Primary sourceBook1895
The Red Record
Ida B. Wells-Barnett · 1895
Ida B. Wells's 1895 statistical study of lynchings from 1892-1894, compiled from white newspapers to expose the scale and causes of racial violence.
Wells compiled and wrote this statistical exposé of lynching, showing her investigative method.
About this source
What it is
The Red Record is a pamphlet written by Ida B. Wells-Barnett in 1895, held today by the Library of Congress. It tabulates lynchings across the United States and examines the excuses given for them, drawing largely on reports from white-owned newspapers. It opens with a letter of praise from Frederick Douglass.
Why it matters
By using the mob's own press reports against them, Wells built a careful, data-based case that lynching was not justice but organized terror. The pamphlet shows her skill as an investigative journalist and her alliance with leading reformers like Douglass, and it remains an early example of using statistics to argue for civil rights.
Look closer
- Why might Wells have chosen to use white newspapers as her main sources?
- What does Douglass's letter suggest about how Wells's work was received?
- What might statistics reveal that a single story cannot?
This book is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Ida B. Wells on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.
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