There is a horrific side to American history, seldom acknowledged and rarely taught in our schools. It has to do with the countless murderous assaults perpetrated against Native American Indians, immigrants, and African Americans. The book you are holding in your hands, originally published over a century ago, opens a window into that murky past. It provides a vivid and representative expose of the terrible white racist violence that was directed against Negroes toward the end of the nineteenth century in New Orleans and elsewhere. The author, Ida Wells-Barnett, was contemporary to these events. We feel we are there because she in fact was there at the very time these things were happening. So what we have here is not just a book but a historical document Excerpt from the introduction STRUGGLING AGAINST RACISM, THEN AND NOW by Michael Parenti. Parenti received his Ph.D. in political science from Yale. He is an award winning author and activist who has published some 250 articles and 19 books.