![]() The editorial in question was prompted by the many inhuman and fiendish lynchings of Afro-Americans which have recently taken place and was meant as a warning. Creditors took possession of the office and sold the outfit, and the "Free Speech" was as if it had never been. Fleming, the business manager and owning a half interest the "Free Speech," had to leave town to escape the mob, and was afterwards ordered not to return letters and telegrams sent me in New York where I was spending my vacation advised me that bodily harm awaited my return. I the negroes themselves do not apply the remedy without delay it will be the duty of those whom he has attached to tie the wretch who utters these calumnies to a stake at the intersection of Main and Madison Sts., brand him in the forehead with a hot iron and perform upon him a surgical operation with a pair of tailor's shears.Īcting upon this advice, the leading citizens met in the Cotton Exchange Building the same evening, and threats of lynching were freely indulged, not by the lawless element upon which the deviltry of the South is usually saddled-but by the leading business men, in their leading business centre. Patience under such circumstances is not a virtue. The "Evening Scimitar" of same date, copied the "Commercial's" editorial with these words of comment: There are some things that the Southern white man will not tolerate, and the obscene intimations of the foregoing have brought the writer to the very outermost limit of public patience. The fact that a black scoundrel is allowed to live and utter such loathsome and repulsive calumnies is a volume of evidence as to the wonderful patience of Southern whites. ![]() If Southern white men are not careful they will over-reach themselves, and public sentiment will have a reaction and a conclusion will be reached which will be very damaging to the moral reputation of their women." A negro organ printed in this city, in a recent issue publishes the following atrocious paragraph: "Nobody in this section of the country believes the old thread-bare lie that Negro men rape white women. The negroes may as well understand that there is no mercy for the negro rapist and little patience with his defenders. Those negroes who are attempting to make the lynching of individuals of their race a means for arousing the worst passions of their kind are playing with a dangerous sentiment. "The Daily Commercial" of Wednesday following, May 25th, contained the following leader: If Southern white men are not careful, they will over-reach 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. Nobody in this section of the country believes the old thread bare lie that Negro men rape white women. The same programme of hanging, then shooting bullets into the lifeless bodies was carried out to the letter. The cause of all this commotion was the following editorial published in the "Free Speech" May 21st, 1892, the Saturday previous.Įight Negroes lynched since last issue of the "Free Speech," one at Little Rock, Ark., last Saturday morning where the citizens broke(?) into the penitentiary and got their man three near Anniston, Ala., one near New Orleans and three at Clarksville, Ga., the last three for killing a white man, and five on the same old racket-the new alarm about raping white women. Editorials in the daily papers of that date caused a meeting to be held in the Cotton Exchange Building a committee was sent for the editors of the "Free Speech," an Afro-American journal published in that city, and the only reason the open threats of lynching that were made were not carried out was because they could not be found. Wednesday evening May 24th, 1892, the city of Memphis was filled with excitement. She delivered a similar speech twice in February 1893, at the Tremont Temple in Boston, Massachusetts, and by invitation of Frederick Douglass at the Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church, Washington, D.C. She delivered this speech at Lyric Hall in New York City on October 5, 1892, and published the speech as a pamphlet on Oct. Wells first published a version this speech on June 25, 1892, in the New York Age.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |