Other Responses
Helen L. Hood was president of the Illinois state WCTU. In an article headlined “Miss Hood’s Protest,” she defended Willard as an ally to black people in the US and characterized Wells’s criticism as “racial hatred.”
On the other hand, in a piece headlined “Hot After Miss Willard,” members of the Anti-Lynching League were reported to have released a statement demanding an explanation from Willard and inviting her to explain herself at one of its meetings. Its president, J.M. Townsend, said:
We want the negro spoken of to his face just as frankly as he is spoken of behind his back—to the white of the south or the aristocracy of England. We wish to know who are our friends and who are not.
