Southern Horrors: Lynch Laws In All Its Phases By Ida B. Wells Summary

Ida B. Wells, an African American journalist, feminist, and early leader/activist of the Civil Rights Movement who lived from 1862-1931. Wells wrote an article called, Southern Horrors: Lynch Laws in All Its Phases. In the south, African Americans were normally not given a fair trial and normally it was upon the people to take care of it themselves through a mob. It was an article that was published in her own newspaper titled, Free Speech. In the article, Wells investigated the many wrongful acts of lynching that occurred throughout the south, also known as murder by a mob, without a legal trial. Wells writes about a certain scenario that happened back in 1888 with Mrs. J.S. Underwood and Mr. William Offet. Mrs. Underwood was the wife of a

Underwood. She said in sworn testimony that it was not true, and he was sentenced to 15 years but released after four years after Mrs. Underwood confessed that Mr. Offet was innocent, and she was trying to cover it up so her husband would not be upset with her. In that time there were many instances where a white man would have been “outraged” as the text says (also meaning raped), and they would be lightly prosecuted with no major consequences against the perpetrator/offender. In one instance, a white man named Pat Hanifan who had raped a young African American girl and was jailed for 6 months just to be released and get a job as a detective, as if nothing ever had happened. In another instance, a white man (no known name) in the same area who had raped an African American girl in a pharmacy was released on bail immediately. There was to be a small battle between the African Americans and the white citizens where the group of African Americans wanted to lynch the white man accused and the man ended up being protected by the white citizens with guns and a cannon placed in front of his house. A state militia named the “Buchanan Rifles” was also ordered for his