"The way to right wrongs
is to
turn the light of
truth upon them"
-Ida B. Wells
Her Journey
Beginning in Mississippi 1862, Ida B. Wells grew up in an impoverished home with both parents slaves. She inherited her literacy through her father who taught them the importance of education and began looking after and teaching her siblings at a young age. Her first engagement with the segregation law in 1884 awarded her $500 for suing the railroad after they told her to board the "African American Only" car and she refused. As a teacher of a middle school she was not afraid to educate children on keeping an open mind and treating others with equality, recognizing African Americans as equal humans with rights. This put her in a tough pickle and was later fired for putting schools in vulnerable positions.
Memphis Free Speech and Headline and Free Speech are the first two newspapers Ida wrote in, using the alias "Iola", where she published articles and letters such as the one above. She began investigative journalism and wrote about the abolition of Jim Crow's Laws and especially the act of Lynching, including a pamphlet while in New York entitled "A Red Record". This article was one of Wells' first lone editorials directed exclusively towards Lynching in America and uncovering the reality of it to the public. Being a female also put her in the position of defending African American males and the prejudice put on them as second-hand humans, allowing her to have a fresh perspective and advantage over any white male.
Anti-Lynching Campaign
Ida is most known in history as a very strong and independent woman, not afraid to uncover the truth or do what it takes to raise awareness for such a cause. She is one of history's largest advocates for Women's Suffrage, and used a very direct and public approach to legally end the public killing of African Americans. With strong support by the African American communities, large leaders such as Frederick Douglas, and open-minded and accepting supporters of the White race, she wrote specifically to presidents Woodrow Wilson, Wilson McKinley and all of Washington D.C. calling for a reform and anti-lynching. Her tactics were so forward and aggressive she was asked to tone it down a notch by other reformers such as Susan B. Anthony. She refused, of course.
Anti-Lynching Crusader!
Her Later Years
Ida
B. Wells stayed true to her fervent attitude of seeking change after
her more intense years as a journalist. After being a participant in many
newspapers and organizations, she led others to the commencement of the NAACP,
began and funded the Negro Fellowship League in Chicago in 1910, started the first African American Kindergarten, the
Alpha Suffrage Club, and became co-owner of The New York Age, a prominent Black
newspaper.
She also wrote over 5 well published books, not
including two self-written bibliographies, that were in-depth investigative
looks at acts of racism, specifically the act of lynching, which helped spark
the ending of Jim Crow laws and the equality of African Americans. Wells passed
away in 1931 on March 25th from kidney disease in Chicago and is
recognized through several organizations dedicated to her memory and legacy of
heroism in politics and social change. Since her death she has been honored
with an award dedicated to her name by the National Association of Black
Journalists for journalists that show courageous styles of investigative
journalism.
Bibliography
Ockerbloom
, John Mark. "The East St. Louis Massacre: The Greatest Outrage of the
Century." Online Books Page . N.p.. Web. 4 Mar 2014.
<http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupname?key=Wells-Barnett,
Ida B., 1862-1931>.
Wormser,
Richard . "The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow Law."Educational
Broadcasting Corporation. (2002): n. page. web.
<http://www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/stories_people_wells.html>.
"Ida
B. Wells Biography ."A & E Network. 2014 : 99-110. Print.
Duster,
A. (Ed.) (1970). Crusade
for justice: The autobiography of Ida B. Wells. Chicago:
University of Chicago Press.
Sterling, D.
(1988). Black Foremothers. New York: The Feminist Press.
(Url
version for the last 2 of these above: http://www2.webster.edu/~woolflm/idabwells.html)
Chesnut
, Trichita M. . "Ida B. Wells-Barnett Takes Crusade Against Racial
Violence to the President."National Archives: Rediscovering Black
History. (2013): n. page. Web. 6 Mar. 2014.
<http://blogs.archives.gov/blackhistoryblog/2013/01/30/ida-b-wells-barnett-takes-crusade-against-racial-violence-to-the-president/>.
"Ida B. Wells -
Anti-Lynching Crusader." The Biography Channel website. 2013. 28
January
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8Qr62pANjc
