and the real reason for the use of violence, she presented her audience with the accurate statistics of the colored victims of lynching during the year 1893. She exposed the unfair constructed “Lynch Law” legal-system in the South, by showing that most lynching victims were never proven guilty through trials in courts, but rather attacked based on only having “allegedly” committed the crime. In 1870, the Fifteenth Amendment gave African Americans the legal right to vote, but even though the Constitution permitted blacks the right to vote they were still disenfranchised because the government did not protect their rights. Wells’s statistics showed a majority of the lynchings revolved around rapes and rape accusations, but more times than not the victim never received judicial investigation and the white people would take matters into their own hands and violently murder innocent African Americans. The white supremacy within southern society trumped the African Americans rights as human beings (i.e. voting) because they wanted to manage, confine, and maintain social control. Segregation influenced every situation of African Americans lives, because white men and women felt African Americans were not entitled to pursue the ‘American Dream,’ so mob violence backed by “Lynch Law” was their way to further oppression.

Although Ida B. Wells did not did not stop the practice of lynching during her lifetime, she was considered a successful leader in the anti-lynching campaign. Between 1892 and 1900, she was able to use her literature to significantly reduce the number of lynchings in the South. She was able to successfully use the media (through her journalism and ownership of press), militantism (promoting blacks needed to have weapons to protect themselves), and the economy (boycotting the trolley system in Memphis) to show her followers the truth about the unfair legal system being practiced in the south. The work of Ida B. Wells taught that she believed “self-sufficiency” would be the best way for the African American population to gain greater freedom in the United States. Unfortunately, Wells is criticized for her reputation of being too revolutionary and radical. Her status among the African American community allowed her to fearlessly confront segregation. Her objective was to write the truth about lynching and have people read about the horrible realities African American in the American south faced during the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. African Americans were considered second-class citizens and the white population used lynchings to express social control and power.

The anti-lynching campaign of Ida B. Wells was an example of a successful advancement in the Civil Rights Movement and the African American populations attempt to gain greater freedom in the United States. It pointed out the fact that Julian Bond’s master narrative, which is how a majority of Americans view the Civil Rights Movement, is glossed over and obscures more than it reveals. Equality did not happen overnight in the United States, and the desire for civil rights continues to be a struggle for the African American community.

The questions Southern Horrors. Lynch Law In All Its Phases and A Red Record raised for our group are how difficult was it for her peers in the newspaper to agree to publish such work. Were they supportive? We also question how she could run such material without getting into legal trouble. Our final question was one that really could not be answered but just more imagined, and that is how would this have gone down in the north. Would the pamphlet be needed? Would the people react better? Dr. Watkins did a great job in her reading and in her lecture helping to find answers.

Dr. Watkins introduced new input and questions about Ida B. and came full circle by showing us how Ida affecting the civil rights movement can still be seen today in Memphis. We discussed the master narrative, which we hold so close because it is comfortable and easy. We can shy away from the grueling facts, but Dr. Watkins help to smash the master narrative of Memphis and civil rights, exposing the problems of racism we still face. She brought up the recent step in the civil right movement, of the protest over the Memphis Bridge this past summer. She also gave us background on Ida B., such as her history in journalism and how imperative it was to A Red Record. Media was limited during Ida’s time, with the only way to spread news being a couple local papers. The papers were yellow journalism, meaning there was no code of ethics at the time. These factors along with Ida’s power in the newspaper are what contributed to her being able to get the word out about the anti-lynching campaign, and spread the truth. This cumulation of Ida B. is one that should be known throughout Memphis, and as Dr. Watkins informed us, is becoming more prominent. The readings have showed us major steps in the Civil Rights movement that have gotten us to where we are today, not yet completed, but in the right direction.