Ida B. Wells
In the postbellum American South, lynching was a frightfully common occurrence, perpetrated so frequently that most Southern politicians and leaders turned a blind eye to the practice. This vicious form of vigilante “justice” was in truth a thinly veiled racist justification for murderous violence. In 1892 alone, more...
The epidemic of lynching that gripped the American South in the decades after the Civil War and the end of slavery has been glossed over and understated in many history books. Activist Ida B. Wells took it upon herself to document this shameful practice and its prevalence throughout the region and, to a lesser extent, the entire country in a series of seminal volumes, including Southern Horrors.
African-American journalist and activist Ida B. Wells played a major role in shedding light on the widespread practice of lynching in the United States. In this gripping account, Wells details the riots that erupted in New Orleans in 1900 following the death of a white police officer at the hands of African-American activist Robert Charles and which eventually resulted in the deaths of nearly 30 people, with hundreds more wounded.