In *Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases* (1892), Ida B. Wells-Barnett investigated the lynchings of three Black grocery store owners in Memphis, Tennessee. She demonstrated that their store, the People's Grocery, had successfully competed with a white-owned business, drawing customers away from it. Based on Wells-Barnett’s findings, which of the following best describes the primary function of lynching in the post-Reconstruction South?
- ATo defend white communities against surges in violent crime when local police forces failed to act.
- To eliminate African American economic competition and maintain white supremacy.Answer
- CTo protect the honor of white women by punishing individuals accused of assault.
- DTo discourage Black workers from migrating to Northern industrial cities.
Answer
The correct answer states that the primary function of lynching was to eliminate African American economic competition and maintain white supremacy.
The correct answer is correct because Wells-Barnett's analysis of the People's Grocery lynchings revealed that the violence was motivated by a desire to destroy a successful Black-owned business that threatened white economic monopoly, showing that racial terror was used to enforce white supremacy and suppress Black economic progress.
Step-by-Step Solution
Key Concept
The economic and social motives behind racial terror and the anti-lynching movement's efforts to expose them.
Estimated Time:1m 30s