Ida B. Wells-Barnett and the Crusade against Lynching by Alison Morretta

Author:Alison Morretta
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Cavendish Square Publishing, LLC
Published: 2018-02-02T00:00:00+00:00

Transatlantic Activism

Like many in the United States, the British believed the South’s lies about black men. They also believed that lynching was a form of frontier justice—a way to punish criminals in areas where there were no organized lawmen or courts. Wells hoped that by speaking the truth, she could show them that lynching was actually an illegal form of racial violence that stripped black Americans of their rights to a trial and protection under the law. She also believed that by reporting the facts, including cases where women and children were lynched, she could disprove the South’s claim that lynching was a punishment reserved for black men who sexually assaulted white women.

During her six-week trip in 1893, Wells averaged a lecture a day. She traveled across England and Scotland, helping Impey and Mayo organize local chapters of the Society for Recognition of the Universal Brotherhood of Man (SRUBM). Wells gave lectures to members who then signed anti-lynching resolutions and petitions to the American government. Her travels were reported extensively in the British press.

Press coverage was mostly positive, but there were some naysayers. A city councilman wrote a letter to the Birmingham Daily Post, questioning the purpose of Wells’s visit. He wrote, “I protest against being expected to give my attention to matters of municipal detail in a civilized country at a great distance,” and he felt it would be “an impertinence” for the English to interfere with American matters. Wells responded with her own letter, stating that the anti-lynching movement needed help from the British people, who “did much for the final overthrow of chattel slavery … America cannot and will not ignore the voice of a nation that is her superior in civilization, which makes this demand in the name of justice and humanity.”

Wells returned to Britain for a second tour in 1894, this time as the first black foreign correspondent for a white paper, the Chicago Inter-Ocean. It was a huge milestone for Wells to have the support of a white paper. She was paid for a weekly column, “Ida B. Wells Abroad,” in which she could detail the events of her lecture tour for white readers. Her second trip was successful, but fraught with controversy.

Wells got caught in the middle of a petty feud between Impey and Mayo. When Wells refused to take sides, she was left without the support and funding of the SRUBM. She did not let this stop her, and she continued on her tour with the help of Reverend Charles Aked, a Liverpool pastor who helped her get speaking engagements and press coverage. The British Parliament held a dinner in her honor in London, and she met with many of the city’s elite editors, ministers, lords, and ladies. By the end of her tour, a group of London’s most influential citizens formed the British Anti-Lynching Committee, dedicated to raising money and awareness for her cause.

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