Ida B Wells: The Red Record

Ida B. Wells publication, “The Red Record” is a significant document to the racial history of America because it contains, irrefutably, five pages worth of statistics regarding lynch law for the years 1892 through 1894.This collection of data is significant because it came from White owned newspapers and written by White men which documented and colonialized the frequency of lynching incidents. Wells compiled the year worth of data and organized it in detail. Ida tabulated and categorized the offenses by date, name of the lynch victim and location. She also reported the total number of lynchings per offense, by state and, in 1894 she added lynchings by month (The Red Record, 12-17). By providing this type of material, with names and the reasons why, people were lynched highlights the devastating reality of the frequency and nature of injustice. Throughout the document, Ida stresses that the acts of savagery committed against African Americans is a “disregard of every principle of justice (Red Record, 66).