12 Quotes by Ida B. Wells-Barnett

Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty, and it does seem to me that notwithstanding all these social agencies and activities there is not that vigilance which should be exercised in the preservation of our rights.

A Winchester rifle should have a place of honor in every black home, and it should be used for that protection which the law refuses to give.

If Southern white men are not careful, they will overreach themselves and public sentiment will have a reaction; a conclusion will then be reached which will be very damaging to the moral reputation of their women.

Virtue knows no color line, and the chivalry which depends upon complexion of skin and texture of hair can command no honest respect.

Burning and torture here lasts but a little while, but if I die with a lie on my soul, I shall be tortured forever. I am innocent.

The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them.

In nearly all communities wife beating is punishable with a fine, and in no community is it made a felony.

Then these lynchers went quietly away and the bodies of the woman and three men were taken out and buried with as little ceremony as men would bury hogs.

There can be no possible belief that these people were inspired by any consuming zeal to vindicate God’s law against miscegenationists of the most practical sort. The woman was a willing partner in the victim’s guilt, and being of the “superior” race must naturally have been more guilty.