Wells’ 1892 speech, Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases is important as a historical document and as the initiating event in what became a social movement; as a rhetorical work, it is significant in three respects.
First, as in her writings, she used evidence and argument in highly sophisticated ways that prevented members of the audience from dismissing her claims as biased or untrue.
Second, the speech was an insightful and sophisticated analysis of the interrelationship of sex, race, and class.
Third, in contrast to the rhetorical acts of women, this speech contained no stylistic markers indicating attempts by a woman speaker to appear “womanly” in what is perceived as a male role—that of rhetor