Ida B. Wells was born a slave and lived in Holly Springs, Mississippi. She was later released and learned from her parents what it meant to be a political activist. By 1891, Wells owned the Free Speech newspaper and reported on the horrors happening in the South. Wells, along with other members of the African American activist community, were particularly horrified by the lynchings that were taking place in the South. In response to the lynching that was occurring and other acts of violence that the African American community was facing, Wells wrote three pamphlets: Southern Horrors, The Red Record, and Mob Brutality. Investigative and smear journalism can be seen throughout these pamphlets, as well as Wells' intention to persuade the African American community and some members of the white community to take a stand against the crime of lynching. Wells' writings serve as an effective historical text, as she serves as a voice for an underrepresented African American community. Wells' first published pamphlet was Southern Horrors. This pamphlet was written in response to lynchings that had taken place in the South. In Southern Horrors, Wells identifies that there is corruption in the South because lynchings have been occurring at an alarming rate: “it is without pleasure that I have plunged my hands into the corruption exposed here. Someone needs to show that the African-American race is more of a sin than a sin.” Wells wanted to inform other African Americans, as well as northerners, of the corruption that existed in the South. This type of journalism was called muckraking, or what investigative journalism is today. Wells identified a problem and acknowledged that middle of paper... Unfortunately, it was not until the 1960s that true legal equality was achieved for the African American community. In Southern Horrors and Other Writings Three pamphlets written by Ida B. Wells are highlighted. These pamphlets showed that Wells used investigative and smear reporting to describe what was happening in the South. Wells saw the corruption that existed in the South and wanted to bring it to the public's attention. Wells also uses persuasive writing to gain support from the African American community and she hoped to create change. Wells' writings are finally a historically effective text, not only because they are primary source documents, but because she served as a voice for the African American people. Works Cited Wells, Ida B. Southern Horrors and Other Writings, edited by Jaqueline Jones Royster. Boston: Bedford/Saint-Martin, 1997.