Royster, Ed., Southern Horrors And Other Writings - The Anti-Lynching Campaign Of Ida B. Wells., 1892-1900

Abstract

Southern Horrors and Other Writings, edited by Jacqueline Jones Royster, is a new addition to the "Bedford Series in History and Culture," a collection of texts designed to give readers the opportunity to study the past the way historians do. Each text in the series focuses on a specific topic within a specific historical period. Also, each text includes a set of historical documents with the aim of facilitating a critical understanding of the documents and the social context within which they are produced. Born into slavery in 1862, Wells went on to achieve national and international fame as an investigative journalist, public speaker, and anti-lynching crusader. The documents collected in this volume represent Wells's major writings during her antilynching campaign period, 1892 to 1900. The purpose of this text, according to the editor, is to initiate a much needed dialogue on the phenomenon of lynching as a disquieting aspect of race relations in the American experience.