Lynching Affected New South Capitalism: Race, Gender, And Class

Lynching affected New South Capitalism in the following ways: race, gender, and class. Lynching was able to do this because it was fully ingrained within the south’s socioeconomic system. Lynching affected race and could be seen through who was lynched. Normally African Americans were lynched because whites were prejudiced against them and saw them as a threat to white man’s progress. Also, white men lynched African Americans in order to protect their “ladies.” Lynching affected the class system as well because most African Americans were not treated as citizens and had no privileges. Wealthy white men had all power and dominated the class system. However, African Americans did exist within the middle class and had a considerable amount of power but they were never treated the same as their white associates. The African Americans who were economically successful or competed with white businesses were lynched. Finally, lynching affected gender because African American men were targeted and most commonly charged with the offense of rape. Lynching emphasized that white women were “ladies” that needed protection from the base African American males. Ida B. Wells addressed lynching in essays, …show more content…
Those who were lynched were typically African American males. The number of charges that stated rape was very alarming. Charges of rape were normal in order for Southern white men to protect their women. Lynching created a stark difference between genders in New South Capitalism. African American men were commonly arrested and charged with raping white women. White men were barely charged with raping African American women. White women are “ladies” who needed protection from base individuals and must keep their virtue intact. Essentially, both genders of African Americans were not seen as respectful people worthy of being citizens. The exception was mammies because they reinforced white