Southern Anti-Lynching Campaign Analysis

Through its body of work, the Telegraph established itself as moderate when compared to African American organizations of the time that advocated for the end of segregation and other Jim Crow practices through violent and nonviolent means on the Left and violent white terrorist groups on the Right, like the Klu Klux Klan. Anderson’s long standing rivalry with the Klan and sharp division in coverage comparisons demonstrate this divide. Historian Virginus Dabney states the Telegraph “dealt savagely with the Supreme Kingdom.” The ability of the paper to expose the “racketeering methods” used by the organization allowed the paper to unleash a “ferocious assault which put these panderers to race prejudice out of business,” Dabney compared their efforts to the Columbus Enquirer-Sun’s crusade against the Klan. The Sun won a Pulitzer Prize in 1926 for its work. However, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People’s coverage of lynching went steps further than the Telegraph. Assessing Walter White’s 1929 book “Rope and Faggot: A Biography of Judge

The Telegraph condemned lynchings on the grounds that they defamed the state’s reputation in the eyes of the nation. Anderson and his staff were not like other reformers of the era who held greater trust in the Federal Government. The Telegraph wanted to see its citizens, without outside interference, make changes to better their own community. It opposed the orgy of lynching, but did so on pragmatic grounds rather than for moralistic or humanitarian reasons. Perhaps Anderson’s convictions were pure. In his will, he established a fund for African American health care and argued for equal wages for African American workers during the New Deal. Regardless, Anderson sought to foster a sense of urban boosterism similar to that of