Lynchings of Women in the United States

Lynchings of Women in the United States
Author: Kerry Segrave
Publisher: McFarland
Total Pages: 197
Release: 2014-01-10
Genre: History
ISBN: 0786460083

Between 1850 and 1950, at least 115 women were lynched by mobs in the United States. The majority of these women were black. This book examines the phenomenon of the lynching of women, a much more rare occurence than the lynching of men. Over the same hundred year period covered in this text, more than 1,000 white men were lynched, while thousands of black men were murdered by mobs. Of particular importance in this examination is the role of race in lynching, particularly the increase in the number of lynchings of black women as the century progressed. Details are provided--when available--in an attempt to shine a light on this form of deadly mob violence.

Southern Horrors

Southern Horrors
Author: Crystal N. Feimster
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Total Pages: 344
Release: 2009-11-23
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780674035621

Between 1880 and 1930, close to 200 women were murdered by lynch mobs in the American South. Many more were tarred and feathered, burned, whipped, or raped. In this brutal world of white supremacist politics and patriarchy, a world violently divided by race, gender, and class, black and white women defended themselves and challenged the male power brokers. Crystal Feimster breaks new ground in her story of the racial politics of the postbellum South by focusing on the volatile issue of sexual violence. Pairing the lives of two Southern women—Ida B. Wells, who fearlessly branded lynching a white tool of political terror against southern blacks, and Rebecca Latimer Felton, who urged white men to prove their manhood by lynching black men accused of raping white women—Feimster makes visible the ways in which black and white women sought protection and political power in the New South. While Wells was black and Felton was white, both were journalists, temperance women, suffragists, and anti-rape activists. By placing their concerns at the center of southern politics, Feimster illuminates a critical and novel aspect of southern racial and sexual dynamics. Despite being on opposite sides of the lynching question, both Wells and Felton sought protection from sexual violence and political empowerment for women. Southern Horrors provides a startling view into the Jim Crow South where the precarious and subordinate position of women linked black and white anti-rape activists together in fragile political alliances. It is a story that reveals how the complex drama of political power, race, and sex played out in the lives of Southern women.

Lynching Beyond Dixie

Lynching Beyond Dixie
Author: Michael J. Pfeifer
Publisher: University of Illinois Press
Total Pages: 339
Release: 2013-03-16
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0252094654

In recent decades, scholars have explored much of the history of mob violence in the American South, especially in the years after Reconstruction. However, the lynching violence that occurred in American regions outside the South, where hundreds of persons, including Hispanics, whites, African Americans, Native Americans, and Asian Americans died at the hands of lynch mobs, has received less attention. This collection of essays by prominent and rising scholars fills this gap by illuminating the factors that distinguished lynching in the West, the Midwest, and the Mid-Atlantic. The volume adds to a more comprehensive history of American lynching and will be of interest to all readers interested in the history of violence across the varied regions of the United States. Contributors are Jack S. Blocker Jr., Brent M. S. Campney, William D. Carrigan, Sundiata Keita Cha-Jua, Dennis B. Downey, Larry R. Gerlach, Kimberley Mangun, Helen McLure, Michael J. Pfeifer, Christopher Waldrep, Clive Webb, and Dena Lynn Winslow.

Black Woman Reformer

Black Woman Reformer
Author: Sarah L. Silkey
Publisher: University of Georgia Press
Total Pages: 221
Release: 2015
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0820345571

British responses to American lynching -- The emergence of a transatlantic reformer -- The struggle for legitimacy -- Building a transatlantic debate on lynching -- American responses to British protest -- A transatlantic legacy.

Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases

Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases
Author: Ida B. Wells-Barnett
Publisher: BoD – Books on Demand
Total Pages: 30
Release: 2018-04-05
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 3732648621

Reproduction of the original: Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases by Ida B. Wells-Barnett

Lynched

Lynched
Author: Amy Kate Bailey
Publisher: UNC Press Books
Total Pages: 297
Release: 2015-05-04
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 146962088X

On July 9, 1883, twenty men stormed the jail in Morehouse Parish, Louisiana, kidnapped Henderson Lee, a black man charged with larceny, and hanged him. Events like this occurred thousands of times across the American South in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, yet we know scarcely more about any of these other victims than we do about Henderson Lee. Drawing on new sources to provide the most comprehensive portrait of the men and women lynched in the American South, Amy Bailey and Stewart Tolnay's revealing profiles and careful analysis begin to restore the identities of--and lend dignity to--hundreds of lynching victims about whom we have known little more than their names and alleged offenses. Comparing victims' characteristics to those of African American men who were not lynched, Bailey and Tolnay identify the factors that made them more vulnerable to being targeted by mobs, including how old they were; what work they did; their marital status, place of birth, and literacy; and whether they lived in the margins of their communities or possessed higher social status. Assessing these factors in the context of current scholarship on mob violence and reports on the little-studied women and white men who were murdered in similar circumstances, this monumental work brings unprecedented clarity to our understanding of lynching and its victims.

At the Hands of Persons Unknown

At the Hands of Persons Unknown
Author: Philip Dray
Publisher: Modern Library
Total Pages: 554
Release: 2003-01-07
Genre: History
ISBN: 0375754458

WINNER OF THE SOUTHERN BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD FOR NONFICTION • “A landmark work of unflinching scholarship.”—The New York Times This extraordinary account of lynching in America, by acclaimed civil rights historian Philip Dray, shines a clear, bright light on American history’s darkest stain—illuminating its causes, perpetrators, apologists, and victims. Philip Dray also tells the story of the men and women who led the long and difficult fight to expose and eradicate lynching, including Ida B. Wells, James Weldon Johnson, Walter White, and W.E.B. Du Bois. If lynching is emblematic of what is worst about America, their fight may stand for what is best: the commitment to justice and fairness and the conviction that one individual’s sense of right can suffice to defy the gravest of wrongs. This landmark book follows the trajectory of both forces over American history—and makes lynching’s legacy belong to us all. Praise for At the Hands of Persons Unknown “In this history of lynching in the post-Reconstruction South—the most comprehensive of its kind—the author has written what amounts to a Black Book of American race relations.”—The New Yorker “A powerfully written, admirably perceptive synthesis of the vast literature on lynching. It is the most comprehensive social history of this shameful subject in almost seventy years and should be recognized as a major addition to the bibliography of American race relations.”—David Levering Lewis “An important and courageous book, well written, meticulously researched, and carefully argued.”—The Boston Globe “You don’t really know what lynching was until you read Dray’s ghastly accounts of public butchery and official complicity.”—Time

The Red Record

The Red Record
Author: Ida B. Wells-Barnett
Publisher: Read Books Ltd
Total Pages: 99
Release: 2021-06-24
Genre: History
ISBN: 1528792238

In the post-civil war American south, the despicable act of lynching was commonplace and considered to be a form of vigilantism that was used to murder African Americans for alleged “crimes” ranging from acting suspiciously to “insulting whites”. In “The Red Record”, Ida Bell Wells-Barnett records statistics concerning instances of lynching and offers vivid descriptions of the extrajudicial killings in an attempt to galvanise the public into action and put an end to such horrifying practices. Ida Bell Wells-Barnett (1862–1931) was an American educator, investigative journalist, and leading figure of the civil rights movement. Having been born into slavery in Holly Springs, Mississippi, Wells was freed in 1862 during the American Civil War by the Emancipation Proclamation. From then on she dedicated her life as a free woman to fighting prejudice and violence, founding the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and becoming the most famous African American of her time. Contents include: “The Case Stated”, “Lynch-Law Statistics”, “Lynching Imbeciles (An Arkansas Butchery)”, “Lynching of Innocent Men (Lynched on Account of Relationship)”, “Lynched for Anything or Nothing (Lynched for Wife Beating)”, “History of Some Cases of Rape”, “The Crusade Justified (Appeal from America to the World)”, “Miss Willard's Attitude”, “Lynching Record for 1894”, and “The Remedy”. Other notable works by this author include: “Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All its Phases” (1892) and “Mob Rule in New Orleans” (1900). Read & Co. History is proudly republishing this classic work now in a brand new edition complete with introductory chapters by Irvine Garland Penn and T. Thomas Fortune.

The Red Record

The Red Record
Author: Ida B. Wells
Publisher: Graphic Arts Books
Total Pages: 76
Release: 2021-01-26
Genre: History
ISBN: 1513276034

Ida B. Wells exposes a series of racially-motivated acts that disproportionately affect African Americans and is overwhelmingly ignored by a majority white criminal justice system. It’s crucial documentation of a brutal practice that tormented a community. In the late nineteenth century, Ida B. Wells was a thriving journalist and civil rights activist. She used her writing and skills as an investigative reporter to reveal the horrifying reality that many African Americans experienced. The Red Record: Tabulated Statistics and Alleged Causes of Lynching in the United States, is an explosive report on how mob violence and white supremacy had become the de facto law of the land. It created a culture of cruelty and anti-blackness that promoted public attacks, including lynchings. Ida B. Wells’ work helped to initiate conversations about racism, policy and policing. Shortly after the release of The Red Record: Tabulated Statistics and Alleged Causes of Lynching in the United States, the first anti-lynching bill was introduced into Congress. Wells’ efforts were critical for African Americans seeking justice in a historically racist system. With an eye-catching new cover, and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of The Red Record: Tabulated Statistics and Alleged Causes of Lynching in the United States is both modern and readable.