The Red Record: Tabulated Statistics and Alleged Causes of Lynching in the United States

What is mob mentality? How did mob mentality play a role in lynchings in the American South? How does mob mentality continue to inform racial and political landscapes?

How does Wells use testimony and research in her work as an activist? What role does research play in modern activism?

How has the stereotype of Black men as dangers to white women or society pervaded American culture? What evidence of this stereotype persists in media, as well as systemic and social contexts?

Some have compared the lynchings of the 19th and 20th centuries to anti-Black police violence in the 21st century. How might Lynch Law be understood in a modern context? What similarities or differences exist between contemporary and historical racist violence?

How does Wells’s text contribute to arguments for or against capital punishment?

Detail the hypocrisy of how white offenders were treated for similar crimes. What does the disparity reveal about racism and its influence on the legal system and social norms?

Why did Wells center her research on the testimonies and articles of white citizens, especially white men? How did this narrowed focus contribute to the impact of her argument?

What systemic protections guaranteed that white mobs could act with impunity? How does systemic racism continue to protect acts of violence and discrimination today?