Modern Lynchings? The Investigation Connecting Ida B. Wells to Today

More than a century ago, journalist Ida B. Wells risked her life documenting lynchings across the United States in her groundbreaking investigation A Red Record.

Today, civil rights investigator Jill Collen Jefferson, founder of the organization JULIAN, says some suspicious deaths in the United States deserve closer scrutiny.

In this episode, journalist Esther Dillard speaks with Jefferson about her research examining deaths that families believe were wrongly ruled suicides. Jefferson explains why she believes some cases should be investigated as modern-day lynchings and how her work draws inspiration from the investigative model Ida B. Wells established more than 130 years ago.

The conversation explores the challenges of investigating these cases, the importance of language in civil rights investigations, and why asking difficult questions remains central to journalism.

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