Ida B. Wells (1862–1931)

Interesting on so many levels, it is a cry of outrage against Southern lynch culture, it is an example of early editorial journalism, and it is a scathing critique of media representations of black and white, in an era when Southern newspapers regularly wrote of white "gentleman" and "Negro scoundrels." Wells brings into sharp relief the extreme and ever present danger of being a black man in America, not only in the South.

This work is interesting in an entirely different way for its lack show more of names and dates and place names throughout the litany of lynching stories Wells presents here. I'm not sure if this vagueness is out of kindness to victims and their families, in the way newspapers today don't name minors involved in crimes, or whether the lack of verifiable detail in Wells's writing about lynch culture is simply a representation of how young the craft of journalism was in her era. show less

After reading these accounts from late 19th and early 20th century U.S.A. of lynching by mostly white men with complicity and at times instigation and encouragement from white women, against black men, women and children, I am disgusted and discouraged with humanity. Although I had heard the song Strange Fruit and even read the poem and was somewhat aware of this history, nothing prepared me for the gruesomeness and inhumanity I read in these pages.

Ida B. Wells was an incredible activist and show more journalist and what a debt we owe her for recording with fact and reason these bloody and horrid accounts. Any gaslighting, needless arguments about the past being the past will result with an immediate block. show less

Short and searing.

Ida B. Wells does an incredible job researching lynchings reported in the South. In 1892 she works hard to discover if the men lynched had been in fact charged with any crime or if the crime itself was a rumour, based upon a single allegation.

Frederick Douglass gives this piece his blessing and after reading it, I can see why.

While reading, I couldn't help but think of the unmitigated violence against black people by police in the United States. Men, in positions of show more power, who escape egregious actions by nothing more than the shadow of their authority.

I thought this book would be difficult to read, and at moments, of course, it was, but her determination rose above all the descriptions of the crimes. I felt her longing for justice.

Edit: Still think about this book, and Emmett Till, who was lynched 63 years ago. Within my mother's lifetime. This book will stay with me. show less

Don't let the three stars deceive you, this writing is incredible. Ida Wells was one of the greatest writers in the Reconstruction Period, end of discussion. But her descriptions of growing up in slavery, being freed by the Emancipation Proclamation, and continuing to see awful racist hatred... it's difficult to get through. It was legitimately emotionally painful. My ratings tend to be based upon my experience reading the book, so I have to put it at 3/5 because it was a good read but also show more I don't know if I can ever recommend it to somebody.

That being said, I suppose if you're looking to study politics or history, you have to read things like this. You can't understand the United States without pulling away the frills and leaving bare the horrors we've committed against our own people. To distance ourselves from it is dangerous, and that's why this book is as important as it is heart-wrenching. show less