LYNCHING, OUR NATIONAL CRIME
Speech Delivered by Ida B. Wells
At the National Negro Conference (forerunner to the NAACP) in New York City in the spring of 1909
Read by Stephanie Garrett (pictured above)
Filmed at the Cape May Presbyterian Church in Cape May, NJ
Premieres on Thursday, January 28 at 8:00 PM
On ELTC's YouTube Channel: https://www.tinyurl.com/ELTCYouTube
Click Here for a Direct Link to the Reading
Available through Sunday, February 28 at 11:30 PM
FOR FREE, but consider making a donation to the NAACP
From the early 1890s, Ida B. Wells began documenting and reporting on the lynching of Black Americans
in order to raise the nation’s awareness and indignation about these horrific and usually unpunished murders.
By 1909, she was the most prominent anti-lynching campaigner in the United States.
in order to raise the nation’s awareness and indignation about these horrific and usually unpunished murders.
By 1909, she was the most prominent anti-lynching campaigner in the United States.
Ida B. Wells (July 16, 1862 – March 25, 1931) received the Pulitzer Prize in the spring of 2020 for her outstanding and courageous reporting on the horrific violence against African Americans during the era of lynching. This award is posthumous, but timely. The Pulitzer Prize was established in 1917 to uplift “excellence in journalism.” Her most important works, including Southern Horrors (1892) and Red Record (1895) were published before the Pulitzer was established. Based on her investigations, she wrote that “ten thousand Negroes have been killed in cold blood (through lynching) without the formality of judicial trial and legal execution.”
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was founded in 1909 in response to the ongoing violence against Black people around the country. To learn more about this organization, visit https://naacp.org/ or click here. To learn about the local Cape May Chapter, visit https://www.facebook.com/cmcnaacp/ or click here.
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was founded in 1909 in response to the ongoing violence against Black people around the country. To learn more about this organization, visit https://naacp.org/ or click here. To learn about the local Cape May Chapter, visit https://www.facebook.com/cmcnaacp/ or click here.
Stephanie Garrett splits her time between Philadelphia, Cape May and Florida. She played Mary in ELTC's NJ premiere of Jan Buttram's Lost on the Natchez Trace, and also performed in ELTC’s Women and the Vote, Rain, The People of Cape May v. Johan Van Buren, and Christmas in Black and White with Gayle Stahlhuth. She performs regularly for the company’s popular “Tales of the Victorians.” Over fifteen years ago, as a volunteer at Historic Cold Spring Village, she became a storyteller, specializing in early 19th Century Cape May County African American History. Garrett has a BA and MA in Sociology and worked as a Sociologist and Human Resources Manager during her career in Federal Government. Upon early retirement she received the Meritorious Service Award, the highest award given by the Department of Navy to a civilian employee. She is past President of the Greater Cape May Historical Society.
