Southern Horrors and Other Writings; The Anti-Lynching Campaign of Ida B. Wells, 1892-1900
Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
  • Powerful words
  • Raw But Real American History
Southern Horrors and Other Writings; The Anti-Lynching Campaign of Ida B. Wells, 1892-1900
Jacqueline Jones Royster , and Ida B. Wells
Manufacturer: Bedford/St. Martin's
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0312116950

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars Powerful words.......2005-01-17


Ida B. Wells was an African-American woman of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. She was born and grew up in the South, born in Mississippi during the Civil War. It is significant the impact of the legacy of slavery on her life -- she recounts how her parents, who were married as slaves, remarried each other as free persons after the war. Wells was a determined and intelligent woman -- her parents died while she was young, yet old enough to be left with the responsibility of her younger brothers and sisters. At the age of 14 she found herself at the head of a household with five younger children.

She worked hard to make sure that her education did not suffer, and eventually (a rarity for women of any colour in America at the time) went to work for a newspaper.

In an incident that foreshadowed Rosa Parks, she was once removed from a train for sitting in the wrong section, despite her ownership of a valid ticket for the seat. She sued the railroad and won (newspaper headlines read 'Darky Damsel Gets Damages' without concern for the racist tone), but the judgment was overturned on appeal, and she later discovered her lawyers had been paid off by the railroads, and the appellate judges had thought she was just being uppity to pursue the matter.

Such was the state of the African-American community that none came to her assistance as she pursued this fight. This made her more determined to organise and fight.

Several of her newspaper partners and other friends in Memphis were lynched for these efforts, and Wells was threatened herself, and left the South, but did not give up her crusade. Where ever she went, through cities and towns in the North as well as over to Europe (where, she said, she felt like she was treated as a real human being equal with others for the first time) she decried the injustice of laws which dismissed charges or gave light sentences if victims were coloured, and prosecuted more strongly, gave out harsher sentences, or even resorted to lynch mobs if the defendant (who was often not guilty) was coloured.

She continued speaking and publishing up to her death in 1931. She was never afraid of making herself unpopular, and often upset the African-American community by being critical of their complacency (especially the upper and middle classes). She became unpopular by standing against the military service during World War I, because of prejudicial and discriminatory practices, and never quite recovered in popular esteem from that.

But Wells had courage and determination that is rare in persons, male or female, of any colour, of any time, to take on such a task as the exposition and combat of lynching in the South during the post-Civil War decades. Talking directly with governors and even a president, Wells made her voice heard, and it was a difficult hearing in a difficult time.

This book, edited and introduced by Jacqueline Jones Royster, includes three primary publications of Ida B. Wells:

Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases
A Red Record
Mob Rule in New Orleans

These three publications highlight the problem of lynching, something that continued well past Wells' death in 1931. Despite this, Wells' campaign made significant strides to bring media attention and organised resistance in different ways to the problem of this violence. Presented in the text, the reader gets to read the actual writing of Wells, as well as introductory and appendix information helping fill out the context and additional details.

This is hard reading, but necessary for understanding some of the more tragic parts of American history.

5 out of 5 stars Raw But Real American History.......2001-06-23

Mrs. Ida B. Wells-Barnett should be as well known as Soujourner Truth or Rosa Parks. This was one revolutionary heroine! She was run out of Memphis for writing boldly about lynchings in the 1890s. She also did an in-depth study on lynching called "A Red Record" (included here) that told the truth about this practice on a national level. Another excellent segemnt teels the forgotten true tale of Robert Charles, who unsucessfully stood up to a New Orleans Lynch mob in 1900 using credible primary sources (see als William Ivy Hair's "Carnival of Fury" on that subject). This is the history you didn't get from your high-school teacher! READ it!
Ida B. Wells-Barnett and American Reform, 1880-1930
Average customer rating: 4 out of 5 stars
  • One Brave Black Woman's Struggle to be Heard
Ida B. Wells-Barnett and American Reform, 1880-1930
Patricia A. Schechter
Manufacturer: The University of North Carolina Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0807849650
Release Date: 2000-12-08

Book Description

Pioneering African American journalist Ida B. Wells-Barnett (1862-1931) is widely remembered for her courageous antilynching crusade in the 1890s; the full range of her struggles against injustice is not as well known. With this book, Patricia Schechter restores Wells-Barnett to her central, if embattled, place in the early reform movements for civil rights, women's suffrage, and Progressivism in the United States and abroad. Schechter's comprehensive treatment makes vivid the scope of Wells-Barnett's contributions and examines why the political philosophy and leadership of this extraordinary activist eventually became marginalized.

Though forced into the shadow of black male leaders such as W. E. B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington and misunderstood and then ignored by white women reformers such as Frances E. Willard and Jane Addams, Wells-Barnett nevertheless successfully enacted a religiously inspired, female-centered, and intensely political vision of social betterment and empowerment for African American communities throughout her adult years. By analyzing her ideas and activism in fresh sharpness and detail, Schechter exposes the promise and limits of social change by and for black women during an especially violent yet hopeful era in U.S. history.

Customer Reviews:

4 out of 5 stars One Brave Black Woman's Struggle to be Heard.......2007-09-21

The end of the Civil War in 1865 marked a new beginning for freed slaves but merely having won their freedom did not guarantee their acceptance as equals by white society. In fact, southern whites almost immediately began a campaign to resubjugate blacks using every means at their disposal including lynching. While whites held out lynchings to be punishment for rapes of white women, they were in reality acts of terror by white mobs in the effort to reestablish white majority rule. Of those few who spoke out against these predations, one of the most effective was Ida B. Wells-Barnett. Patricia A. Schechter shows how Wells-Barnett, born a slave, became one of the best-known authorities on black lynchings and then a well-known activist and social reformer despite being a black woman with little financial support. And in doing so, she shows how Wells-Barnett worked within the restrictions of race and gender. While not a biography, Schechter includes sufficient details of Wells-Barnett's life to help understand her activist role in fighting lynching, working to help disadvantaged blacks, and win voting rights for women.

Wells-Barnett's journey to Memphis after her parents died was an effort to keep her siblings with her as a family. She worked as a teacher to provide an income but she used her ingenuity to bring in extra monies such as by organizing a dramatic club and putting on shows. But as she was intelligent, well-read, and hard-working she quickly understood that writing and public life were the best avenues for her, as a black woman, to better herself and further her goal of social change. She developed a sarcastic, mocking sense of humor which she employed in her ofttimes scathing and provocative articles and pamphlets which helped draw attention to controversial subjects. She bolstered her points of view by supplying statistics such as in her paper, Southern Horrors, showing that less than 30% of lynchings of black men involved the charge of rape vice the almost 100% claimed by whites.

As she was unmarried, she took great pains to ensure that her personal reputation was unsullied. She could not rely on male relatives to defend her honor so in addition to using her own rhetorical and writing skills, she sought the help of male friends. Having no husband to speak for her in a society which diminished the worth of an unmarried, black woman made her life difficult. As a black person, she demonstrated her concern with her physical safety as she sometimes carried a pistol and advocated armed resistance to defend against white predations. As part owner of a newspaper, she did not self censor her articles. In one she wrote just before she fled Memphis for New York, she asserted that black men who were lynched did not assault white women but rather were participating in liaisons. For this, her paper's office was attacked.

She became an effective and charismatic public speaker in the U.S. and then in England as she purposefully eschewed an emotionalist and demonstrative type of presentation but rather adopted a restrained and dignified manner. Her informal training as an actress helped her in her speaking engagements, and her ability to speak through tears added a dramatic touch to some speeches. She always had to remain cognizant of the fact that she was stepping away from the traditional role of a married black woman into a role of a black spokesman so had to ensure that she maintained her dignity and composure.

After she married in 1895, she continued her efforts in her new home of Chicago albeit her literary efforts after 1900 never equaled earlier ones. And male dominance of black civil right efforts intensified after WWI marginalizing her influence in antilynching efforts nationwide. Black men's and women's roles became different in the first two decades of the 19th century: "there emerged at the elite level a gender division of labor, which assigned political and intellectual leadership to men awhile entrusting to women a parallel role of prayer, education, and fundraising in female networks" (168). Her radicalism and uncompromising attitude further marginalized her as many male black leaders sought compromise and conciliation with whites versus confrontation while others urged blacks merely to uplift themselves. She "voted with her feet" when a church or organization pursued paths with which she disagreed. Also, while she helped found the NAACP, she withdrew her support as her activism was not appreciated as part of its progressive agenda. Wells-Barnett was marginalized as a militant leader and reverted to local or state venues for most of her work. She became very active in Chicago social and welfare groups to help poorer blacks emulating renewed black women's roles as wife and mother. Her participation in black women's suffrage was especially noteworthy even while her own political campaign failed. Her almost religious fervor to recruit all blacks to vote was one of her primary ways to fight white racism and terror. Clearly, Wells-Barnett did not willingly accept second class status to whites or to black men but her ofttimes confrontational approach, and uncompromising and provocative attitude, made her unpopular to some black men and organizations thereby diminishing her effectiveness.

Schechter presents a thorough study of this important early civil rights figure emphasizing how Wells-Barnett's race and gender influenced and constrained her efforts. Written for an academic audience knowledgeable about black activism during this era, she succeeds in dissecting Wells-Barnett's successes and failures relating them to her color and gender. Schechter could perhaps have been more successful had she presented additional biographical details to better understand Wells-Barnett motivations and as a person not just as a black activist. But anyone interested in how black women responded to both white racism and gender discrimination during this time will find much value in this book.
Womanist Justice, Womanist Hope (American Academy of Religion Academy Series)
Average customer rating: Not rated
    Womanist Justice, Womanist Hope (American Academy of Religion Academy Series)
    Emilie M. Townes
    Manufacturer: An American Academy of Religion Book
    ProductGroup: Book
    Binding: Paperback

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    ASIN: 1555406831

    Book Description

    This book offers an important contribution to the recovery and articulation of African-American womanist experience. Ida Wells-Barnett (1862-1931) was an activist, social reformer, and churchwoman. Womanist Justice, Womanist Hope recovers her life and historical context and examines the extent to which her perspective can be a resource for a contemporary womanist Christian social ethic. Beginning with a brief biographical sketch of Wells-Barnett, Emilie Townes examines the religious and social world in which she worked as well as her many speeches and publciations. Townes focuses especially on Wells-Barnett's participation in the anti-lynching campaigns of the late nineteenth century. She argues that Wells-Barnett's life and work can provide important lessons in leadership and social activism for contemporary Black churchwomen. nature of leadership for Black women,
    Getting the Real Story: Nellie Bly and Ida B. Wells (Women Who Dared)
    Average customer rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    • Two Amazing Women that you will never forget
    Getting the Real Story: Nellie Bly and Ida B. Wells (Women Who Dared)
    Sue Davidson
    Manufacturer: Seal Press (CA)
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    Customer Reviews:

    4 out of 5 stars Two Amazing Women that you will never forget.......1998-12-02

    Ida B. Wells and Nellie Bly were amzing women. Nelie Bly never stopped by what people toldher and had a very strong attitude. Even if you are a boy and you think this book is only for girls, YOUR WRONG. It is for everybody to enjoy.
    Crusade for Justice: The Autobiography of Ida B. Wells (Negro American Biographies and Autobiographies)
    Average customer rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    • An early voice
    • Crusade for Justice by Ida B. Wells
    • Redundant read is not important but the life of Wells is
    • Valuable Book, but a Redundant Read
    Crusade for Justice: The Autobiography of Ida B. Wells (Negro American Biographies and Autobiographies)
    Ida B. Wells
    Manufacturer: University Of Chicago Press
    ProductGroup: Book
    Binding: Paperback

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    ASIN: 0226893448

    Book Description

    Ida B. Wells (1862-1931) was one of the foremost crusaders against black oppression. This engaging memoir tells of her private life as mother of a growing family as well as her public activities as teacher, lecturer, and journalist in her fight against attitudes and laws oppressing blacks.

    "No student of black history should overlook Crusade for Justice."—William M. Tuttle, Jr., Journal of American History

    "Besides being the story of an incredibly courageous and outspoken black woman in the face of innumerable odds, the book is a valuable contribution to the social history of the United States and to the literature of the women's movement as well."—Elizabeth Kolmer, American Quarterly

    "[Wells was] a sophisticated fighter whose prose was as though as her intellect."—Walter Goodman, New York Times

    "An illuminating narrative of a zealous, race-conscious, civic- and church-minded black woman reformer, whose life story is a significant chapter in the history of Negro-White relations."—Thelma D. Perry, Negro History Bulletin

    Alfreda M. Duster, who died in 1983, was the daughter of Ida B. Wells and Ferdinand L. Barnett, the first black state's attorney in Illinois.

    Customer Reviews:

    5 out of 5 stars An early voice.......2003-06-01

    I read 'Crusade for Justice: The Autobiography of Ida B. Wells' as part of a class in ethical and prophetic witness for seminary. This was, frankly, not the kind of book I was likely to read apart from a class assignment. But I am very glad to have been given the opportunity -- sometimes things we have to do are in fact good for us!

    Ida B. Wells was an African-American woman of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. She was born and grew up in the South, born in Mississippi during the Civil War. It is significant the impact of the legacy of slavery on her life -- she recounts how her parents, who were married as slaves, remarried each other as free persons after the war. Wells was a determined and intelligent woman -- her parents died while she was young, yet old enough to be left with the responsibility of her younger brothers and sisters. At the age of 14 she found herself at the head of a household with five younger children.

    She worked hard to make sure that her education did not suffer, and eventually (a rarity for women of any colour in America at the time) went to work for a newspaper.

    In an incident that foreshadowed Rosa Parks, she was once removed from a train for sitting in the wrong section, despite her ownership of a valid ticket for the seat. She sued the railroad and won (newspaper headlines read 'Darky Damsel Gets Damages' without concern for the racist tone), but the judgment was overturned on appeal, and she later discovered her lawyers had been paid off by the railroads, and the appellate judges had thought she was just being uppity to pursue the matter.

    Such was the state of the African-American community that none came to her assistance as she pursued this fight. This made her more determined to organise and fight.

    Several of her newspaper partners and other friends in Memphis were lynched for these efforts, and Wells was threatened herself, and left the South, but did not give up her crusade. Where ever she went, through cities and towns in the North as well as over to Europe (where, she said, she felt like she was treated as a real human being equal with others for the first time) she decried the injustice of laws which dismissed charges or gave light sentences if victims were coloured, and prosecuted more strongly, gave out harsher sentences, or even resorted to lynch mobs if the defendant (who was often not guilty) was coloured.

    'She fought a lonely and almost single-handed fight, with the single-mindedness of a crusader, long before men or women of any race entered the arena, and the measure of success she achieved goes far beyond the credit she has been given the history of the country.'

    She continued speaking and publishing up to her death in 1931. She was never afraid of making herself unpopular, and often upset the African-American community by being critical of their complacency (especially the upper and middle classes). She became unpopular by standing against the military service during World War I, because of prejudicial and discriminatory practices, and never quite recovered in popular esteem from that.

    But Wells had courage and determination that is rare in persons, male or female, of any colour, of any time, to take on such a task as the exposition and combat of lynching in the South during the post-Civil War decades. Talking directly with governors and even a president, Wells made her voice heard, and it was a difficult hearing in a difficult time.

    3 out of 5 stars Crusade for Justice by Ida B. Wells.......2003-03-08

    This book sin't really anything special although it is interesting.The author describes her life all the way from her childhood where most of her family died, and through her success as a teacher and a newspaper editor who fought for freedom of speech in her articles.I recommend this book for those who are interested in the history after 1800s and how life went on at that time.Overall,it is a good book but I found it boring at times.

    5 out of 5 stars Redundant read is not important but the life of Wells is.......2002-07-23

    Even though some of the material in this book is redundant, this is an opportunity to read primary source material about the actions and reactions of a woman many of us know little about. Learning about Ida B. Wells in the first person puts you into the times in which she lived. There is no way a biography can give you the same experience. This is a book I would recommend to anyone wanting to understand this period of our history and the personalities--their strengths and limits--that dominated the crusades of those times. I like knowing about Wells' frailties as well as her strengths and the insights that she shared. And I like hearing her viewpoints about other leaders of her time. The three star ratings may say something about the readability of the book, but not about what you gain by staying the course.

    3 out of 5 stars Valuable Book, but a Redundant Read.......2001-02-24

    The historical merit of Ida Wells' story is profound: here we have a history of African Americans written from the perspective of a fellow A.A. at a time when black history was otherwise sadly neglected. This book provides information about the foundation of A.A. activist groups, such as the NAACP from the perspective of an insider. The events of Wells' life coincide with other great A.A. figures, such as Frederick Douglass. She also provides a candid and heartfelt commentary on the injustices suffered by blacks in her time, most notably episodes of lynching. Truly and inspirational story of a very strong and very motivated woman.

    In terms of readability, however, the book gets a little redundant and repetitive after the half-way point. The details of Wells' many meetings and interactions are sometimes hard to follow and...well,repetitive.
    The Memphis Diary of Ida B. Wells (Black Women Writers Series)
    Average customer rating: Not rated
      The Memphis Diary of Ida B. Wells (Black Women Writers Series)

      Manufacturer: Beacon Press
      ProductGroup: Book
      Binding: Paperback

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      ASIN: 0807070653

      Book Description

      "DeCosta-Willis makes it possible to look back in a new way into the character of Wells and, more than that, into the daily life of African Americans a century ago."
      — Chicago Tribune

      "A unique look at the life of an independent, unmarried African-American woman coping with financial hardships, romantic entanglements, sexism and racism. A substantial contribution to African-American studies."
      — Publishers Weekly
      To Keep the Waters Troubled: The Life of Ida B. Wells
      Average customer rating: 5 out of 5 stars
      • A Deft Rendering of The Most Impressive Woman in History...
      • This book deftly describes a great woman in difficult times.
      • A worthy treatise about a magnificent American
      • An excellent history not only of Wells, but of the times.
      To Keep the Waters Troubled: The Life of Ida B. Wells
      Linda O. McMurry
      Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
      ProductGroup: Book
      Binding: Paperback

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      Amazon.com

      When Frederick Douglass died in 1895, writes Linda O. McMurry, Ida B. Wells "was his logical heir apparent; they had collaborated closely on several projects. She was better known than W.E.B. DuBois and more ideologically compatible with Douglass than Booker T. Washington"--but it was considered too belittling to black "manhood" to have a woman leading African American politics.

      Wells first rose to prominence when she wrote about her lawsuit against a railroad company that had kicked her out of a first-class seat. Throughout the 1890s, she crusaded vigorously against the rise of lynching as a tactic used by whites to intimidate the newly freed black populace. She also worked closely with the suffragist movement, but broke with white feminists who preferred to downplay or ignore ethnic dimensions to social justice. The woman who emerges from McMurry's intricately detailed biography, drawn extensively from Wells's own writings, is a fierce social advocate who easily serves as a role model for modern activists.

      Book Description

      In the generation that followed Frederick Douglass, no African American was more prominent, or more outspoken, than Ida B. Wells. Seriously considered as a rival to W.E.B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington for race leadership, Wells' career began amidst controversy when she sued a Tennessee railroad company for ousting her from a first class car, a legal battle which launched her lifelong commitment to journalism and activism. In the 1890s, Wells focused her eloquence on the horrors of lynching, exposing it as a widespread form of racial terrorism. Backing strong words with strong actions, she lectured in the States and abroad, arranged legal representation for black prisoners, hired investigators, founded anti-lynching leagues, sought recourse from Congress, and more. Wells was an equally forceful advocate for women's rights, but parted ways with feminist allies who would subordinate racial justice to their cause. Using diary entries, letters, and published writings, McMurry illuminates Wells's fiery personality, and the uncompromising approach that sometimes lost her friendships even as it won great victories. To Keep the Waters Troubled is an unforgettable account of a remarkable woman and the and the times she helped to change.

      Customer Reviews:

      5 out of 5 stars A Deft Rendering of The Most Impressive Woman in History..........2004-07-16

      And one of the ten most impressive people I've ever read about, period. I can't say too much about how awed I am of the life of Ida B. Wells. Had I been her contemporary I would have worn out my knees trying to propose to her until she married me. McMurry's book shows how this woman has been short changed by history due to her uncompromising belief in African American equal rights and self-respect. She and people like another African American who doesn't get his due, Monroe Trotter, have been marginalized merely because in their day they demanded the same degree of self-respect and political and educational rights that Caucasians of every stripe took for granted. They were considered "radical" and "militant" for not compromising the way virtually all other African American leaders did during their era. Their marginalization goes a long way in explaining why the African American persona has never featured the degree of chutzpah and daring it has needed for us to advance farther than we have. Instead, all of us have been too heavily influenced by leaders promoted over Wells-Barnett and Trotter, who instilled caution within us as a people, virtually as second nature. Not even W.E.B. Du Bois conducted himself with the degree of pride and fortitude that people like Wells-Barnett and Trotter did. McMurry's book deserves a place on all reading lists in American history classes so that everyone can truly understand the troubling forces that made this country what it is today, and the manner in which people like Wells-Barnett were purposely silenced as part of a plan to keep African Americans oppressed.

      5 out of 5 stars This book deftly describes a great woman in difficult times........1999-07-12

      This book is interesting and easy to read, but hard to take. Ida B. Wells-Barnett was a complex person: incredibly smart, brave and strong, but at the same time, prickly and ultra sensative.The book also puts America's current racial and gender problems into perspective, showing us that we haven't come very far from the late 19th century's attitudes toward and treatment of African-Americans and women. This book is a must-read for anyone who cares about a great American or wants to face and learn more about America's shameful history. That said, the author's style makes it easy to read. Amazingly enough for a scholarly biography, I would often find myself reading late into the night because I couldn't put it down.

      5 out of 5 stars A worthy treatise about a magnificent American.......1999-06-30

      McMurray's biography of Ida B. Wells-Barnett is a rare triumph. Wells-Barnett was a courageous American whose valor is depicted in full color. All too frequently, when there is a discussion of the impact of race, there is a mistaken assumption that black males comprise the affected population. Similarly, when gender is raised as an issue, the false assumption is that white women are the only ones to be affected. Wells-Barnett was an American woman of African descent who fought the societally-mandated strictures of race and sex until her death. I am emboldened by her deeds since too many of the same strictures still exist. I applaud McMurray for her scholarship in this biography's portrayal of the life of Wells-Barnett. This book is definitely recommended.

      5 out of 5 stars An excellent history not only of Wells, but of the times........1999-05-17

      I came away from this book with new respect for Wells, and her courage. I was overwhelmed with sadness after reading some of the details of the lynchings and the effect on the survivors. The book contains an excellent analysis of the real reason for many lynchings:economic competition.
      The Princess of the Press: The Story of Ida B. Wells-Barnett (Rainbow Biography)
      Average customer rating: Not rated
        The Princess of the Press: The Story of Ida B. Wells-Barnett (Rainbow Biography)
        Angela Shelf Medearis
        Manufacturer: Dutton Juvenile
        ProductGroup: Book
        Binding: Hardcover

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        ASIN: 0525674934

        Book Description

        Beginning readers seeking an accessible biography will be captivated by the story of the remarkable Ida B. Wells-Barnett (1862 1931), a teacher, journalist, lecturer, and civil rights leader. In clear, easy-to-read prose, award-winning author Angela Shelf Medearis shows how Wells-Barnett triumphed over adversity throughout her life and became a respected leader. Orphaned at the age of fourteen, with five younger siblings to care for, she taught school to support her family. Later Wells-Barnett became part-owner of an African-American newspaper and led a crusade against lynching, endangering her life. A champion of the cause of suffrage for women, she was an outspoken, unusual woman whose courage to seek the truth and fight for justice made history. Angela Shelf Medearis is the author of thirty-three books, including Dare to Dream: Coretta Scott King and the Civil Rights Movement, which Booklist called "a concise,engaging biography for young readers."
        On Lynchings (Classics in Black Studies)
        Average customer rating: Not rated
          On Lynchings (Classics in Black Studies)
          Ida B. Wells-Barnett
          Manufacturer: Humanity Books
          ProductGroup: Book
          Binding: Paperback

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          Similar Items:
          1. Crusade for Justice: The Autobiography of Ida B. Wells (Negro American Biographies and Autobiographies) Crusade for Justice: The Autobiography of Ida B. Wells (Negro American Biographies and Autobiographies)
          2. The Collected Poetry of Paul Laurence Dunbar The Collected Poetry of Paul Laurence Dunbar
          3. A Voice From the South (Schomburg Library of 19th Century Black Women Writers) A Voice From the South (Schomburg Library of 19th Century Black Women Writers)
          4. The Boundaries of Blackness: AIDS and the Breakdown of Black Politics The Boundaries of Blackness: AIDS and the Breakdown of Black Politics
          5. To Make Our World Anew: Volume II: A History of African Americans Since 1880 To Make Our World Anew: Volume II: A History of African Americans Since 1880

          ASIN: 1591020085

          Book Description

          Though the end of the Civil War brought legal emancipation to Blacks, their social oppression continued long afterward. The most virulent form of this ongoing persecution was the practice of lynching. During the 1880s and 1890s, more than one hundred African Americans per year were lynched, and in 1892 alone the toll of murdered men and women reached a peak of 161.

          In that awful year, Ida B. Wells (1862-1931), the editor of a small newspaper for Blacks in Memphis, Tennessee, raised one lone voice of protest, charging that White businessmen had instigated three local lynchings against their Black competitors. In retaliation, her editorial office was ransacked and she was forced to flee the South and move to New York City.

          So began a crusade against lynching that became the focus of Wells-Barnett's long, active, and very courageous life. In New York she published "Southern Horrors," her first pamphlet on the subject. Later, after moving to Chicago and marrying lawyer Ferdinand Barnett, she brought out the pamphlets "A Red Record" and "Mob Rule in New Orleans." Anticipating possible accusations of distortion, she was careful to present factually accurate evidence and she deliberately relied on Southern White sources as well as statistics gathered by the "Chicago Tribune."

          All three of these documents are here collected. Wells-Barnett's work remains important to this day not only as a cry of protest against injustice but also as valuable historical documentation of terrible crimes that must never be forgotten.
          Ida B. Wells-Barnett: Powerhouse With a Pen (Trailblazer Biography)
          Average customer rating: Not rated
            Ida B. Wells-Barnett: Powerhouse With a Pen (Trailblazer Biography)
            Catherine A. Welch
            Manufacturer: Carolrhoda Books
            ProductGroup: Book
            Binding: Hardcover

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            ASIN: 1575053527

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