Lynch Law In America, By Ida B. Wells
Before Civils Rights Acts were put into place in the 60s, black Americans were subjugated by Jim Crow Laws, which are now paralleled by the absence of laws to protect LGBTQ individuals. One of the most violent anti-black ideas supported by Jim Crow Laws was lynching, whose horrors were brought into light by political activist, Ida B Wells, in her 1900 speech in Chicago, “Lynch Law in America”. In the speech, Wells explains that soon after the Civil War, “lynchings began...rapidly spreading into...various States until...the reign of the ‘unwritten law’ was supreme,” (4). In other words, whites, shielded by state legislators, had the right to kill blacks for even minute (often non-existent) crimes. Yet, even though lynching was outlawed with
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Before one can dive into King’s philosophy, one must look at his predecessor, Booker T Washington, who argued for pacifist change in the Reconstruction Era. Washington summarizes his beliefs in his 1895 Atlanta Exposition Address in which he encourages blacks to “”Cast down [their] bucket[s]’-cast it down in making friends in every manly way of the people of all races by whom we are surrounded,” (Washington 1). He tells blacks to not only strengthen friendships between races, but to be submissive to whites. Though at first glance this may seem to be an anti-progressive philosophy, Washington believed that the best way for blacks to gain societal respect was through improving themselves educationally and economically. Overtime, blacks’ success would prove to whites that they are equal. Yet, while it’s true that such pacifism would decrease whites’ fear of blacks, Washington’s docile ideology didn’t do much to change views on blacks during his time. It was not until Martin Luther King began his rise to political fame that major advances began being made to desegregate America. Like Washington, King promoted nonviolence as a solution to racial inequality, but he took BTW’s ideas one step further by bringing attention to the cause through civil disobedience. Whereas in a similar situation, Washington might have kept quiet, when King was arrested, he used his situation to advocate for civil rights in his Letter from a Birmingham Jail. In fact, he even explains why such direct action is best for the future of black Americans. He writes, “nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored,” (King 2). His words inspired younger blacks to rise up
Before one can dive into King’s philosophy, one must look at his predecessor, Booker T Washington, who argued for pacifist change in the Reconstruction Era. Washington summarizes his beliefs in his 1895 Atlanta Exposition Address in which he encourages blacks to “”Cast down [their] bucket[s]’-cast it down in making friends in every manly way of the people of all races by whom we are surrounded,” (Washington 1). He tells blacks to not only strengthen friendships between races, but to be submissive to whites. Though at first glance this may seem to be an anti-progressive philosophy, Washington believed that the best way for blacks to gain societal respect was through improving themselves educationally and economically. Overtime, blacks’ success would prove to whites that they are equal. Yet, while it’s true that such pacifism would decrease whites’ fear of blacks, Washington’s docile ideology didn’t do much to change views on blacks during his time. It was not until Martin Luther King began his rise to political fame that major advances began being made to desegregate America. Like Washington, King promoted nonviolence as a solution to racial inequality, but he took BTW’s ideas one step further by bringing attention to the cause through civil disobedience. Whereas in a similar situation, Washington might have kept quiet, when King was arrested, he used his situation to advocate for civil rights in his Letter from a Birmingham Jail. In fact, he even explains why such direct action is best for the future of black Americans. He writes, “nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and foster such a tension that a community which has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored,” (King 2). His words inspired younger blacks to rise up