Question

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cw 4.6 - lynching and police brutality
directions: read well’s speech (partner or independent).

1. make a highlighting key for yourself, highlight in color 1 lines true of police killings as well as lynchings, highlight in color 2 lines only true of lynching, at least 1/3rd of your reading should be highlighted in some color by the end!
2. finish the sentence:

many of the motivations for lynchings were because:
the
was
on
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1. use the list on page 2 of the reading. which motivation best demonstrates the terror black people were enduring during this time? how so?

mob murder in a christian nation by ida b. wells 1909
the lynching record for a quarter of a century merits the thoughtful study of the american people. it presents three salient facts: first, lynching is a colorline murder. second, crimes against women is the excuse, not the cause. third, it is a national crime and requires a national remedy.
from 1882, when 52 were lynched, down to the present, lynching has been along the color line. statistics show that 3,284 men, women and children have been put to death in this quarter of a century . . . .
during the last ten years, from 1899 to 1908, the number lynched was 959. of this number, 102 were white, while the colored victims numbered 857. no other nation, civilized or savage, burns its criminals; only under that stars and stripes is the human holocaust possible. twenty - eight human beings burned at the stake, one of them a woman and two of them children, is the awful indictment against american civilization - the gruesome tribute which the nation pays to the color line.
why is mob murder permitted by a christian nation? what is the cause of this awful slaughter? this question is answered almost daily: always the same shameless falsehood that
egroes are lynched to protect womanhood.\ standing before a chautauqua assemblage, john temple graves, a once champion of lynching and apologist for lynchers, said, \the mob stands today as the most potential bulwark between the women of the south and such a carnival of crime as would infuriate the world and precipitate the annihilation of the negro race.\ this is the never - varying answer of lynchers and their apologists. all know that it is untrue. the cowardly lyncher reveals his murder, then seeks to shield himself from public execution by claiming devotion to woman. but truth is mighty and the lynching record discloses the hypocrisy of the lyncher as well as his crime.
the springfield, illinois, mob rioted for two days, the militia of the entire state was called out, two men were lynched, hundreds of people were driven from their homes, all because a white woman said a negro assaulted her. the mad mob went to the jail, tried to lynch the victim of her charge, and, not being able to find him, proceeded to pillage and burn the town and to lynch two innocent men. later, after the police had found that the womans charge was false, she published a retraction, the

Explanation:

Question 2

To answer this, we analyze the text. The speech by Ida B. Wells shows lynchings were rooted in racism (color - line murder) and false justifications (like "protecting womanhood" as a sham excuse). The motivations were often based on racial prejudice, as lynching was a "color - line murder" and the excuse of protecting women was false. So we can say many motivations for lynchings were racially motivated because: lynching was a "color - line murder" (from 1882 onward, most lynched were Black, as seen in stats like 857 colored victims vs 102 white from 1899 - 1908), and the excuse of protecting womanhood was a falsehood (e.g., the Springfield case where a false charge led to lynching, and the charge was later retracted). Also, lynchers used the false claim of protecting women to shield their racial violence, as the text says the "protect womanhood" claim was a "shameless falsehood" and the real cause was racial prejudice.

We look at the list (implied in the text's themes) and the text. The motivation of lynching being a "color - line murder" (racial lynching) best shows the terror. From 1882, lynching targeted Black people (3,284 Black people lynched in a quarter - century, 857 from 1899 - 1908). This racial targeting meant Black people lived in constant fear of being lynched simply because of their race. The false excuse of protecting women also added to terror, as any false accusation (like in Springfield) could lead to mob violence. But the racial targeting (color - line murder) is key: Black people were at risk just for being Black, with stats showing overwhelming racial disparity in victims. This created a climate where Black people feared for their lives daily, knowing they could be lynched based on their race, and false accusations (used to justify lynching) made them vulnerable to mob violence at any time.

Answer:

Many of the motivations for lynchings were \underline{racially motivated} because: lynching was a "color - line murder" (most lynched victims were Black, e.g., 857 colored vs 102 white from 1899 - 1908), and the excuse of "protecting womanhood" was a falsehood (seen in cases like the Springfield riot where a false charge of assault led to lynching, and the charge was later retracted; lynchers used this false claim to mask racial violence).

Question 3