This project adds annotations and tags to an audio recording of an essay by Ida B. Wells, "Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All its Phases." Wells was born into slavery in Holly Springs, Mississippi in 1862. As a young adult she attended Shaw University, Fisk University, and LeMoyne-Owen College. She became a teacher and civil rights crusader in Memphis, and her journalism appeared in The Evening Star and the Living Way under the pseudonym of Iola. Her work argued forcefully against Jim Crow restrictions. She became co-editor and co-owner of The Free Speech and Headlight in 1891.

Three friends of Wells were lynched in March of 1892, and Wells responded by encourage African Americans to leave Memphis. She also began investigating lynchings across the US South. In May, a mob attacked and burned the press of The Free Speech and Headlight, following critique by a white Memphis newspaper. Away on vacation, she chose not to return to Memphis, where she would certainly have faced vigilante reprisals for her work.

The essay "Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All its Phases" appeared in 1892 as a speech that Wells presented in New York City. It was printed in October of that year as a pamphlet (shown below). This piece argues forcefully against lynching logic, deconstructing the excuse that Black men raped white women. It delves deeply into the complications of sexuality and law in a time and place of profound social inequality.

A note on language

This project presents the period writing without modernization, meaning some terms may cause offense. When appropriate an annotation explains the meaning of terms that might not be understood.

This is the Ida B. Wells Barbie produced by Mattel. She holds a replica of her newspaper, Memphis Free Speech.