Ida B. Speaks For Me

"Our country's national crime is lynching. It is not the creature of an hour, the sudden outburst of uncontrolled fury, or the unspeakable brutality of an insane mob. It represents the cool, calculating deliberation of intelligent people who openly avow that there is an 'unwritten law' that justifies them in putting human beings to death without complaint under oath, without trial by jury, without opportunity to make defense, and without right of appeal." Lynch Law in America. The Arena [January 1900]

"The government which had made the Negro a citizen, found itself unable to protect him. It gave him the right to vote, but denied him the protection which should have maintained that right. Scourged from his home; hunted through the swamps; hung by midnight raiders, and openly murdered in the light of day, the Negro clung to his right of franchise with a heroism which would have wrung admiration from the hearts of savages. He believed that in that small white ballot there was a subtle something which stood for manhood as well as citizenship, and thousands of brave black men went to their graves exemplifying the one by dying for the other." A Red Record [1895]

"Nobody in this section of the country believes in the old threadbare lie that Negro men rape white women. If southern white men are not careful, they will overreach themselves, and public sentiment will have a reaction; a conclusion will then be reached which will be very damaging to the moral reputation of their women." Free Speech. Editorial [May 21, 1892]

"Virtue knows no color line, and the chivalry which depends upon complexion of skin and texture of hair can command no honest respect." A Red Record [1895]

2.25" button