The Red Record: Tabulated Statistics and Alleged Causes of Lynching in the United StatesWells-Barnett, Ida B.
History
The Red Record: Tabulated Statistics and Alleged Causes of Lynching in the United States
Wells-Barnett, Ida B.
African Americans -- History -- 1877-1964; Lynching -- United States; Lynching -- United States -- Statistics
If so earnest as she would have the English public believe her to be,
why was she silent when five minutes were given me to speak last June at
Princes' Hall, and in Holborn Town Hall this May? I should say it was as
President of the Women's Christian Temperance Union of America she is
timid, because all these unions in the South emphasize the hatred of the
Negro by excluding him. There is not a single colored woman admitted to
the Southern W.C.T.U., but still Miss Willard blames the Negro for the
defeat of Prohibition in the South. Miss Willard quotes from
_Fraternity_, but forgets to add my immediate recognition of her
presence on the platform at Holborn Town Hall, when, amidst many other
resolutions on temperance and other subjects in which she is interested,
time was granted to carry an anti-lynching resolution. I was so thankful
for this crumb of her speechless presence that I hurried off to the
editor of _Fraternity_ and added a postscript to my article blazoning
forth that fact.
Any statements I have made concerning Miss Willard are confirmed by the
Hon. Frederick Douglass (late United States minister to Hayti) in a
speech delivered by him in Washington in January of this year, which has
since been published in a pamphlet. The fact is, Miss Willard is no
better or worse than the great bulk of white Americans on the Negro
questions. They are all afraid to speak out, and it is only British
public opinion which will move them, as I am thankful to see it has
already begun to move Miss Willard. I am, etc.,
May 21
IDA B. WELLS
Unable to deny the truth of these assertions, the charge has been made
that I have attacked Miss Willard and misrepresented the W.C.T.U. If to
state facts is misrepresentation, then I plead guilty to the charge.
I said then and repeat now, that in all the ten terrible years of
shooting, hanging and burning of men, women and children in America, the
Women's Christian Temperance Union never suggested one plan or made one
move to prevent those awful crimes. If this statement is untrue the
records of that organization would disprove it before the ink is dry. It
is clearly an issue of fact and in all fairness this charge of
misrepresentation should either be substantiated or withdrawn.
It is not necessary, however, to make any representation concerning the
W.C.T.U. and the lynching question. The record of that organization speaks
for itself. During all the years prior to the agitation begun against
Lynch Law, in which years men, women and children were scourged, hanged,
shot and burned, the W.C.T.U. had no word, either of pity or protest; its
great heart, which concerns itself about humanity the world over, was,
toward our cause, pulseless as a stone. Let those who deny this speak by
the record. Not until after the first British campaign, in 1893, was even
a resolution passed by the body which is the self-constituted guardian for
"God, home and native land."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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