| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 95.1

You have not been recognized as a subscriber to JAH online. About 228 words from this article are provided below; about 394 words remain.

If you are a individual member of the Organization of American Historians, you may:: • login here if you have already registered for online access.; • Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.
• Set up your online account for the first time.
If you are not a member of the Organization of American Historians, you can:: • Join the OAH and receive many member benefits including print and electronic issues of the Journal of American History.
• Purchase a research pass to gain two-hour access to the entire History Cooperative web site. You will have full access to current issues of the Journal of American History (86.1-present). Note: the Research Pass does not provide access to JSTOR's holdings of the Journal of American History.
Instititutions can:: • Subscribe to this journal and receive print and electronic issues.
• Activate your existing subscription so that we recognize your IP number ranges.

| Book Review | The Journal of American History, 95.1 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

"They Say": Ida B. Wells and the Reconstruction of Race. By James West Davidson. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007. xiv, 242 pp. Cloth, $21.95, ISBN 978-0-19-516020-8.)
James West Davidson revisits the life of Ida B. Wells to provide an engaging and accessible narrative of African Americans' efforts at self-definition in the decades following emancipation. Wells, a black activist and journalist who rose to prominence during the 1890s for her incisive indictment of lynching, is perhaps one of the most studied black women activists of the period and the focus of several book-length biographies. "They Say" draws on that scholarship to examine the first thirty years of her life.	1
Born and raised in Holly Springs, Mississippi, months before the Emancipation Proclamation became law, Wells came into adulthood as a member of the black middle class in Memphis, Tennessee, during the rise of Jim Crow. Her life provides a promising narrative for tracing the "reconstruction of race as a concept and social and political weapon," and Davidson is an effective guide (p. 11). Indeed, from the provocative prologue to recounting the intimate details of Wells's diary and the often brutal incidents of racial violence that led Wells to take action, Davidson demonstrates a keen ability to bring to life the everyday practices and encounters that defined both sides of the southern color line.	. . .

There are about 394 more words in this article. Please log in (or, if you are not yet an authorized user, please go to the User Setup page) to gain full access rights. Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.