March 8, 2010

Why is a trial by a jury

of your peers an
important right? Should
you have this right in
matters of school
discipline? What
matters?
 Homework:
► Finish any work you
need to finish!
► Particularly I need the
essay I assigned a
while back – twice
► Also – the scavenger
hunt from Friday
► If you cut you will not
get a chance to make
it up
Ida B Wells Barnett and the Memphis
Lynchings
► In 1892, Ida B Wells
Barnett lived and
wrote in Memphis,
Tennessee
► Memphis was thought
of at the time as an
integrated city
► The Ku Klux Klan was
active in Memphis
 Memphis Lynchings
► Wells Barnett is now a
full time journalist
(news reporter)
► Three African American
men open a grocery
store to compete with
a white owned store
► It is successful
Thomas Moss, Calvin McDowell, and
Henry Stewart
► These men are the
owners of the People’s
Grocery Company
located in a part of
Memphis known as
The Curve
► In March 1892, a mob
attacked the store
► The owners fought
back
 The Curve Riot
► Three of the attackers
were shot
► Thomas Moss, Calvin
McDowell, and Henry
Stewart were arrested
and charged with
inciting a riot
► They were guarded in
jail by a Black Militia
 ► After several
The Lynching days of
inflammatory
newspaper
articles, the
three were
taken from the
jail and killed
► Moss’s last
words: "Tell my
people to go
west. There is
not justice for
them here."
Aftermath
► It becomes clear to
Wells Barnett that
lynchings are not a
reaction to any crime
but are a means to
intimidate African
Americans
► She suggests that
Moss’s words be
followed
Aftermath
► Wells Barnett was
threatened with
lynching herself
► She began to carry a
pistol
► Wells Barnett and the
NAACP worked to
publicize lynching
► Lynching went on for
years
 Lynching
►Until the end of
the civil rights
era, lynching
and the threat
of lynching
were a part of
American life
Memphis
►Was also the city
were the Reverend
Dr. Martin Luther
King Jr. was shot
and killed
►The Lorraine Motel
is now the
National Civil
Rights Museum
Class work:
►Reflection paper
– write a letter to
Ida B. Wells
Barnett. What
would you ask
her? What do you
want to tell her?