Lynch Law In All Its Waves Summary

When Ida B Wells wrote Southern Horrors, Lynch Law in All Its Phases, her journalistic efforts exposed corruption of the South’s actions and depicted the growing issue of racism in society during that time. As an African American women, Wells wants the public to know about the African American community`s burdens and uses journalism to her advantage to inform them of this societal issue. In Southern Horrors, Lynch Law In All Its Phases, Wells describes the case of eight African American men who are lynched based on false accusations for killing a white man and raping white women. These predispositions comes from the South`s tradition of prejudice and discrimination towards the African American community, which target and stereotype African American people as savages who should perish for their existence.

During this time, the South`s legal justice system was dominated by white men.

Wells describes the unfair treatment and judgment passed onto African American men to be viewed as rapist based on racist behaviors white community`s display of power. By covering the eight lynching`s she alerted her readers about the racial profiling and injustice towards African American males when she says, “Afro- Americans of Memphis denounced the lynching of three of their best citizens, and urged and waited for the authorities to act in the matter and bring the lynchers to justice. No attempt was made to do so, and the black men left the city by thousands, bringing about great stagnation in every branch of business” (Wells 181). Thus, by focusing on African American issues Wells exemplifies activist jourmalism from a cultural perspective to readdress the turmoil in the

society.
Wells coverage of the 1890`s lynching in Clarksville use of sensational and passionate activist writing takes on a muckraker approach, which aims at the newspaper industry`s underrepresentation of racism as a societal ill. The American Media History 3rd ed, written by Anthony Fellows, describes the muckraking era as stated: ”Journalist felt a sense of urgency to alert their fellow citizens to what had gone wrong and to do the necessity of putting things right” (Fellow 176). As a journalist, Wells uses her occupation to alert her readers about a personal issue avoided in the media. When she discusses other newspapers who writes about the incident in her article she illustrates the medias ignorance of racial affairs when she states: “The assertion has been substantiated through out these pages that the press contains unreliable and doctored reportings of lynchings, and one of the most necessary things for race to do is to get these facts before the public” (Wells 181). Her voice serves as the voice of the lost lives and the opposers of lynching who may not have had a say if she never wrote this article. Therefore, Wells article perfectly demonstrates her drive to inform her readers about the rights of the African American men falsely accused in the pursuit to fight for political and societal equality.