Ida Bell Wells better known as Ida B. Wells believed in a cause for social justice and equality. Ida B. Wells devoted and dedicated her energies to the creation and the foundation of minority African Americans in different areas like business, law, and politics. Wells-Barnett was a crucial participant in the founding and formation of the National Association of the Colored Women (NACW) and the National Association for the Advancement of the Colored People (NAACP) (Logan, 2007). Ida fought passionately against African Americans that were murdered by lynching. Her background and experience made her speak against lynching. She used her life experiences to advance her anti-lynching crusade, especially her position as a woman and African American from a humble beginning. In this essay, the paper discusses Ida B. Wells as one of the minority leaders in the United States and her crusade against injustice and inequality, especially lynching.
Biography of Ida B. Wells
Ida Bell Wells Barnett was born in Mississippi’s Holy Springs in 1862, a few months before the Emancipation Proclamation that granted freedom to slaves, including her parents. Her parents, James and Lizzie Wells, died of yellow fever when she was only sixteen years old and the eldest child (Logan, 2007). Ida Wells began teaching while at sixteen years in a schoolhouse in rural Mississippi but would later move to Memphis and teach in city schools in 1882. However, she was dismissed for being outspoken on her criticism of segregation in schools in 1891. It is her dismissal and other forms of injustices that she experienced that became the defining points of her crude against lynching and other forms of inequalities. For instance, Ida sued Ohio Railroad for forcing African Americans to use segregated and inferior carriages. While she won the case in a local court, the Supreme Court dismissed the decision of the lower court when the company appealed (University of Chicago Library, 2009). Ida B. Wells married Ferdinand Barnett in 1895 adding Barnett to her name thereafter. The couple had four children. In 1896, Ida Wells formed the National Association of Colored women. Ida used her oratory and journalistic skills to advance her crusade that went beyond anti-lynching campaigns to the need to protect civil liberties of all Americans, especially racial minorities and women. Ida died in March 1931 at the age of 68 from kidney problems in Chicago, Illinois, where she was a great crusader in the Civil Rights Movement. Ida left an impeccable social and political heroic legacy. She fought prejudice, segregation and inequality using her writings, speeches and protests. In her words “I felt that one had better die fighting against injustice than to die like a dog or rat in a trap” (Logan, 2007).
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Background
Ida B. Wells’ parents nurtured her to be a great spokesperson because of their active participation in politics as members of the Republican Party. Ida also held different positions in her teaching career and associations that allowed her to know more about lynching. A great number of people lynched between 1882 and 1930 were African Americans. Over 4800 people were lynched during the period with the majority of them being African Americans. These people were lynched through mob justice. For instance, between 1889 and 1893 about 570 African Americans and 260 whites were lynched by mobs. Most of the lynching was planned well ahead of the event through the cooperation and sympathy of local leaders and law enforcement officers. In some cases, lynching adverts appeared in public as men went around days before they occurred and gave leaflets to the people indicating time and venue where it was to occur. Ida B. Wells became a vocal critic of these lynching events, especially those targeted at African Americans. In a speech to a Boston audience in 1893 about mob violence targeted at African Americans, Wells presented an in-depth narrative backed by publications in the press in the South concerning the issue of lynching. Wells’ speech was not only rhetoric of objectivity but also appealed to patriotism as opposed to sympathy (University of Chicago Library, 2009). She stressed that any violation of people’s liberties and rights was a threat to the civil rights of all people, irrespective of their race, social status or religion (Logan, 2007).
Ida B. Wells’ crude against lynching in particular and injustice in general began through personal experiences like her dismissal in her teaching career when she became vocal against segregation in schools in Memphis, Tennessee. Her credibility and position also gave her more strength and drive to progress with her crusade. Ida B. Wells became a leading civil rights proponent through a series of events. The first event was her dismissal from a school where she taught in Memphis in 1891. Few years before her dismissal, she had sued Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad for compelling black Americans to use segregated and inferior carriages. Ida Wells won the case at a local court but the Supreme Court reversed the lower court’s decision and Mrs. Wells lost the fight. While she was daunted by heavy criticism and opposition in a seemingly hopeless endeavor, Wells made the welfare of the colored people, particularly African Americans, and fight against injustice her primary focus.
Ida believed in necessity for huge change, the value of education and direct confrontation to achieve the change or transformation. Consequently, she started writing newspaper articles in 1887 and used these articles as a political strategy to advance her cause, and she did this through all her life. She became the editor of Memphis Free Speech, and used the opportunity to condemn the “lynch law” that was prevalent in the South. Her editorials led to the wrecking of her press by white mobs but Wells was never silenced or threatened by these never-ending attacks (University of Chicago Library, 2009). On two occasions in 1893 and 1894, Ida B. Wells took her anti-lynching and justice crusade to England, Scotland and Wales. Wells published many articles and publications highlighting the issue of lynching. She also produced a booklet, “The Reason Why the Colored American Is Not in the Columbian Exposition-The Afro-American’s Contribution to Columbian Literature, together with other authors like Fredrick Douglas and Ferdinand L. Barnett (who later on became her husband) (Logan, 2007).
Wells faced many hurdles and challenges when her three closest friends were “shot to pieces in a field” by unknown people. The three African American men owned a grocery store that was perceived to be in competition to the white man that owned a similar store across the street. The stores were far away from police protection and Memphis city limits. Due to this factor, those culpable got away with the atrocity. However, the event opened Wells’ eyes that lynching was real and it was not just an act of terror perpetrated against the racial minority so as to gain power but also economic control, and not a means of punishment for crimes committed by these individuals. Ida B. Wells was compelled and saw a huge obligation to initiate something that could protect her people. She organized successful anti-lynching national conventions and campaigns in churches and held rallies to speak against these inequalities.
From 1910, Wells shifted her attention to the mainstream black civic and political life while in Chicago where she had founded civic clubs for African American women. She also established the Negro Fellowship League that was instrumental in the formation of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). She also organized the Alpha Suffrage Club as the first of its kind for African American women. She was at the forefront in the election of Chicago’s first African American alderman and Congressman, Oscar Depriest. She unsuccessfully ran for Illinois’s senatorial seat in 1930, just a year before her death. Her leadership and participation in various organizations and constant position on protection of African Americans’ interests had significant impact on the Civil Rights Movement. Ida B. Wells called on President Woodrow Wilson to end discrimination in federal government agencies (University of Chicago Library, 2009). Her participation led to the formation of the first suffrage club for African American women and her crusade against lynching is well-documented as a positive attempt to end segregation and injustices against minority races, particularly African Americans.
Social Welfare Policy
Ida B. Wells witnessed the sufferings of African Americans in Chicago, Illinois where she eventually moved to from Memphis and participated in the mainstream black civic movement. Ida B. Wells- Barnett spearheaded the creation of a settlement facility for African Americans in Chicago under the umbrella of the Negro Fellowship League. She used the association to highlight the social injustices that black Americans went through in Chicago like lack of housing and other essential facilities (Hopps & Lowe, 2013). Her social welfare policy focused on the achievement of universal suffrage for women in the United States and used her position to advance her opinions on the need to end the unfair treatment of women. Ida B. Wells attempted to vie for Illinois’s senatorial position with the aim of having her social welfare policy passed by the Congress but was unsuccessful.
Ida B. Wells’ participation in the fight against injustice and inequalities were successful and led to many changes like the formation of associations and clubs that advocated for just practices in different parts of the country. Her vocal criticism led to the change in laws about lynching, especially in the South. Ida B. Wells’ work has significant impact on today’s welfare system since her efforts led to the formation of the NAACP which advocated for an end to discrimination against African Americans. Through the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964, minorities like African Americans’ rights are protected and safeguarded. The efforts spearheaded by Ida B. Wells Barnett demonstrated her courage and the crusaders may not have anything that could have been done differently due to the circumstances at the time.
Conclusion
Ida B. Wells was a black minority leader whose courage influenced by adversity allowed her to champion for a cause that she was passionate about because of her personal experience. She succeed in ensuring that women’s rights and the rights of minorities are not undermined, especially suffrage. The essay demonstrates that Ida B. Wells was a visionary African American woman who wanted a better life for all, not just African Americans alone but all people since she believed that any violation of any group’s civil liberties was a threat to rights of all people.
References
Hopps, J.G. & Lowe, T.B. (2013) Ethics and Values, Policy and Advocacy. Social Work
Profession. Retrieved from http://socialwork.oxfordre.com/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199975839.001.0001/acrefore-9780199975839-e-622/version/0
Logan, S.W. (2007) Ida B. Wells, “Lynch Law in all Its Phases” (13 February 1893). Voices of
Democracy, vol.2 (2007); pp.50-65. Retrieved from http://voicesofdemocracy.umd.edu/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/logan-wells.pdf
University of Chicago Library (2009) Guide to the Ida B. Wells Papers 1884-1976;
Retrieved from https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/scrc/findingaids/view.php?eadid=ICU.SPCL.IBWELLS
