Southern Horrors and Other Writings
In the late eighteenth century an African-American women named Ida B. Wells who was know as a teacher, journalist, and a speaker that was first hand on lynching for the African-Americans. She investigated on the different occurrences of the lynching through other towns and states by going through newspapers and other stories on other lynching that took place through the early civil rights and suffrage movements.
In Ida Wells’s text, it seemed liked she focused more on sexual activities of African-Americans and the whites. It was said that the men of color and the white women seemed more attracted to each other during this time, when it came to sexual activity they would ask for consent from the white women, never attempted to rape them. When it came to the white women getting pregnant and having an African-American child, they would say they had been raped, some would say names others would hide the identity of the colored man. When this came to the point of the colored man being exposed to this action they would be executed. White men would become attracted to the women of color, really more just to seduce them, rather than really becoming attracted to them. White men would be punished but not be harmed by death. The colored men would be framed by a rape accusation and there would be no excuse in trying to get out of it, they would be killed.
As years went on the African-Americans could get emancipated, where the white men or women could not own them as slaves, but still had the will power to kill them. Some African-Americans became very outstanding in businesses and starting to do better than most white people in the towns where there was more hatred coming out towards the colored because they knew how to contain a business more than the whites.
I would like to understand more of this situation in the past when you think about the future now. How can people be so cruel to another race, how could anyone sit there and judge an individual because of their color? I understand all the African-Americans that have been shot, burned, and hung alive were not all innocent in the charges that were made, it’s very disturbing when you think of all of the people that could be innocent in their situation. I don’t agree with the lynching, how people in color could not have a chance to stand up for themselves against white people, they would have to hold back of all the anger and hatred that were made of them to save their own lives. I am very happy that I had lived in today’s time rather than the past were the cruelty has happened. Today I still see racial actions and comments towards the African-Americans and other races in this country.
As today goes I think that there will be many more changes in the world since we now have our first African-American President. I think the country will become less racial and actually start seeing everyone as equal.