3.8 Classwork: Ida B. Wells & Racial Violence in the Reconstruction Era

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10 questions

Warm Up Review Question: What was one right that the Black community gained during the Reconstruction Era? How did literacy tests degrade that right?

Background Knowledge Check: Do you know what a lynching is?

For nearly a century following the Civil War, _______ , terrorism, and _______ cast a shadow over this nation.

Lynching is the murder of a person by a mob through a public _______  by _______ without a legal trial often to _______  other people.

Black advocates formed national anti-lynching organizations and petitioned for legislation and official intervention in response to lynchings. Howard University students protest outside the National Crime Conference in Washington, DC, 1934.

Millions of Black Americans were terrorized by  _______ of lynchings that forced nearly _______  Black Americans to _______ the Deep South during the 20th century. Lynchings were violent and public events that _______ Black people throughout the country.

Examine the lynching records provided by the Tuskegee Institute. What do you notice/what stands out to you? Do you see any patterns? What questions do you have?

Equal Justice Initiative (our country’s official organization for ending racialized violence) has documented nearly _______  racial terror lynchings in America between _______. Very few white people were convicted of murder for lynching a Black person in America during this period, and of all lynchings committed after 1900, only _______ resulted in a lyncher being convicted.

Just under a year ago (3.29.2022) President  _______  signed into law a bill that makes lynching a _______ . The _______ Antilynching Act of 2022 was introduced in the House of Representatives by Rep. Bobby Rush (Democrat from Illinois) and passed on February 28 by a vote of 422-3.

“This Act is an overdue correction to tragic failures of the past. Congress failed nearly 200 times to get enough votes to pass anti-lynching legislation. “It is both a triumph and a tragedy that only now has our government officially outlawed the horror of lynching with this historic act,” Mr. Stevenson said.

“This should have happened a century ago. But it’s not too late to commit to a new era in which we value the lives of all Americans and never again tolerate mob violence and lawlessness pretending to be justice.”

What do you already know about Ida B. Wells?

-Ida B. Wells was a famous _______ journalist who risked her life traveling the _______ to document and shed light on lynchings

-Began investigating lynchings when her friend and two other men were brutally lynched for owning a successful grocery store

-Driven out of the South by a mob, but continued writing in the North

-Founder of many famous civil rights organizations including the _______

3.8 Classwork: Ida B. Wells & Racial Violence in the Reconstruction Era

Warm Up Review Question: What was one right that the Black community gained during the Reconstruction Era? How did literacy tests degrade that right?

Background Knowledge Check: Do you know what a lynching is?

Examine the lynching records provided by the Tuskegee Institute. What do you notice/what stands out to you? Do you see any patterns? What questions do you have?

What do you already know about Ida B. Wells?

Do you have any questions you'd like answered about this topic? Any thoughts you want to share?