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Ida B. Wells and Anti-Lynching Activism
A letter from Ida B. Wells to Albion Tourgée, Nov. 27, 1894.

A letter from Ida B. Wells to Albion Tourgée, Nov. 27, 1894.

Albion Tourgée was a collaborator and supporter of Ida B. Wells. In this letter she thanks him for his support after an incident involving Frances Willard, a white woman who was the leader of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU), a powerful national reform organization against the consumption of alcohol.

Transcript:

Pittsburg, Nov. 27, 94.

Judge A. W. Tourgee; Mayville, N.Y.

Dear Sir -

I have today read your strong words in defense of me and the cause. As always, I feel grateful to you for the only unequivocal expressions in behalf of justice which you alone seemed moved to make. I feel especially grateful at the word this time in reply to Miss Willard’s specious arguments and statements. Miss W. has never forgiven me for telling what she said in condonation of lynching and christian tho she be, she could not resist the opportunity to strike at me thro [[object Object]] her association. She succeeded in doing what she intended. For the enter organization believes I “misrepresented the W.C.T.U.” while in England and no opportunity was given for me to explain. Your words are most opportune in setting the matter clearly before the public. The southern women delegates had a caucus at Cleveland and succeeded in preventing the passage of any resolution by the national body against lynching.

Again, thanking you for these and all other words in behalf of justice, I am

Yours truly,

Ida B. Wells

395 Gold St.

Brooklyn

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Citation Information
Wells-Barnett, Ida B., “Letter, Ida B. Wells to Albion Winegar Tourgée, 1894-11-27,” Digital Public Library of America, https://dp.la/item/3ce7fe6f7d005d0fd7d3a4768152aa1c.
Note: These citations are programmatically generated and may be incomplete.
Courtesy of Chautauqua County Historical Society via Empire State Digital Network.

Tips for Students

For this source, consider:

  • the author's point of view
  • the author's purpose
  • historical context
  • audience

Item 11 of 13 in the Primary Source Set Ida B. Wells and Anti-Lynching Activism

Previous ItemNext Item
A legal brief for Ida B. Wells’ lawsuit against Chesapeake, Ohio, and Southwestern Railroad Company before the state Supreme Court, 1885.
A portrait of Ida B. Wells, ca. 1893.
The cover page for Southern Horrors: Lynch Law In All Its Phases (1892), the first pamphlet by Ida B. Wells dedicated to exposing lynching.
The cover page for A Red Record: Tabulated Statistics and Alleged Causes of Lynchings in the United States, 1892-1893-1894 by Ida B. Wells.
An illustration with portraits of African American leaders, including Ida B. Wells-Barnett, ca. 1900.
A political cartoon by Thomas Nast titled “The Union as it Was,” published in Harper’s Weekly October 24, 1874.
Lynching announcements from New Orleans States and Jackson Daily News reproduced in The Crisis, August 1919.
(Warning: graphic material) A photograph showing the aftermath of a public lynching in Columbus, Georgia, June 1, 1896.
An address about Ida B. Wells’ speaking tour in England, adopted by a group of African American citizens in St. Paul, Minnesota, 1894.
A letter from A. M. Middlebrook to Albion Tourgée about a lynching to be held in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, Sept. 28, 1894.
A letter from Ida B. Wells to Albion Tourgée, Nov. 27, 1894.
A portrait of Ida B. Wells-Barnett, 1920s.
The introduction to The Tragedy of Lynching, produced by the Commission on Interracial Cooperation, 1933.

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