Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases

1892, 1893, 1894

[Transcriber's Note: This pamphlet was first published in 1892 but was subsequently reprinted. It's unclear if the unusual spelling comes from the original or was added later; they have been kept as they are, and the reader can decide. Please check with another source before quoting this material.]

PREFACE
HON. FRED. DOUGLASS'S LETTER
THE OFFENSE
THE BLACK AND WHITE OF IT
THE NEW CRY
THE MALICIOUS AND UNTRUTHFUL WHITE PRESS
THE SOUTH'S POSITION
SELF-HELP

The majority of what's included in these pages was published in the New York Age on June 25, 1892, to explain the editorial that the white community in Memphis deemed so disgraceful that it warranted the destruction of my newspaper, the Free Speech.

Since that statement was released, I've received requests from all over the country asking for "Exiled" (the title it was published under at the time) to be made available in pamphlet form. Some donations were received, but they weren't enough for that purpose. Thanks to the generous efforts of the women from New York and Brooklyn on October 5, I am now able to fulfill this request and provide the public with an honest, straightforward account of the reasons behind lynch law in the South.

This statement is not a protection for those who destroy virtue, nor is it a complete defense for the poor, blind African American Sampsons who allow themselves to be deceived by white Delilahs. It is a contribution to the truth, a collection of facts, the reading of which it is hoped will motivate this great American Republic to insist that justice be served, even if it means facing severe consequences.

I take no pleasure in getting involved in the corruption that’s been revealed here. Someone needs to demonstrate that the African American community is more of a victim than a wrongdoer, and it seems that responsibility has fallen to me. The horrifying number of deaths that Judge Lynch orders every week is shocking, not just because of the lives lost and the extreme cruelty suffered by the victims, but also because of the bias it encourages and the damage it does to the reputation of a vulnerable group.

The African American is not a barbaric race. If this work can help prove this and also awaken the conscience of the American people to demand justice for every citizen and hold the lawless accountable, I will feel that I have served my community. Other concerns are of lesser importance.

IDA B. WELLS
New York City, Oct. 26, 1892

To the African American women of New York and Brooklyn, whose passion for their race, genuine dedication, and selfless work at Lyric Hall in New York City on the night of October 5, 1892—made the publication of this pamphlet possible, it is gratefully dedicated by the author.

Dear Miss Wells:

Let me thank you for your honest article about the terrible issue of lynching that is widely happening to people of color in the South. There's no other piece that compares in its ability to persuade. I've spoken out, but my words are weak in comparison. You present what you know and share from firsthand experience. You approached the facts with calm, careful accuracy and allowed those raw, undeniable facts to speak for themselves.

Brave woman! You have done a service for both your people and mine that can't be quantified. If American conscience were even half awake, if the American church and clergy were even half genuine, if American moral sensitivity weren't numbed by the ongoing suffering and violence against people of color, there would be a scream of horror, shame, and outrage rising to Heaven wherever your pamphlet is read.

But unfortunately, even crime has the ability to replicate itself and create conditions that support its own survival. It often feels like we are abandoned by both the earth and Heaven, yet we must continue to think, speak, and act, and have faith in the mercy of God for ultimate salvation.

Very truly and gratefully yours,
FREDERICK DOUGLASS
Cedar Hill, Anacostia, D.C., Oct. 25, 1892

Wednesday evening, May 24, 1892, the city of Memphis was buzzing with excitement. Editorials in the daily newspapers that day prompted a meeting at the Cotton Exchange Building; a committee was sent to contact the editors of the Free Speech, an African American journal published in the city, and the only reason the blatant threats of lynching were not acted upon was because the individuals involved couldn't be located. The reason for all this turmoil was an editorial published in the Free Speech on May 21, 1892, the Saturday before.

The Daily Commercial on Wednesday, May 25, had the following editorial:

The Evening Scimitar from the same date reprinted the Commercial's editorial with these comments:

Acting on this advice, the prominent citizens gathered at the Cotton Exchange Building that same evening, where threats of lynching were openly expressed, not by the usual lawless elements typically associated with the South's mischief, but by the leading business people in their main business hub. Mr. Fleming, the business manager and co-owner of the Free Speech, had to flee the town to avoid the mob, and was later told he couldn’t come back. I received letters and telegrams in New York, where I was on vacation, warning me that I would face physical harm if I returned. Creditors took control of the office and sold the equipment, and it was as if the Free Speech had never existed.

The editorial was prompted by the many brutal and horrific lynchings of African Americans that have recently occurred and was intended as a warning. Eight people were lynched in one week, and five of them were accused of rape! The thoughtful public won't easily accept that freedom and education are more brutalizing than slavery, and the world knows that the crime of rape was virtually nonexistent during the four years of civil war when the white women of the South were vulnerable to the very race that is now suddenly labeled as savage.

Since my business has been ruined and I’m now an exile from home because of that editorial, I feel compelled to address the situation, and as the writer, I believe that the community and the public deserve to know the facts as they are. This will also serve as a defense for the Afro-American Sampsons who have been betrayed by white Delilahs.

The white residents of Montgomery, Alabama, understood that J.C. Duke was addressing a significant issue—which they preferred to keep hidden from the public—when he wrote in his newspaper, the Herald, five years ago: "Why do white women seem to attract black men more now than in the past? There was a time when this was simply unheard of. There's a reason behind this, and we strongly suspect it’s the increasing admiration of white Juliets for colored Romeos." Mr. Duke, much like the owners of the Free Speech, was forced to flee the city for discussing the "honor" of white women, and his publication was shut down; however, the reality remains that African American men do not always assault white women against their will.

Mr. Duke, before leaving Montgomery, signed a card stating that he had no intention of slandering Southern white women. The editor of the Free Speech has no disclaimer to make but instead claims that there are many white women in the South who would marry men of color if such a choice wouldn’t immediately ostracize them from society and put them in legal jeopardy. The miscegenation laws in the South only target the legitimate unions of the races; they allow white men to exploit as many women of color as they want, but for the colored man, giving in to the advances of white women can lead to his death. White men lynch the offending African American, not because he is a violator of virtue, but because he gives in to the attractions of white women.

The Cleveland Gazette on January 16, 1892, shares a relevant case. Mrs. J.S. Underwood, the wife of a minister in Elyria, Ohio, accused an African American man of rape. She told her husband that while he was away in 1888 campaigning for the Prohibition Party, the man came to the kitchen door, forced his way into the house, and assaulted her. She tried to chase him off with a heavy poker, but he overpowered her and chloroformed her. When she came to, her clothes were torn, and she was in terrible condition. She didn’t know the man beforehand but could identify him. She pointed out William Offett, a married man, who was arrested and, since he was in Ohio, was given a trial.

The prisoner strongly denied the accusation of rape but admitted that he went to Mrs. Underwood's home at her invitation and had an inappropriate relationship with her at her request. This did him no good against the sworn testimony of a minister's wife, a woman of the utmost respectability. He was found guilty and sent to prison on December 14, 1888, for fifteen years. Some time later, the woman's guilt led her to tell her husband that the man was innocent.

These are her words:

When her husband asked why she told him she had been outraged, she responded, "I had a few reasons for telling you. One was that the neighbors saw the guys here, another was that I was worried I might have caught some horrible disease, and another was that I was afraid I could end up having a Black baby. I thought I could protect my reputation by telling you a calculated lie." Her husband, horrified by her confession, had Offett, who had already served four years, released and secured a divorce.

There are thousands of similar cases across the South, but the difference is that Southern white men, in their relentless anger, take out their revenge without any legal consequences on the African Americans who associate with their women. A few examples to back up the claim that some white women enjoy the company of African Americans would be relevant. Most of these cases were reported by the daily newspapers in the South.

In the winter of 1885-86, the wife of a well-respected physician in Memphis, whose name I can't remember, left her home, husband, and children to elope with her black coachman. She was with him for a month before her husband located her and brought her back home. The coachman disappeared and couldn't be found. The doctor then moved his family away from Memphis and is now living in another city under a fake name.

In the same city last year, a white girl screamed in the evening twilight that a Black man had attacked her on the street. He was caught, tried by a white judge and jury, and was acquitted of the charges. It goes without saying that if there had been any evidence to convict him of such a serious accusation, he would have been found guilty.

Sarah Clark from Memphis was in love with a black man and lived openly with him. When she was charged last spring with miscegenation, she testified in court that she was not a white woman. She said this to avoid prison and kept her relationship going without any issues. The fact that she belongs to the lower class of whites doesn’t change that she is still a white woman. “The leading citizens” of Memphis are defending the “honor” of all white women, including those of the demi-monde.

Since the manager of the Free Speech has fled Memphis due to the protectors of Southern white women’s honor, a young girl living on Poplar St., who was found in a close relationship with a good-looking mixed-race man named Will Morgan, took her father’s money to help the young man escape her father’s anger. She has since joined him in Chicago.

The Memphis Ledger for June 8 has the following:

Note the wording. "The truth might uncover shocking depravity or severe outrage." If it had been a white child or Lillie Bailey had shared a tragic tale of Black outrage, it would have been seen as a case of a woman's vulnerability or assault, and she could have stayed at the Woman's Refuge. But with a Black child and the decision to keep the father's name private, thus stopping another Black man from being labeled a "rapist." A situation of "shocking depravity."

The very week the "leading citizens" of Memphis were putting on a show defending all white women, an African American man, M. Stricklin, was found in a white woman's room in that city. Even though she didn’t accuse him of rape, he was jailed and faced the threat of lynching, but the woman explained that she had bought curtains from him (he was a furniture dealer) and that he was there to hang them up. A white woman's word was taken as absolute in this situation, just like when the accusation of rape is made, and he was released.

What happened in Memphis is true for the whole South. Last year, the daily newspapers reported that a farmer's wife in Alabama had given birth to a Black child. When the Black farmhand who was plowing in the field heard this, he stopped working, took the mule from the plow, and ran away. The news also mentioned a woman in South Carolina who gave birth to a Black child and accused three men of being the father, all of whom have since gone missing. In Tuscumbia, Ala., the Black boy who was lynched there last year for assaulting a white girl told her in front of his accusers that he had met her there in the woods many times before.

Frank Weems from Chattanooga wasn’t lynched in May only because the prominent citizens acted as his bodyguard until he was safely locked up in the penitentiary. He had letters in his pocket from the white woman involved in the case, setting up a meeting with him. Edward Coy, who was burned alive in Texarkana on January 1, 1892, died insisting he was innocent. Investigation since, as reported by the Bystander in the Chicago Inter Ocean on October 1, proves:

In Natchez, Mississippi, Mrs. Marshall, one of the city's elite, caused quite a stir several years back. She had a black coachman who was married and had worked for her for several years. During that time, she gave birth to a child whose skin color raised eyebrows but was attributed to some brunette ancestry, and a fashionable woman from the city became the child's godmother. Mrs. Marshall's social standing was unquestionable, and her wealth ensured that this child, who was adored alongside its siblings by their white father, had every luxury. Eventually, another child came along, but it was clearly darker. This alarmed everyone, leading to all sorts of speculation like "rush of blood, strangulation," but when the doctor was asked about it, he grimly stated that it was a black child. There was a family meeting about this, the coachman found out and left his family to go West, never to return. Once Mrs. Marshall was able to travel, she was sent away in shame. Her husband died within the year of a broken heart.

Ebenzer Fowler, the richest Black man in Issaquena County, Mississippi, was shot on the street in Mayersville on January 30, 1885, just before dark by a group of armed white men who riddled his body with bullets. They accused him of writing a note to a local white woman, which they intercepted, showing that there was a personal relationship between them.

Hundreds of examples could be mentioned, but enough have already been provided to support the claim that there are white women in the South who enjoy the company of Black men, just as there are white men known for their attraction to Black women.

There’s barely a town in the South that doesn’t have a well-known case like this, reinforcing the claim that “nobody in the South believes the tired lie that Black men rape white women.” As a result, there’s an increasing demand among African Americans for the guilt or innocence of those accused of rape to be thoroughly established. They understand that the men in this part of the country who refuse this are less interested in punishing rapists than they claim to be. The statements from prominent white men reveal that for them, it’s not about the crime but about the class. Bishop Fitzgerald has become a defender of the lynchers of rapists of white women only. Governor Tillman of South Carolina declared in June, standing under the tree in Barnwell, S.C., where eight African Americans were hung last year, that he would lead a mob to lynch a black man who raped a white woman. This is the message from the church leaders, officials, and newspapers in the South. But when the victim is a Black woman, the situation is different.

Last winter in Baltimore, MD, three white thugs attacked a Miss Camphor, a young Black girl, while she was out walking with a young man of her own race. They held her companion and assaulted the girl. It was a cowardly act that could inflame Southern sentiments, which often use the horror of rape as a justification for lawlessness, but she was Black. The case went to court, a Black lawyer defended the men, and they were acquitted.

In Nashville, Tennessee, there is a white man, Pat Hanifan, who assaulted a young Black girl, leaving her with physical injuries that have ruined her for life. He was jailed for six months, released, and is now a detective in that city. In the same city, last May, another white man assaulted a Black girl in a drug store. He was arrested but released on bail during the trial. It was rumored that five hundred Black people organized to lynch him. In response, two hundred and fifty white citizens armed themselves with rifles and guarded him. A cannon was set up in front of his house, and the Buchanan Rifles (State Militia) were ordered to the scene for his protection. The Black mob did not show up. Just two weeks earlier, Eph. Grizzard, who had only been accused of raping a white woman, was taken from jail while Governor Buchanan, police, and militia stood by. He was dragged through the streets in broad daylight, with knives plunged into him at every step, and was subjected to every horrific act a frenzied mob could think of. Eventually, he was hanged from a bridge with his hands cut to pieces as he tried to climb up the supports. A brutal, bloody testament to the savage nature of the 19th-century civilization in the South! No cannon or military was called out in his defense. He simply dared to visit a white woman.

At the same time these civilized white men were declaring their intention "to protect their wives and daughters" by killing Grizzard, a white man was in the same jail for raping eight-year-old Maggie Reese, a Black girl. He wasn’t hurt. The "honor" of adult women who were perfectly fine being supported by the Grizzard boys and Ed Coy, as long as their affairs were kept secret, needed protection because they were white. The attack on a vulnerable child didn’t require any retribution in this situation; she was Black.

A white man in Guthrie, Oklahoma Territory, two months ago caused injuries to another African American child that resulted in her death. He was not punished, but there was an attempt to lynch an African American man in the same town in June for visiting a white woman.

In Memphis, TN, in June, Ellerton L. Dorr, who is married to the widow of Russell Hancock, was arrested for trying to rape Mattie Cole, a cook who works for a neighbor; he was only stopped from doing so by the arrival of Mattie's employer. Dorr's friends claim he was drunk and not in control of his actions. The grand jury declined to charge him, and he was released.

The appeal of Southern whites for Northern sympathy and approval, the clever and deceptive request made by Bishop Fitzgerald for a pause in judgment because those "who condemn lynching show no sympathy for the white woman involved," fails when considering the points made earlier.

From this discussion of the race issue in lynch law, everything is explained by the well-known opposition stemming from slavery to the advancement of the race. This is summed up in the often-repeated slogan: "This is a white man's country, and the white man must rule." The South resisted giving African Americans their freedom, the right to vote, and the Civil Rights Law. The actions of the Ku Klux Klan and White Liners to undermine reconstruction governments, along with the Hamburg and Ellerton, S.C., Copiah County, Miss., and Lafayette Parish, La., massacres, were justified as a natural response of educated people against governance by those perceived as ignorant.

Honest white men basically accepted that intelligence needed to eliminate ignorance to fix the mistakes of the federal government, leaving the race at the mercy of the solid South. Thoughtful African Americans, with the government's strong support taken away and hoping to prevent such mass killings, encouraged the race to give up its political rights for the sake of peace. They genuinely believed the race should prepare itself for governance, and once that was accomplished, the objections to racial participation in politics would disappear.

But the sacrifice didn’t eliminate the problems or push the South towards justice. One by one, the Southern states have legally taken away the rights of Afro-Americans, and since the repeal of the Civil Rights Bill, almost every Southern state has enacted laws for separate train cars with penalties for violating them. Regardless of progress, the race is confined to dirty, suffocating sections, cut off from the smoking cars. Meanwhile, even though the political issue has been removed, the brutal killings of black men in Barnwell, S.C., Carrollton, Miss., Waycross, Ga., and Memphis, Tenn., have continued; also, there was a man flayed alive in Kentucky, a man burned in Arkansas, a fifteen-year-old girl hanged in Louisiana, a woman in Jackson, Tenn., and another in Hollendale, Miss., until the grim and bloody record of the South shows 728 Afro-Americans lynched over the past eight years. Fewer than fifty of these were for political reasons; the rest were over various accusations, from the alleged rape of white women to the case of Will Lewis, who was hanged in Tullahoma, Tenn., last year for being drunk and "sassy" to white people.

These statistics compiled by the Chicago Tribune were released at the start of this year (1892). Since then, at least one hundred and fifty people are known to have died violently at the hands of ruthless, bloodthirsty mobs over the past nine months.

To soften this record (which gets worse as the African American becomes educated) and justify some of the most atrocious crimes that have ever marred the history of a country, the South is hiding behind the believable excuse of protecting the honor of its women. This, despite the fact that only one-third of the 728 victims of mob violence have been charged with rape, not to mention those in that one-third who were innocent of the accusation. A white correspondent from the Baltimore Sun states that the African American who was lynched in Chestertown, Md., in May for allegedly assaulting a white girl was actually innocent; that the crime was committed by a white man who has since vanished. The girl herself insisted that her attacker was a white man. When that poor African American was killed, the white community justified their refusal to hold a trial by saying they wanted to spare the white girl the humiliation of having to testify in court.

This cry has made an impact. It has shut down compassion, stifled conscience, distorted judgment, and silenced the press and religious leaders on the topic of lynching in this "land of liberty." People who are respected for their Christian values, moral and physical bravery, commitment to fairness for everyone, and keen insight are acting like cowards by not speaking out against this terrible injustice. They fail to realize that through their quiet support and silence, the dark shadow of lawlessness in the form of lynch law is spreading across the entire nation.

Men who, like Governor Tillman, initiate lynching for a specific crime, are unable to control it when intoxicated or criminal white thugs decide to lynch an African American for any reason they choose.

Even among the more educated Afro-Americans, the crime of rape is so repulsive that they have frequently taken the white man's word and given lynch law neither the investigation nor the condemnation it warranted.

They forget that allowing the right to lynch someone for one crime not only gives permission to lynch anyone for any crime, but (since accusations of rape are so frequently made now) it risks labeling us as a race of rapists and criminals. They continue to hope and believe that general education and financial stability will solve the problem, and they are putting their efforts into building both.

The mob mentality has increased along with the rising intelligence of African Americans. It has moved away from remote areas where ignorance thrives, has removed its disguise, and now openly roams through major cities, which are the heart of civilization, and is supported by "prominent citizens" and the media.

The Daily Commercial and Evening Scimitar in Memphis, Tennessee, are owned by prominent businesspeople in the city. Still, despite there being no white woman in Memphis who had been attacked by an African American, and the presence of a hardworking, law-abiding, property-owning class of African Americans, the Commercial on May 17, under the heading "More Rapes, More Lynchings," stated the following:

In its issue from June 4, the Memphis Evening Scimitar provides the following justification for lynch law:

On March 9, 1892, three of the finest examples of young Afro-American men since the war were lynched in this very city. They were peaceful, law-abiding citizens and hardworking businesspeople.

They thought the way to fix the problem was to avoid politics and just focus on making money. They ran a successful grocery store in a densely populated suburb of Memphis, while a white guy named Barrett owned a store on the opposite corner. After a personal dispute that led Barrett to go into the "People's Grocery" brandishing a gun, where he got beaten up by Calvin McDowell, Barrett threatened to "clean them out." These guys were a mile outside the city limits and without police protection; when they heard that Barrett's group was coming to attack them on Saturday night, they gathered their forces and prepared to defend themselves.

When Barrett arrived, he was accompanied by a group of officers—twelve in total—who later said they were searching for a man with a warrant. It's never been explained why twelve men in regular clothes felt it was necessary to go out at night to look for a man who had never been arrested or recorded as a criminal. When they entered through the back door, the young men thought an attack was happening and fired at them. Three of the officers were injured, and when the group that was defending themselves realized they were shooting at law enforcement, they stopped and fled.

Thirty-one men were arrested and thrown in jail as "conspirators," even though they repeatedly claimed they didn’t know they were firing on officers. Tension was extremely high until the morning papers, two days later, reported that the injured deputy sheriffs were out of danger. This actually hurt the whites' plans more than it helped. There was no law that could execute an Afro-American for injuring a white man, but the "unwritten law" did. Three of these men—the president, manager, and clerk of the grocery store—labeled as "the leaders of the conspiracy," were secretly taken from jail and lynched in an incredibly brutal way. "The Negroes are becoming too independent," they said, "we need to teach them a lesson."

What lesson? The lesson of submission. "Eliminate the leaders, and it will intimidate the Black person who dares to shoot a white man, even in self-defense."

Although the race was intense over the outrage, the mockery of law and justice that disarmed people and locked them up in jails where they could be easily and safely targeted by the mob—the Black ministers, newspapers, and leaders urged obedience to the law that failed to protect them.

Their advice was taken seriously, and no one raised a hand to protest the outrage; following the suggestion from the Free Speech, many people left the city.

The newspapers and news reports labeled these men as "toughs" and "Black criminals who ran a rundown bar." The same news service reported that the Black man who was lynched in Indianola, Miss., in May had assaulted the sheriff's eight-year-old daughter. The girl was actually over eighteen years old and was found by her father in this man's room, where he worked as a servant.

Not satisfied with twisting the narrative, the mob wasn’t going to rest until they shut down the newspaper that was trying its best to counter that view. The Black community was protesting their mistreatment in a way that was loud enough to be heard, but it didn’t give the mob any justification for more killings until an editorial came out that was seen as an insult to the "honor" of Southern white women. It was nowhere near as defamatory as the article in the Commercial that had been published four days earlier, which has already been mentioned here. They would have lynched the manager of the Free Speech for exercising free speech just as quickly as they would have hanged a rapist, and they would have relished the reason to do it. The owners were told not to come back, the Free Speech was shut down without a second thought, just like the destruction of the "People's Grocery," where the owners were murdered.

Henry W. Grady, in his famous speeches in New England and New York, portrayed African Americans as unable to govern themselves. Through him and other prominent figures, the South’s message to the rest of the country has been, "Hands off! Let us handle our own issues." To African Americans, the South says, "the white man must and will be in control." There’s not much difference between the Antebellum South and the New South.

Her white citizens are committed to any method, no matter how disgusting, and any measure, no matter how extreme, to dominate the young men of the race. They have taken away his right to vote, denied him civil rights and any way to seek justice in the courts, stolen the rewards of his hard work, and continue to murder, burn, and lynch him.

The result is an increasing disregard for human life. Vigilante justice has spread its harmful influence so much that people in New York State, Pennsylvania, and the open Western plains believe they can take the law into their own hands without consequences, especially when it comes to African Americans. The South is brutalized to a level not fully understood by its own residents, and the very foundation of government, law, and order is at risk.

Public opinion has shown a slight "reaction," but it's not enough to stop the wave of lawlessness and lynching. The spirit of Christianity, particularly from the great M.E. Church, was stirred by the frequent and horrifying crimes against a vulnerable community, leading them to pass strong condemnatory resolutions at their General Conference in Omaha last May. The sense of justice from the grand old party stepped up enough to ensure that the wrongs were denounced, and there was a weak declaration in support of human rights included in the Republican platform at Minneapolis on June 7. Some major newspapers and magazines have joined in, stating that lynching must end. The President of the United States issued a proclamation against tolerating it in the territories under his control. Governor Northern and Chief Justice Bleckley of Georgia have spoken out against it. The people of Chattanooga, Tennessee, have set a commendable example by not only condemning lynching but also demanding a fair trial for Weems, the accused rapist, and ensuring his protection during the trial. The trial only lasted ten minutes, and Weems chose to plead guilty and accept a twenty-one-year sentence rather than face the certain death that awaited him outside the protection of police if he had told the truth and revealed the letters he had from the white woman involved in the case.

Col. A.S. Colyar, from Nashville, TN, is so overwhelmed by the terrible situation that he wrote the following heartfelt letter to the Nashville American.

These efforts led to some apologies and a brief pause, but the lynching frenzy surged back over the past three months with relentless intensity.

The law must take a firm stand against lynchers with serious consequences, but this won't happen unless the public strongly supports and insists on such action.

The men and women in the South who condemn lynching but stay quiet about these terrible acts are just as guilty as the actual criminals. They are accomplices before and after the fact, and they wouldn't carry on if they didn't realize that neither the law nor the militia would act against them.

In building this healthier public attitude, African Americans can accomplish what no one else can do for them. The world marvels at how much we've accepted and still remain law-abiding despite such significant outrage and provocation.

To the Northern capital and African American labor, the South owes its recovery. If labor is taken away, capital will leave too. The African American community is therefore the backbone of the South. A deep understanding and wise use of this power in areas prone to lynching could often bring about a peaceful revolution. The white man's dollar is his god, and stopping this flow of money would halt many injustices in various places.

The African Americans in Memphis condemned the lynching of three of their community’s best members and called on the authorities to take action and bring the lynchers to justice. No action was taken, and thousands of Black men left the city, causing a major downturn in every sector of business. Those who stayed hurt the streetcar company's business by boycotting the cars, prompting the superintendent, manager, and treasurer to visit the editor of the Free Speech and ask them to encourage the community to support the company again. Other business owners grew concerned about the situation, and the Free Speech was shut down so that the Black community could be more easily controlled. In June, three months after the lynching, a meeting of white citizens passed resolutions for the first time condemning the act. But they did not hold the lynchers accountable. Every one of them was known by name because they had been chosen to carry out the violence by some of the very citizens who passed these resolutions. Memphis is quickly losing its Black population, who leave proclaiming that there is no protection for the life and property of any African American citizen in Memphis who isn't a slave.

The African American citizens of Kentucky, whose intellectual and financial progress has been remarkable, have never had a separate car law until now. Delegations and petitions flooded the Legislature against it, yet the bill passed, and the Jim Crow Car of Kentucky is now a legalized institution. Will the majority of Black people continue to use the railroad? A report from Covington, Ky., says:

Covington, June 13.—The railroads in the State are starting to noticeably feel the impact of the separate coach bill recently passed by the Legislature. No group of people in the State has attended excursions as much as the black community. All these excursions have been canceled, and regular travel has dropped significantly. A reliable source estimates that the loss for the various railroads will reach $1,000,000 this year.

A call to a State Conference in Lexington, KY, last June brought together delegates from every county in the state. These delegates, including ministers, teachers, leaders of secret organizations, and heads of families, should spread the word for every member of the community in Kentucky to avoid using railroads unless absolutely necessary. If they did this and their advice was consistently followed, the convention wouldn't need to ask the Legislature to repeal the law or raise funds to file a lawsuit. The railroad companies would be so affected that they would, out of self-interest, lobby to have the separate car law repealed. On the flip side, as long as the railroads can attract Afro-American excursions, they will always have plenty of money to fight any lawsuits against them. They’ll be supported in this effort by the same biased public sentiment that enacted the law. White lawmakers passed the law, and white judges and juries would inevitably rule on lawsuits against it, reflecting their prejudices and deferring to greater financial interests.

The appeal to the white man's wallet has always been more effective than any appeals to his conscience. Absolutely nothing can be gained by sacrificing more manhood and self-respect. By effectively using his power as the economic force in the South, the African American can demand and obtain his rights, hold lynchers accountable, and ensure fair trials for those accused of rape.

Of the many brutal injustices this year, the only instance where a lynching didn't happen was when men took up arms in Jacksonville, Fla., and Paducah, Ky., and stopped it. The only times an African American who was attacked managed to get away was when he had a gun and used it to defend himself.

The lesson this teaches, which every African American should seriously consider, is that a Winchester rifle should hold a place of honor in every Black home, to be used for the protection that the law refuses to provide. When the white man, who is usually the aggressor, realizes that he risks just as much danger of dying every time he confronts an African American victim, he will have greater respect for Black lives. The more an African American submits, cowers, and pleads, the more he is compelled to do so, leading to even more insults, outrage, and lynching.

The claim has been supported throughout these pages that the media includes unreliable and altered reports of lynchings, and one of the most important things for the community to do is to bring these facts to the public's attention. People need to know before they can take action, and there’s no educator like the media.

The African American newspapers are the only ones that will publish the truth, yet they don't have the resources to hire agents and detectives to uncover the facts. The community needs to come together in large numbers to support their publications, allowing them to do more investigative work.

A lynching happened in Port Jarvis, N.Y., during the first week of June. A white man and a Black man were involved in the assault on a white girl. It was alleged that the white man paid the Black boy to carry out the assault, which occurred on a public highway in broad daylight, and as a result, he was lynched. This was also done by "unknown parties." The white man in this case is still alive. He was imprisoned and plans to fight the case in court. During the preliminary hearing, it came to light that he had been pursuing the girl. She had rejected him, yet had given him money, and he sent her threatening letters demanding more.

The day before this exam, she was so stressed that she left home and wandered for miles. When they found her, she said she did it because she was scared of the man's testimony. Why should she be scared of the prisoner? Why should she give in to his demands for money unless it was to stop him from revealing something he knew? It only makes sense if there was a relationship between the black boy and the girl that the white man was aware of. The press is strangely quiet. Does it have a reason? We owe it to ourselves to find out.

The story comes from Larned, Kansas, Oct. 1, that a young white woman kept at bay until dawn, without alarming anyone in the house, "a big Black man" who entered her room and bed. The "big Black man" was quickly lynched without any investigation or examination of inconsistent stories.

A house was discovered burned down near Montgomery, Ala., in Monroe County, on October 13, a few weeks ago; along with the burned bodies of the owners and melted piles of gold and silver.

These discoveries led to the conclusion that the terrible crime wasn't driven by robbery motives. The suggestion from the white community was that "brutal lust was the motivation, and since there are nearly 200 Black people living within a five-mile radius of the area, it was inevitable to conclude that some of them were the ones responsible."

Upon this "suggestion," probably made by the real criminal, the mob acted on the "conclusion" and arrested ten African Americans, four of whom, they claim, confessed to murdering Richard L. Johnson and assaulting his daughter, Jeanette. These four men—Berrell Jones, Moses Johnson, Jim, and John Packer—none of them older than twenty-five, were taken from jail that night and hanged, shot, and burned alive on October 12. The same report states that Mr. Johnson was on good terms with his Black tenants.

The race that has been wronged must uncover the truth behind this terrible throwing of people into eternity based on assumptions and share it with the indifferent and apathetic nation. We believe this to be a distorted report, but how can we prove it?

Near Vicksburg, Mississippi, a murder was committed by a gang of burglars. It was assumed that it must have been done by Black individuals, and Black suspects were arrested for it. It’s thought that two men, Smith Tooley and John Adams, were part of a gang controlled by white men and, fearing they would be exposed, were hanged in the courthouse yard the night of July 4 by those who wanted to silence them. Robberies that occurred later in the same area have been confirmed to be carried out by white men who had their faces painted black. We strongly believe in the innocence of these murdered men, but we have no proof. No other news gets out to the world except that which labels us as a race of criminals, robbers, and savage beasts. The level of hate and prejudice in the South is so extreme that they legally hung poor thirteen-year-old Mildrey Brown in Columbia, South Carolina, on October 7, based solely on circumstantial evidence that she poisoned a white infant. If her guilt had been proven beyond doubt, and if she had been white, Mildrey Brown would never have faced the gallows.

The country would have been outraged, and South Carolina would have been forever shamed for such a crime. The African American himself didn’t realize, as he should have, since his journals should have informed him and prompted him to take action.

Nothing is more certain than that he must take action for himself. I've explained how he can use the boycott, emigration, and the media, and I believe that by combining all these methods, we can effectively eliminate lynch law, the final remnant of barbarism and slavery. "The gods help those who help themselves."