Essay Example on Lynching in the South: Causes, Consequences, and Implications

Why is lynching so widespread in the South according to the Southerners? Why is it so widespread according to Wells? What do these reasons for lynching tell us about Southern society and proper/improper behavior? What does it say about race, gender, and class?

Even though the local governments, the national Democratic Party, and Andrew Johnson, the current president by then wished better for the black Americans during the reconstruction era, lynching to them was still widespread. It is because, during the period, the southerners experienced violence, and the ones who were affected more were the African Americans. Their schools were destroyed and set ablaze by bands of white Americas.

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The rise of violence in the South led the violent white people to lynch black citizens during night hours. Black Families were forced to flee their lands in the South as the attacks were so wild. According to Wells, the lynching was widespread due to the emergence of ruthless organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan. Wells describes that the organization was born in Pulaski in the 1860s. It started as a private club, which was meant for Confederate Veterans.

Based on the reasons for lynching the Black Americans, the southern society would be perceived as a society that was stabilized by slavery. Lynching them was meant to restrict them from enjoying their human rights. It could be attributed to the Black Codes. These were strict laws that could be applied as both local and state laws. Due to these black codes, the black Americans who were formerly enslaved were required to give details of where they work, when they work, and how they work. It was a society that focused and ensured that black Americans continued to serve. Their voting rights were also taken away as they were to be controlled. The community did not regard the lives of black children as they could be seized for labor purposes at any time.

The whites were portrayed to be the highest in the social classes. Due to this, all legal systems were stacked against African Americans. The whites were the ones who worked in judicial systems. The police officers were composed of the confederate soldiers, and they were the ones at the forefront advocating for lynching. Because of this, it was very hard for any Black citizen to win any case in the court. They were forced to obey the black codes.

The black citizens were the lowest class. It can be associated with the fact that the labor camps had high percentages of African Americans. The black race received longer sentences than the whites despite their crimes being identical. The male black Americans did not live to complete most of their sentences because of grueling work. According to Wells, black women were constantly subjected to raping and being hung.

The whites supported the KKK by allowing them to disguise in their culture. It was a secret society that was fond of terrorizing black citizens. From this, one can identify that the highest class in the class composed of whites—the lowest rank in the society composed of the blacks.

How does Wells use newspaper articles and statistics to make her arguments? How does she treat her sources? What does she try to prove or disprove about lynching in the South?

According to Wells, using newspapers and statistics was among the best ways to enforce the need for justice and seize lynching to African Americans. She was dedicated to writing about the truth based on the statistics about how the black Americans were destroyed and tortured. She treats her sources with passion. Even though her newspaper office at Memphis was destroyed after speaking the truth, she escaped to Chicago. While at Chicago, she did not go silent in her quest for Jim Crow laws.

She uses newspapers and statistics to prove how awful it is for black Americans to be lynched for no cause. She uses newspapers and statistics to draw examples of the wrong deeds done to Black women. She describes how black women were raped and hung, and justice was not enforced to the assaulters. She gave the example of Mo. Eliza Woods, who was drawn from jail and hanged while she was stripped naked. On top of that, she wrote how Eliza’s body was riddled with many bullets as an example for the other black women. She used the newspapers to portray how justice was unavailable in the south.

She uses statistics to show how more than 130 black lives were taken between 1880 and 1930 by lynch mobs. Even though violence against black women had already been ignored, Wells used the newspapers and statistics to revive the subjects. As a journalist, the newspapers took the greatest part in her quest for justice for the black women.

Wells disapproves of the reasons that the whites used for lynching. She says that most whites imagine lynching by envisioning the torture that a white woman experienced when raped by a black man. She quotes that they do not see nor think about a black woman being drawn out of jail to be stripped naked ad hung.

How does Southern Horrors and A Red Record differ from each other? Why were many pamphlets needed to address the same issue? Is one pamphlet more effective than the other?

South Horrors differ with A Red Record by the information they contained. In South Horrors, Wells speaks of the intimidation tactics that the whites used so as they can scare the black citizens and retain ruling the south. In Southern Horrors, the whites frightened the blacks so as they would not have the chance to exercise their civil liberties and voting. In Red Record, Wells represents the lynching of the Black citizens in tabulated statistics. The pamphlet encompasses the lynching ever made throughout her career. The two flyers were essential to Wells as she used the Red Record to represent statistics of lynching and the Southern Horrors to express the reasons as to why justice was required. No pamphlet is more effective than the other since they were both essential to show the need for justice for the black citizens.