Author: Richmond Dispatch

PRIMARY DOCUMENT

“Negro Officers,” Richmond Dispatch (June 5, 1898)

In its editorial “Negro Officers,” published on June 5, 1898, the Richmond Dispatch makes the case against African American officers leading African American soldiers in the militia and in the volunteer regiments called to duty during the Spanish-American War (1898).

PRIMARY DOCUMENT

"Lynch Law and Barbarism," Richmond Dispatch (August 3, 1893)

In "Lynch Law and Barbarism," published on August 3, 1893, the Richmond Dispatch defends lynching as a necessary evil in defense of white womanhood. The writer states that rape is the cause of nearly all lynchings; in Virginia in the 1890s, however, victims of lynchings were accused of rape only 36 percent of the time.