Mob Rule in New Orleans E-Book

Ida B. Wells-Barnett

• Herausgeber: E-BOOKARAMA
• Kategorie: Für Kinder und Jugendliche
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Beschreibung

In "Mob Rule in New Orleans", Ida B. Wells-Barnett explores the varying discrepancies in the press about Robert Charles’s lynching and the violence leading up to his death in 1900.
Collecting her information from two New Orleans newspapers, Wells-Barnett recounts in graphic detail the events of that particularly violent week in 1900 in New Orleans during which a mob "roamed the streets day and night, searching for colored men and women, whom they beat, shot and killed at will." She demonstrates how the media’s characterization of Charles as a thief emerged as justification for the violence whites committed against him.
A worse massacre was avoided, as stated by the author, because of "the determined stand for law and order taken by these great [newspapers] and the courageous action taken by the best citizens of New Orleans, who rallied to the support of the civic authorities." This account serves as chilling documentation of the mindless savagery of an anger- and hate-driven mob.

Born into slavery in Mississippi in 1862, Ida B. Wells-Barnett was an African-American journalist, newspaper editor, suffragist, sociologist, feminist, leader in the Civil Rights Movement, and one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1909. 

Leseprobe

Ida B. Wells-Barnett

Mob Rule in New Orleans

Table of contents

MOB RULE IN NEW ORLEANS

Introduction

Shot An Officer

Death Of Charles

Mob Brutality

Died In Self-Defense

Burning Human Beings Alive

Lynching Record

MOB RULE IN NEW ORLEANS

Ida B. Wells-Barnett

Introduction

Immediately after the awful barbarism which disgraced the State of Georgia in April of last year, during which time more than a dozen colored people were put to death with unspeakable barbarity, I published a full report showing that Sam Hose, who was burned to death during that time, never committed a criminal assault, and that he killed his employer in self-defense.

Since that time I have been engaged on a work not yet finished, which I interrupt now to tell the story of the mob in New Orleans, which, despising all law, roamed the streets day and night, searching for colored men and women, whom they beat, shot and killed at will.

In the account of the New Orleans mob I have used freely the graphic reports of the New Orleans Times-Democrat and the New Orleans Picayune. Both papers gave the most minute details of the week's disorder. In their editorial comment they were at all times most urgent in their defense of law and in the strongest terms they condemned the infamous work of the mob.

It is no doubt owing to the determined stand for law and order taken by these great dailies and the courageous action taken by the best citizens of New Orleans, who rallied to the support of the civic authorities, that prevented a massacre of colored people awful to contemplate.

For the accounts and illustrations taken from the above-named journals, sincere thanks are hereby expressed.

The publisher hereof does not attempt to moralize over the deplorable condition of affairs shown in this publication, but simply presents the facts in a plain, unvarnished, connected way, so that he who runs may read. We do not believe that the American people who have encouraged such scenes by their indifference will read unmoved these accounts of brutality, injustice and oppression. We do not believe that the moral conscience of the nation—that which is highest and best among us—will always remain silent in face of such outrages, for God is not dead, and His Spirit is not entirely driven from men's hearts.

When this conscience wakes and speaks out in thunder tones, as it must, it will need facts to use as a weapon against injustice, barbarism and wrong. It is for this reason that I carefully compile, print and send forth these facts. If the reader can do no more, he can pass this pamphlet on to another, or send to the bureau addresses of those to whom he can order copies mailed.

Besides the New Orleans case, a history of burnings in this country is given, together with a table of lynchings for the past eighteen years. Those who would like to assist in the work of disseminating these facts, can do so by ordering copies, which are furnished at greatly reduced rates for gratuitous distribution. The bureau has no funds and is entirely dependent upon contributions from friends and members in carrying on the work.

Ida B. Wells-Barnett Chicago, Sept. 1, 1900

Shot An Officer