Memphis Free Speech
The Memphis Free Speech was an
As an investigative journalist and campaigner against lynching, Wells wrote articles for the Free Press and Headlight, including a notable editorial on May 21, 1892, refuting what she called the "that old threadbare lie that Negro men rape White women. If Southern men are not careful, a conclusion might be reached which will be very damaging to the moral reputation of their women."[4] Days later, on May 27, 1892, a White mob ransacked the newspaper's office, destroying the building and its contents.[5] As Wells would note in her diary: "I thought then it was the white southerner's chivalrous defense of his womanhood which caused the mob to destroy my paper, even though it was known that the truth had been spoken. I know now that it was an excuse to do what they had wanted to do before but had not dared because they had no good reason until the appearance of that famous editorial."[6]
According to the Tennessee Encyclopedia, no copy of the Memphis Free Speech survives.[2]
References
- ^ JSTOR 41674996– via JSTOR.
- ^ a b c Goings, Kenneth W. (October 7, 2019) [October 8, 2017]. "Memphis Free Speech". Tennessee Encyclopedia. Tennessee Historical Society. Retrieved November 11, 2020.
- ^ Hardin and Hinton (2001), p. 83.
- ^ Wormser, Richard (2002). "The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow – Jim Crow Stories". Thirteen/WNET. Retrieved November 11, 2020.
- ^ Hardin and Hinton (2001), p. 91.
- ^ Duster, Alfreda (ed.), Crusade for Justice: The Autobiography of Ida B. Wells, University of Chicago Press, 1970; quoted in Hardin and Hinton, p. 91.
External links
- "Chronicling America", Library of Congress – search results for Memphis Free Speech.