Ida B. Wells and Her British Anti-Lynching Campaign

Ida B. Wells had already been entrenched for years in the war of words over lynching when she took her campaign overseas to Great Britain in 1893. At this time, American interests laid in expanding their boundaries to gain valuable resources. As part of this policy, American politicians wanted to portray the view that their country was a valuable trade partner with no social strife or disorder. In doing this, it was necessary to extinguish the fiery debate over lynching and its lawlessness. The effort to repress any negative press would have to be considered a failure as Wells took her campaign to Great Britain, a potential trade partner for the United States.

The effects of this campaign were twofold and achieved what Wells set out to do. The first portion of Wells’ campaign was to spread the word of these great crimes against blacks to another culture, especially one as sympathetic as England. This would, in turn, push the Americans to concede to English popular belief in abolition and equal rights in order to gain favor with the British. This was successful, as a new abolition society formed in London and many donations were given to her cause back in the United States. The second and more effective portion of her campaign was to change the views of Americans, especially whites, through more mainstream press. This was successful in limited areas: in Memphis, newspaper reports about Wells and her travels affected criminal activity in that region, with no recorded lynching for two decades.

Overall, the British campaign by Wells promoted the less publicized and greater cause of equal protection of law as well as equal rights to the newly freed blacks. Wells succeeded in affecting some people through accounts of her travels and though considered a radical, her work helped out pressure on the greater American powers to start enforcing law and order in equal portions.