The Crusade for Justice by Ida B. Wells Literary Analysis Essay Example

Ida B. Wells was a woman working at the Memphis Free Press in 1892, some of her most influential pieces were written based on her view as a black woman during segregation and lynching’s in the south. Ida B. Wells wrote The Crusade for Justice in hopes that people would see the racial inequality going on in the south and the wrongful lynching of more than fifty men. She is a very credible source on this topic based off her own experiences of being born into slavery and the hardships she deals with not only as a person of color but also as a woman in the late eighteen hundreds. The first reason she is a credible source is because of her background in slavery and the losses she experienced during this era, the book states “Born a slave in Mississippi in 1862, Wells had become a schoolteacher and an editor/writer. Her writing piece condemning the lynching of three black men in Memphis led a mob to destroy her newspaper, the Memphis Free Press” (Foner, pg. 62). That experience of growing up as a slave to then become what they would call a free woman teaching and working at a newspaper helped her gain a better knowledge and understanding of what was happening in the south. 

Another reason Ida is a good reliable source is because of her deep research she did during her time before and after writing about wrongfully lynched men. When she began writing in Mississippi it was about the lynching’s of a few wrongfully accused men, she later went on to find a large list of accused rape reports. She said, “I stumbled on the amazing record that every case of rape reported . . . became such only when it became public.” (Foner, Pg. 64). It was this point in time that Ida had realized the depth of this accusation and began to prove her belief that black men were being targeted all over the United States by white men and women. She had experienced discrimination before and then how lucky she was to walk away alive and not end up like these men for using her freedom of speech.

Even though she is believed and has shown trustworthy actions that doesn’t mean Ida wasn’t biased against white men and women. One reason this is possible is because of the way Ida portrays them, for example when she talks about the men who died after the grocery store was attacked. She wrote “They were loaded on a switch engine of the railroad which ran back of the jail, carried a mile north of the city limits, and horribly shot to death.” (Foner, Pg. 63). I believe Ida is telling the truth about this event, but it does seem like she is adding to the story, so it makes the shooting sound more drawn out and the white men seem worse if that was even possible. She does this by using more dramatic terms and including specific details about the journey to make colored people fear white people more than they already do and to cause serious emotions even if they will make things worse. She does this multiple times another example is “unreasoning anger over the terrible crime of rape led to the lynching; that perhaps the brute deserved death” (Foner, Pg. 64). In this statement she uses descriptive words that don’t necessarily need to be used such as unreasoning, terrible, and perhaps brute. This shows her bias because when talking about a crime such as rape it is already thought to be awful and bad, but she uses “terrible” (Foner, Pg.64) to make it even worse in the readers eyes. Even with that evidence of how Ida could seem bias she is still a reliable source, she just describes what is already assumed about a lynching or rape.

During this time many people of color were afraid to speak up about the lynching’s in fear that they might be next. Ida wrote this because she wanted everyone to know the serious consequences that black men are facing. For example, if they were even near a white woman and look as if they are a threat to their virginity in the eyes of white men. Before Ida moved north, she saw discrimination every step of the way, as she watched man after man being lynched or arrested with no proof or justice, this inspired her to make a difference in any way she could. During this time there was segregation everywhere and one example of this was a grocery store owned by one man of color named Thomas. His store was targeted to be destroyed or attack just like her newspaper that was in the Mississippi. Ida talks about the store being attacked and men of color being arrested as if it’s a normal everyday thing, even with hundreds of men taken to jail.

This document tells us that during this time segregation was used to keep whites seen as the superior race and this began from the day a person of color was born. They were segregated everywhere such as school, work, restaurants, living, etc. Even with the separation there was no safe place, black people were hunted and treated like they were animals and less than a human. This may have been why white men and women saw lynching’s as an easy solution and why it was so common in the south. When animals are no longer useful, they are killed at farms and if the black men are seen as animals especially with a past as a slave on a farm it may seem rational for them to die after being believed to commit a crime like rape during this time. Due to the continuous lynching of black men with no proof or repercussion when lying and accusing someone of this Ida B. Wells began to write about this.

The response to this document was very different for whites compared to blacks. White men were very angry about what she was writing which led to the attack on her newspaper. Foner states “Her essay condemning the lynching of three black men in Memphis led a mob to destroy her newspaper, the Memphis Free Press, while she was out of the city.” (Foner, 62). This showed the attempt to silence her voice and newspaper to keep the black people down and afraid to speak up. On the other hand, Black people were very supportive of this content and wanted Ida to continue speaking on this topic and issue in the south. These articles began to spread, and the book said, “Wells remained in the North, where she became the nation’s leading antilynching crusader.” (Foner, Pg. 62). This shows because of her determination and fight for freedom Wells became a symbol for all black people everywhere this was a moment in American history that will never be forgotten. It stood for more than just ending lynching this essay began a revolution for racial equality across the nation.