Ida B. Wells, Lynching, 1909
Why is mob murder permitted by a Christian nation? What is the cause of this awful slaughter? This question is answered almost daily--always the same shameless falsehood that 'Negroes are lynched to protect womanhood.' ...This is the never-varying answer of lynchers and their apologists. All know that it is untrue. The cowardly lyncher revels in murder, then seeks to shield himself from public execration by claiming devotion to woman. But truth is mighty and the lynching record discloses the hypocrisy of the lyncher as well as his crime.
Time was when lynching appeared to be sectional, but now it is national--a blight upon our nation, mocking our laws and disgracing our Christianity. 'With malice toward none but with charity for all' let us undertake the work of making the 'law of the land' effective and supreme upon every foot of American soil--a shield to the innocent; and to the guilty, punishment swift and sure.