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Ida B. Wells

What Ida B. Wells thinks about America

@ida-b-wells · 17 positions

American journalist and civil rights leader (1862 to 1931); author of Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases.

Ida B. Wells did not write this page.

We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.

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Only Ida B. Wells on America. See everyone on America

5 dated positions, c. 1892, in their own words. Our reading of what Ida B. Wells has said — not written or endorsed by them.

  1. Our readingThe Afro-American race is more sinned against than sinning, and someone had to show it

    Their wordsSomebody must show that the Afro-American race is more sinned against than sinning, and it seems to have fallen upon me to do so.

    ↗Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases (1892)gutenberg.org All 17 from this book

  3. Our readingWhite men lynch Black men for consensual relationships with white women, not for rape

    Their wordsThe miscegnation laws of the South only operate against the legitimate union of the races; they leave the white man free to seduce all the colored girls he can, but it is death to the colored man who yields to the force and advances of a similar attraction in white women. White men lynch the offending Afro-American, not because he is a despoiler of virtue, but because he succumbs to the smiles of white women.

    ↗Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases (1892)gutenberg.org All 17 from this book

  5. Our readingThe South hides lynching behind the screen of defending the honor of its women

    Their wordsTo palliate this record (which grows worse as the Afro-American becomes intelligent) and excuse some of the most heinous crimes that ever stained the history of a country, the South is shielding itself behind the plausible screen of defending the honor of its women.

    ↗Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases (1892)gutenberg.org All 17 from this book

  7. Our readingEvery Black home should keep a Winchester rifle for the protection the law refuses

    Their wordsThe lesson this teaches and which every Afro-American should ponder well, is that a Winchester rifle should have a place of honor in every black home, and it should be used for that protection which the law refuses to give.

    ↗Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases (1892)gutenberg.org All 17 from this book

  9. Our readingThe more Black Americans yield and beg, the more they are insulted and lynched

    Their wordsThe more the Afro-American yields and cringes and begs, the more he has to do so, the more he is insulted, outraged and lynched.

    ↗Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases (1892)gutenberg.org All 17 from this book