Changes

Lynching is often described as a form of extralegal, vigilante violence or justice; however, its meaning has evolved over time—from the tarring and feathering of individuals in the Colonial period to the lethal, racial violence that proliferated in the South. According to Digital History, "Lynching received its name from Judge Charles Lynch, a Virginia farmer who punished outlaws and Tories with "rough" justice during the American Revolution."<ref> name="Digital History">[http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtid=2&psid=3178], Digital History.</ref> The United States has a long history of vigilance committees whose purposes were to protect the community. According to Linda Gordon, “vigilantism generally means bypassing the legal procedures of the state and substituting direct, usually punitive and coercive action by self-appointed groups of citizens".<ref name="Linda Gordon">Linda Gordon, ''The Great Arizona Orphan Abduction'', p. 255.</ref> In some instances, vigilantism is romanticized—like in the west—as a form of outspoken, American democracy. While lynching has existed, historically, in many forms, it is most commonly associated with the form it took in the South in the late 19th century.

According to the group Monroe Work Today, by 1835, lynchings were more common and more leathal. In the middle of the 19th century lynchings were “a crude form of frontier justice done by vigilantes ‘keeping the peace,’” and approximately 40% of lynchings in this period were done to white men.<ref name="Monroe Work Today">[http://www.monroeworktoday.org/lynching.html], Monroe Work Today, The Rise of Lynchings.</ref> Contrary to popular belief, lynchings frequently occurred in places where there were courthouses. Lynchings were not a symptom of lawlessness. Rather, as lynchings began to occur more frequently in the west, they were tools of violence used against non-white groups to challenge the slow pace of the legal system, in favor of immediate action. Before 1877 (the end of Reconstruction), most lynchings happened in the West. Lynching victims also varied by region. Those that occurred in the North typically targeted Italians, Jews, or other immigrants, while those in the west targeted Mexicans or Chinese. Nevertheless, beginning in the 1880s, approximately 90% of lynchings occurred in the South and happened to black men.

The Afro-American is not a bestial race. If this work can contribute in any way toward proving this, and at the same time arouse the conscience of the American people to a demand for justice to every citizen, and punishment by law for the lawless, I shall feel I have done my race a service...".<ref name="Southern Horrors">[http://www.gutenberg.org/files/14975/14975-h/14975-h.htm], Ida B. Wells, ''Southern Horrors''.</ref>

Wells wrote these because one of the most common assertions—or justifications for lynchings—was rape. Fears about miscegenation, or race mixing, shrouded criticisms against the Republican party during the Civil War, and after, many Southern whites feared that black equality was simply a way to legalize miscegenation. Other white Southerners believed that slavery had tamed African-Americans’ bestial, animal nature by introducing them to white civilization. Outside of the institution of slavery, blacks were reverting to their savage tendencies.<ref name"Manliness & Civilization"/>Gail Bederman, ''Manliness & Civilization: A Cultural History of Gender and Race in the United States, 1880-1917'' p. 46-53.</ref>

Wells found that African-Americans were lynching for a host of reasons—for competing economically with whites (like her friends), for being drunk in public, or for failing to respect whites. Nevertheless, the rape justification seemed to reverberate the most, and seemed to inspire the greatest reactions. Wells attempted to make the lynching issue known to Americans outside of the South. Before her pamphlet (and even shortly after), lynching was not widely discussed in Northern Newspapers. In 1893 and 1894, Wells went to England as part of her anti-lynching campaign. She believed that British journalists could help bring awareness of the lynching issue to Northern newspapers. Southern Horrors impugned white American civilization. She portrayed black men as innocent victims of white female seductresses, and she personified the lynch mob as uncivilized and brute. The only way for Americans to assert their civilization, would be by stopping the practice of lynching.

Wells attempted to make the lynching issue known to Americans outside of the South. Before her pamphlet (and even shortly after), lynching was not widely discussed in Northern Newspapers. In 1893 and 1894, Wells went to England as part of her anti-lynching campaign. She believed that British journalists could help bring awareness of the lynching issue to Northern newspapers. Southern Horrors impugned white American civilization. She portrayed black men as innocent victims of white female seductresses, and she personified the lynch mob as uncivilized and brute. The only way for Americans to assert their civilization, would be by stopping the practice of lynching. Wells was correct, and when she returned to the US after her 1894 tour, “she returned to a country where lynching was widely discussed as a stain on American civilization.”<ref name"Manliness & Civilization">Gail Bederman, ''Manliness & Civilization: A Cultural History of Gender and Race in the United States, 1880-1917'' p. 45".</ref>