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The Red Record

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description The Red Record Overview

The Red Record is an 1895 anti-lynching pamphlet by American journalist and activist Ida B. Wells. Drawing on newspaper reports and documented cases, Wells compiled statistics on lynchings in the United States and challenged claims that mob violence primarily punished sexual crimes. The work argues that lynching functioned as a means of racial control after Reconstruction and forms a central part of Wells's investigative campaign against racial violence.

help The Red Record FAQ

Who authored the 1895 pamphlet The Red Record?

The groundbreaking pamphlet was authored by Ida B. Wells, an African-American investigative journalist and early leader in the Civil Rights Movement. The work focused on exposing the brutal realities of post-Reconstruction America.

What is the main subject matter of Ida B. Wells' The Red Record?

The pamphlet utilizes detailed statistical data and investigative journalism to document the widespread horrors of lynchings in the United States. Wells systematically debunked the common justifications used by white mobs to terrorize Black communities.

What year was The Red Record published?

"The Red Record" was officially published in 1895. It stands as one of the earliest and most comprehensive statistical analyses of racial violence in the American South.

How did Ida B. Wells gather the data for The Red Record?

Wells compiled her data by painstakingly analyzing newspaper reports, public records, and firsthand accounts of lynchings across the country. Her use of raw statistics was a deliberate strategy to provide undeniable, objective proof of systemic racial terrorism.

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