Writing Assignment: Southern Horrors and The Red Record.
Following the failures of Reconstruction, African-Americans faced a segregated society. The Jim Crow laws of the South ensured African-Americans were treated as second-class citizens, while Southern society reinforced a culture of difference. Without much protection, African-Americans faced public humiliation and violence in the South, its most prominent feature being lynchings. Many African-Americans sought anti-lynching laws to be passed, one of the most fervent supports being Ida B. Wells. In this assignment, write a 3-4 page review of two of her pamphlets: Southern Horrors and A Red Record. It must answer the following questions:
Why is lynching so widespread in the South according the Southerners? Why is it so widespread according to Wells? What do these reasons for lynching tell us about Southern society and proper/improper behavior? What does it say about race, gender, and class?
How does Wells use newspaper articles and statistics to make her arguments? How does she treat her sources? What does she try to prove or disprove about lynching in the South?
How does Southern Horrors and A Red Record differ from each other? Why were multiple pamphlets needed to address the same issue? Is one pamphlet more effective than the other?
