Ida B. Wells-Barnett The East St. Louis Massacre: The Greatest Outrage of the Century

Wells...provided damning descriptions of the melee that claimed one too many black lives. Concrete Demands The Search for Black Power in the 20th Century (2014) "To Wells...the events at East St. Louis combined some of the worst racist elements...in three days of rioting, 39 African Americans were killed." Ida B. WellsBarnett and American Reform (2003) "Her account of the riot which included interviews with riot victims documenting the violent participation of both the National Guard and the East St. Louis police, helped spur a congressional investigation." To Tell the Truth Freely The Life of Ida B. Wells (2009) Who was to blame for the East St. Louis Massacre of 1917, a series of outbreaks racerelated violence resulting in the deaths of from 40 to 250 AfricanAmericans? Ida B. Wells answers this question in her once governmentcensored 1917 book "The East St. Louis Massacre." Another 6,000 blacks were left homeless and the burning and vandalism cost approximately $400,000 ($7,982,000 in 2020) in property damage. In describing the scene in East St. Louis, after she arrived in the aftermath of the riot, Wells writes "No one molested me in my walk from the station to the City Hall, although I did not see a single colored person until I reached the City Hall building. I accosted the lone individual in soldiers uniform at the depot, a mere boy with a gun, and asked him if the governor was in town. When he said no, he had gone to Washington the night before, I asked how the... | Ida B. Wells-Barnett The East St. Louis Massacre: The Greatest Outrage of the Century