Southern Horrors Book Review

Book Review: Southern Horrors: Women and the Politics of Rape and Lynching In the book titled, Southern Horrors: Women and the Politics of Rape and Lynching, Feimster attempt to touch on the topic of race, gender, lynching, rape, violence and politics. Feimster illustrate these points from the perspective of Rebecca Felton and Ida B. Wells-Barnett. Historically, both women were known for fighting for women suffrage; however, they differ upon the ideology of, “who the real victim is?” In order to read this book, the individual would really need to be unbiased and able to stay focus on what the book is about. Feimster take us back to the era of the Civil War with the first chapter giving the account of Rebecca Felton. Through the eyes of the slaves and southern white women, the Civil War brought about suffering; however, more so for the whites than blacks. Southern white women were left to fend for themselves, while their husbands went off to fight in the war. The abandonment led to many unskilled southern white women to try to maintain the upkeep of the plantation. Another consequence to the abandonment led to many …show more content…
The “black rapist” mantra led to the lynching of many black men, which were all done by white mobs. After the lynching of closest friends, Wells-Barnett became an activist against lynching and sexual violence. She and other black leaders such as, Fredrick Douglass, noted that many allegations of rape done by black men were false and only used as justification for mob violence and lynching. Yes, Felton might have united many southern white men and women under the guise of protecting the white womanhood; however, many innocent black lives were lost to the hands of white males. Wells-Barnett also noted the economic reasoning for lynching. In response to the black women subjection to sexual violence and black men victimization to lynching, she published “Southern