Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases
By Ida B. Wells-Barnett
1892, 1893, 1894
[Transcriber's Note: This pamphlet was first published in 1892 but wassubsequently reprinted. It's not apparent if the curiosities in spellingdate back to the original or were introduced later; they have beenretained as found, and the reader is left to decide. Please verify withanother source before quoting this material.]
PREFACE
HON. FRED. DOUGLASS'S LETTER
THE OFFENSE
THE BLACK AND WHITE OF IT
THE NEW CRY
THE MALICIOUS AND UNTRUTHFUL WHITE PRESS
THE SOUTH'S POSITION
SELF-HELP
PREFACE
The greater part of what is contained in these pages was published in theNew York Age June 25, 1892, in explanation of the editorial which theMemphis whites considered sufficiently infamous to justify the destructionof my paper, the Free Speech.
Since the appearance of that statement, requests have come from all partsof the country that "Exiled" (the name under which it then appeared) beissued in pamphlet form. Some donations were made, but not enough for thatpurpose. The noble effort of the ladies of New York and Brooklyn Oct. 5have enabled me to comply with this request and give the world a true,unvarnished account of the causes of lynch law in the South.
This statement is not a shield for the despoiler of virtue, nor altogethera defense for the poor blind Afro-American Sampsons who suffer themselvesto be betrayed by white Delilahs. It is a contribution to truth, an arrayof facts, the perusal of which it is hoped will stimulate this greatAmerican Republic to demand that justice be done though the heavens fall.
It is with no pleasure I have dipped my hands in the corruption hereexposed. Somebody must show that the Afro-American race is more sinnedagainst than sinning, and it seems to have fallen upon me to do so. Theawful death-roll that Judge Lynch is calling every week is appalling, notonly because of the lives it takes, the rank cruelty and outrage to thevictims, but because of the prejudice it fosters and the stain it placesagainst the good name of a weak race.
The Afro-American is not a bestial race. If this work can contribute inany way toward proving this, and at the same time arouse the conscience ofthe American people to a demand for justice to every citizen, andpunishment by law for the lawless, I shall feel I have done my race aservice. Other considerations are of minor importance.
IDA B. WELLS
New York City, Oct. 26, 1892
To the Afro-American women of New York and Brooklyn, whose race love,earnest zeal and unselfish effort at Lyric Hall, in the City of New York,on the night of October 5, 1892—made possible its publication, thispamphlet is gratefully dedicated by the author.
HON. FRED. DOUGLASS'S LETTER
Dear Miss Wells:
Let me give you thanks for your faithful paper on the lync