Ida B. Wells Barnett was born on July 16, 1862 in Holly Springs, Mississippi. She started out as a slave, but after emancipation she spent her life working to raise the status of her people, and to spread the truth about what was happening to them. Her work as a writer, reporter, and editor helped spread the hope of truth and empowerment far and wide.
The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them.
Our country's national crime is lynching. It is not the creature of an hour, the sudden outburst of uncontrolled fury, or the unspeakable brutality of an insane mob.
The negro has suffered far more from the commission of this crime against the women of his race by white men than the white race has ever suffered through his crimes.
The people must know before they can act, and there is no educator to compare with the press.
Thus lynch law held sway in the far West until civilization spread into the Territories and the orderly processes of law took its place. The emergency no longer existing, lynching gradually disappeared from the West.
What becomes a crime deserving capital punishment when the tables are turned is a matter of small moment when the negro woman is the accusing party.
Somebody must show that the Afro-American race is more sinned against than sinning, and it seems to have fallen upon me to do so.
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