1. How does the excerpt describe how law and crime are handled for African Americans compared to White Americans during the late 19th century?
1. How does the excerpt describe how law and crime are handled for African Americans compared to White Americans during the late 19th century?
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Ida Bell Wells (1862-1931) was an African American journalist, suffragist, sociologist, and an early leader in
the Civil Rights Movement. The following excerpt comes from her work entitled Southern Horrors: Lynch
Laws in All Its Phases, which was originally published in the New York Age (June 25, 1892) and was then
printed as a pamphlet after much demand and many donations. In this pamphlet, Wells talks about
lynching, or the murder by mob for an alleged crime without a legal trial. The targets of such wanton
violence and hatred were almost always African Americans. Wells began investigating Southern lynching in
1889 when she wrote about the local lynching of a friend in her newspaper, Free Speech. This caused so
much anger that people threatened Wells not to return from a trip to New York to her hometown of
Memphis, prompting her to write Southern Horrors while exiled from the South. As you read, take notes on
Wells’ argument as to why black people in the South were so targeted and the consequences of lynching
that, essentially, let whites take the law into their own hands.
The Black and White of It
She told her husband
that during his absence in 1888, stumping the
State for the Prohibition Party,2 the man came to
the kitchen door forced his way in the house and
insulted her. She tried to drive him out with a
heavy poker, but he overpowered and
chloroformed her,3 and when she revived4 her
clothing was torn and she was in a horrible
condition. She did not know the man but could
identify him. She pointed out William Offett, a
married man, who was arrested and, being in
Ohio, was granted a trial.
1. another term for or spelling of “African American”
2. To “stump” is to travel around an area (such as a district, state, or nation) making political speeches. In this case, Mr.
Underwood traveled around Ohio advocating for Prohibition, the legal banning of the manufacture and sale of
alcohol.
3. Chloroform is a liquid and general anaesthetic that can be used to render a person unconscious.
the Civil Rights Movement. The following excerpt comes from her work entitled Southern Horrors: Lynch
Laws in All Its Phases, which was originally published in the New York Age (June 25, 1892) and was then
printed as a pamphlet after much demand and many donations. In this pamphlet, Wells talks about
lynching, or the murder by mob for an alleged crime without a legal trial. The targets of such wanton
violence and hatred were almost always African Americans. Wells began investigating Southern lynching in
1889 when she wrote about the local lynching of a friend in her newspaper, Free Speech. This caused so
much anger that people threatened Wells not to return from a trip to New York to her hometown of
Memphis, prompting her to write Southern Horrors while exiled from the South. As you read, take notes on
Wells’ argument as to why black people in the South were so targeted and the consequences of lynching
that, essentially, let whites take the law into their own hands.
The Black and White of It
She told her husband
that during his absence in 1888, stumping the
State for the Prohibition Party,2 the man came to
the kitchen door forced his way in the house and
insulted her. She tried to drive him out with a
heavy poker, but he overpowered and
chloroformed her,3 and when she revived4 her
clothing was torn and she was in a horrible
condition. She did not know the man but could
identify him. She pointed out William Offett, a
married man, who was arrested and, being in
Ohio, was granted a trial.
1. another term for or spelling of “African American”
2. To “stump” is to travel around an area (such as a district, state, or nation) making political speeches. In this case, Mr.
Underwood traveled around Ohio advocating for Prohibition, the legal banning of the manufacture and sale of
alcohol.
3. Chloroform is a liquid and general anaesthetic that can be used to render a person unconscious.
The prisoner vehemently5 denied the charge of rape but confessed he went to Mrs. Underwood's
residence at her invitation and was criminally intimate6 with her at her request.
These are her words:
I met Offutt at the Post Office. It was raining. He was polite to me, and as I had several bundles in my
arms he offered to carry them home for me, which he did. He had a strange fascination for me, and I
invited him to call on me. He called, bringing chestnuts and candy for the children. This means we
got them to leave us alone in the room. Then I sat on his lap. He made a proposal to me and I readily
consented. Why I did so, I do not know, but what I did is true. He visited me several times after that and
each time I was indiscreet.8 I did not care after the first time. In fact, I could not have resisted and had
no desire to resist.
When asked by her husband why she told him she had been outraged,9 she said: "I had several
reasons for telling you. One was the neighbors saw the fellows here, another was, I was afraid I had
contracted a loathsome disease,10 and still another was that I feared I might give birth to a Negro baby.
I hoped to save my reputation by telling you a deliberate lie." Her husband horrified by the confession
had Offutt, who had already served four years, released and secured a divorce.
Hundreds of such cases might be cited, but enough has been given to prove the assertion that there
are white women in the South who love the Afro-American company even as there are white men
notorious for their preference for Afro-American women.
There is hardly a town in the South which has not an instance of the kind which is well known, and
hence the assertion is reiterated13 that "nobody in the South believes the old threadbare lie that negro
men rape white women." Hence there is a growing demand among Afro-Americans that the guilt or
innocence of parties accused of rape be fully established. They know the men of the section of the
country who refuse this are not so desirous of punishing rapists as they pretend. The utterances of the
leading white men show that with them it is not the crime but the class. Bishop Fitzgerald has become
an apologist for lynchers of the rapists of white women only. Governor Tillman, of South Carolina, in the
month of June, standing under the tree in Barnwell, S.C., on which eight Afro-Americans were hung last
year, declared that he would lead a mob to lynch a negro who raped a white woman. So say the pulpits,
officials, and newspapers of the South. But when the victim is a colored woman it is different.
residence at her invitation and was criminally intimate6 with her at her request.
These are her words:
I met Offutt at the Post Office. It was raining. He was polite to me, and as I had several bundles in my
arms he offered to carry them home for me, which he did. He had a strange fascination for me, and I
invited him to call on me. He called, bringing chestnuts and candy for the children. This means we
got them to leave us alone in the room. Then I sat on his lap. He made a proposal to me and I readily
consented. Why I did so, I do not know, but what I did is true. He visited me several times after that and
each time I was indiscreet.8 I did not care after the first time. In fact, I could not have resisted and had
no desire to resist.
When asked by her husband why she told him she had been outraged,9 she said: "I had several
reasons for telling you. One was the neighbors saw the fellows here, another was, I was afraid I had
contracted a loathsome disease,10 and still another was that I feared I might give birth to a Negro baby.
I hoped to save my reputation by telling you a deliberate lie." Her husband horrified by the confession
had Offutt, who had already served four years, released and secured a divorce.
Hundreds of such cases might be cited, but enough has been given to prove the assertion that there
are white women in the South who love the Afro-American company even as there are white men
notorious for their preference for Afro-American women.
There is hardly a town in the South which has not an instance of the kind which is well known, and
hence the assertion is reiterated13 that "nobody in the South believes the old threadbare lie that negro
men rape white women." Hence there is a growing demand among Afro-Americans that the guilt or
innocence of parties accused of rape be fully established. They know the men of the section of the
country who refuse this are not so desirous of punishing rapists as they pretend. The utterances of the
leading white men show that with them it is not the crime but the class. Bishop Fitzgerald has become
an apologist for lynchers of the rapists of white women only. Governor Tillman, of South Carolina, in the
month of June, standing under the tree in Barnwell, S.C., on which eight Afro-Americans were hung last
year, declared that he would lead a mob to lynch a negro who raped a white woman. So say the pulpits,
officials, and newspapers of the South. But when the victim is a colored woman it is different.
1. How does the excerpt describe how law and crime are handled for African Americans compared to White Americans during the late 19th century?
2. What is suggested for African Americans to do despite the violence and intimidation they were facing?
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