Ida B. Wells Petitions President McKinley on Lynching

Ida B. Wells led a delegation to President McKinley at the White House to present a formal petition demanding federal action against lynching, specifically referencing the lynching of Frazier Baker, a Black postmaster in Lake City, South Carolina, who was killed along with his infant daughter when a white mob burned their home. McKinley expressed sympathy but took no action. Wells's persistent pressure on the executive branch established a pattern of direct federal advocacy that the NAACP would continue.