Since the appetite grows for what it feeds on, the desire came to own a paper.
—Ida B. Wells
Shortly after the convention, Ida was invited to become editor for the Free Speech and Headlight, a Black-owned newspaper in Memphis with a large circulation. The paper was created through a merger of the Free Speech, by Rev. Taylor Nightingale of Memphis, and the Marion Headlight, by J. L. Fleming from Marion, Arkansas. The two men had different strengths. Nightingale led the largest Black congregation in the state, and Fleming was an established publisher who had fled from Marion after some white bigots threatened him. But the men needed an editor, and Ida B. Wells had the skills and the following they were looking for.
Ida was ecstatic about the opportunity. The only holdup was that she wanted to be in on the business deal, too. Once she scraped up the money to buy a one-third ownership share, she became one of the few women in the country to be both editor and owner of a newspaper.
Naturally, Ida had big plans for the paper. But first things first: she thought the paper’s name was too long. Now simply the Free Speech, Ida B.’s paper wasted no time in publishing articles and opinion pieces that caused controversy. She was direct in her criticism and exposure of the truth around her. Ida’s direct and descriptive style made Mr. Fleming nervous. After all, he’d already been run out of one town. Why risk another? Rev. Nightingale grew uncomfortable with some of her pieces, too: he needed to convince many white and Black businessmen to buy advertising space in order to keep the paper running.
She was so bold and determined to expose every form of inequality that she even had the audacity to criticize the Memphis school system—her only source of full-time income. She wrote about the vast differences in pay, resources, and teaching environments between white and Black schools. As a result, she was out of a job.
She needed to decide what to do with her life. Rather than look for another job, from that day forward she worked for herself. She threw herself into working full time to grow the newspaper. She continued her newspaper work undeterred—especially in the face of a devastating loss.
As she was selling subscriptions for the Free Speech in Natchez, Mississippi, tragedy struck close to home in March 1892. She didn’t learn about it until she returned to Memphis and was met with the distressing news that three of her friends had been lynched. Even then, she never wavered in her commitment to exposing unjust horrors, even the ones that cut deepest for her.
The Birth of an Activist
Nearly everyone around Memphis knew Thomas Moss. A diligent man, he co-owned the People’s Grocery with two other men, in an area called “the Curve” because of the sharp turn the streetcar line made at that point. His partners, Calvin McDowell and Will Stewart, worked in the grocery during the day, while Tommie went there on Sundays and at night. Although the Curve was a predominantly Black neighborhood, a white grocery store owner named William Barrett had enjoyed a monopoly among the area’s shoppers before the Black-owned store opened. Once the People’s Grocery gave him competition, he decided to eliminate the threat to his business. Fuming, he plotted and schemed.
One day, some young boys, both Black and white, got into an argument over a game of marbles near the People’s Grocery. When the argument grew into a fight, the boys’ fathers were incensed. Barrett decided to stir up further trouble, claiming that the People’s Grocery had caused a riot in the neighborhood. He tried to have the store’s owners arrested. That didn’t work, so he continued to devise a plan on how to get rid of the enterprising men. He seethed about these three Black men who owned a prospering business. On March 5, 1892, rumors spread that Barrett was concocting a way to destroy Moss, McDowell, and Stewart. Within a week, the mob would take much more from the men and from the community who loved them.
Tommie and his partners consulted a lawyer, who told them that Memphis police could not protect them because the Curve was outside the city limits. That night, the men tried to defend themselves: they had several armed men on guard in the back of the store to protect their lives and property. Determined to destroy them, Barrett lied to the Shelby County sheriff and told him that criminals were hiding in the People’s Grocery. He knew that would get him the power needed to wreak havoc on the grocers.
The sheriff deputized ordinary citizens to handle the situation. Barrett and several other men stormed the People’s Grocery at eleven o’clock on Saturday night. They were dressed in ordinary clothes and didn’t identify themselves in any way. Thinking they were being robbed, Moss, McDowell, and Stewart defended themselves and shot at the intruders. Three of them were wounded, and the rest ran off. There was no way the grocery owners could have guessed that the men who barged into the store were “deputies.” The next morning the white newspapers, as well as Memphis authorities, were already twisting the truth about what happened and painting the three model citizens as the aggressors. There was a strongly worded implication that there would be harsh consequences if any of the temporary “law officers” died.
The community was abuzz with news of the shooting, and police descended upon the Curve. Everyone in the community was treated as a suspect. Dozens of Black people were arrested. Moss, McDowell, and Stewart turned themselves in because they truly believed that the facts would prove they acted in self-defense. After all, their store had been broken into in the middle of the night by people who never identified themselves as members of law enforcement. What else were they supposed to do but defend their property?
As the day wore on, white men felt emboldened to threaten to lynch the men, who they branded as criminals. Tension filled the air and the Black community was on edge as fear about what could happen increased. In order to provide protection for the now-prisoners, the Tennessee Rifles, which was a Black militia unit—like a National Guard today—stood guard at the jail for two days until there was an announcement on Tuesday that the three men who were shot would in fact live. The Tennessee Rifles left, thinking the prisoners would be safe.
But despite the fact that no one died, the white mob decided that the three Black store owners should still be lynched because they had the audacity to shoot at white men. They needed to get rid of the “uppity” Negroes and teach all Black people a lesson. On the evening of Tuesday, March 9, a mob entered the jail (they were probably let in, as there was no sign of a break-in) and dragged Moss, McDowell, and Stewart out of their cells. They were taken by railcar about a mile north of Memphis city limits and tortured before they were killed.
McDowell’s eyes were gouged out and the fingers of his right hand were shot off. Shortly before all three men were riddled with bullets, Thomas Moss begged for his life for the sake of his wife, daughter, and unborn baby. When he realized that it was hopeless, he said, “Tell my people to go west. There is no justice for them here.” His last words would turn out to be a rallying cry for the Black community.
The bodies of the three dead men were left in an open field. Anticipating outrage from the African American community, a judge of the criminal court advised the sheriff to intimidate people at the Curve. They were instructed to shoot anybody who appeared to be making trouble—which really meant anybody seen.
Inflamed and ready for more killing, the mob went to the Curve looking for anyone to shoot. Everyone in the neighborhood stayed indoors to avoid a likely death. Having nothing else to do, the mob shot into the air in frustration, then headed for the People’s Grocery, where they completely decimated the store of all the food, drinks, and other goods. By the time they finished, there was barely a trace of the neat store that the three Black men had once owned.
Ida knew that all three grocery store owners, men she had called friends, were upstanding citizens. They had committed no crime at all. Ida later wrote in her autobiography: “This is what opened my eyes to what lynching really was. An excuse to get rid of Negroes who were acquiring wealth and property and thus keep the race terrorized and ‘keep the nigger down.’ ” Her grief turned into anger, and she vowed that the Free S
peech would battle the lynchers and the people who “looked the other way.” She wouldn’t rest until the world knew the truth. She knew that she had the ability to make people react based on her words. And she vowed to somehow make the perpetrators pay for the deaths of her friends. And she wanted to make sure the rest of the country knew what had happened in Memphis.
Through the distribution of her newspaper, and having her story be picked up in other publications, she hoped that the truth of domestic terrorism would help put a stop to lynching. No one deserved to die because they had the wherewithal to open and run a successful business. She picked up her pen and wrote an editorial that appeared in her newspaper a few days after the murders:
The city of Memphis has demonstrated that neither character nor standing avails the Negro if he dares to protect himself against the white man or become his rival. There is nothing we can do about the lynching now, as we are out-numbered and without arms. The white mob could help itself to ammunition without pay, but the order was rigidly enforced against the selling of guns to Negroes. There is therefore only one thing left that we can do; save our money and leave a town which will neither protest our lives and property, nor give us a fair trial in the courts, but takes us out and murders us in cold blood when accused by white persons.
The impact of the article, combined with the last dying words of Thomas Moss, resonated with the Black people who were fed up with chronic oppression and terror. Hundreds packed up, abandoned property, and left Memphis behind. There was a mass exodus that predated the Great Migration, the journey that six million Black people would take decades later. Several ministers, including R. N. Countee and Rev. W. A. Brinkley, convinced most of their congregations to leave the city. People left by train, wagon, or even on foot. Some went just across the river to Arkansas, others went to the Oklahoma Territory or as far west as California. Moss’s widow, Betty, eventually left after she gave birth to their son, who she named Thomas Moss Jr. Everyone wanted to live in a place free of fear.
Ida wanted the white community to feel the consequences for the destruction of life and property. She felt that those who did and said nothing in the face of such violence against Black people were just as guilty as those who had committed the murders. Knowing that Black people had almost no rights to vote and only limited ownership of business, she urged the Memphis folks who could not leave the city to leverage their economic power. Ida encouraged them to boycott the streetcars and white-owned businesses. She had the social savvy, emotional fortitude, and skill set to make an impact on the community. With her scathing newspaper articles, she did just that. Although she ultimately faced death threats, the loss of her paper, and exile from the South, Ida knew her parents would be proud of how she used her voice to speak up against injustice and challenge a system of oppression.
IV. How Ida Became Ida
My good name was all I had in the world, that I was bound to protect it from attack by those who felt they could do so with impunity.
—Ida B. Wells
Learning Strength and Defiance in Holly Springs
Ida Bell Wells was born on July 16, 1862, the first of Elizabeth and James Wells’s eventual eight children. It was a pivotal time in our country’s history as the Civil War raged across the young nation, including in her birthplace of Holly Springs, Mississippi. Since her parents were enslaved, by law Ida inherited the same status—she was considered a piece of property of “the master,” Spires Boling.
After Ida, Elizabeth and James “Jim” Wells had more children—Eugenia, James, George, Annie, Lily, and Stanley. Another brother, Eddie, died shortly after birth. As the oldest, Ida often had to watch over her brothers and sisters. Each Saturday night, she bathed all of them and prepared their clothes and shoes for Sunday church. Ida especially helped care for her sister Eugenia, who suffered from a childhood illness that eventually left her paralyzed. Her father worked as a handyman and carpenter for Mr. Boling, while her mother was the Bolings’ cook. Ida most likely would have also been an enslaved cook if the South had won the war.
Sketches of Ida’s hometown, Holly Springs, Missisisipi, circa 1863.
In April 1865, when the war ended and freedom finally came, James and Elizabeth Wells were overcome with joy. Not quite three years old, Ida had little concept of the magnitude of what her parents were celebrating. Like many formerly enslaved people, they celebrated their new freedom by marrying again, this time in a legal wedding ceremony. They relished the idea that their children would never be taken away from them and sold, as Elizabeth had experienced. They also looked forward to sending their children to school, which was an opportunity that had been illegal for enslaved people.
Shortly after the war ended, various agencies, including the Freedmen’s Bureau, were set up by the United States government in order to rebuild the South and help formerly enslaved people transition to freedom. In a ravaged land, people like Ida’s parents were enthusiastic about their newfound rights to vote, own property, start businesses, and attend school. One school was built right in Holly Springs. Shaw University (now Rust College) educated everyone who wanted to learn, from young children to the elderly. Since it had previously been illegal to learn how to read, Ida’s parents and most other Black adults were not literate. So when Ida went to school, her mother went with her until she learned to read the Bible.
James continued to work in the carpentry shop of his former enslaver as a paid employee. As free people, James and Elizabeth were able to come and go as they pleased, traveling on trains for picnics and holidays, planning and making their own decisions about their future. But some former slave owners were infuriated that people whom they considered to be beneath them could now compete with them. They resented the fact that they now had to pay people for labor instead of treating them like property.
In order to do what they could to assert their idea of a superior position in society, these disenchanted people formed hate groups. Shortly after the war, organizations like the Ku Klux Klan waged terror toward Black people. They roamed through the night, burning down property, killing, and stealing. It was a dangerous time for Black people, and most incidents of harm inflicted on them went unpunished. Riots swept across the region, and hit close to home in Memphis when Ida was four years old. Dozens of people were injured, murdered, or had property destroyed during a three-day rampage.
Meanwhile, in Holly Springs Ida enjoyed a happy childhood that consisted of school, reading, and chores. She was an avid reader who read through the Bible many times, in addition to reading novels that were popular at the time. She also spent time with her grandmother Peggy, her father’s mother, at her farm in Tippah County, Mississippi.
Still, Ida knew what she had been born into. Instead of reading to her children, Elizabeth told them true stories of her harrowing life under slavery. Elizabeth Wells, née Warrenton, was born in Virginia and had been beaten by her white enslavers. She described how she and two of her sisters were taken from their family in Virginia by slave traders and sold to a white family in Mississippi. She had experienced tremendous violence and cruelty. Elizabeth had lived in constant fear, unsure of what each day would bring. When would she get the next beating? Would she be sold again? Eventually, Elizabeth was sold to a builder named Mr. Boling, who lived in Holly Springs, Mississippi. There she worked in his house as a cook, where she met Ida’s father, James Wells. Except for one sister, she never saw her parents or siblings again. All she had as family were her sister, husband, and children.
James Wells was the son of a white plantation owner, Mr. Wells, and an enslaved woman, Peggy. The plantation was in Tippah County, Mississippi, not far from Holly Springs. Since Mr. Wells’s wife, Miss Polly, never had children, James had a special place in the Wells household. Mr. Wells wanted James to have carpentry skills to use on the plantation. So, unlike most enslaved people—who worked in the fields—James was given a chance to learn a trade. When James was eighteen, Mr. Wells arranged for him to apprentice with Mr. Boling in Holly Spr
ings.
In 1870, the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution granted African American men the right to vote. James immediately joined other formerly enslaved men and voted. For Ida’s father, making his own decisions about the future meant not only voting but also becoming involved in politics. He was especially interested in knowing about the activities of the state’s lawmakers. Unfortunately, a dispute with Mr. Boling, who wanted James to vote for the slavery-supporting Democrat candidate rather than for an abolitionist Republican, resulted in James being locked out of his carpentry shop.
Far more skilled than many white people in the area, James bought a set of tools, rented a house, and started a new life for his family. His willingness to suffer consequences for doing what was right likely made an impression on young Ida. As a child, Ida learned about the slow progress Black people were making toward equal rights. Proud that Ida could read, her father encouraged her to read the newspaper to him and his friends. Little did she know that this practice in speaking would become part of her life’s work. Ida also listened to the group discuss the political events of the day. Some of the news gave them hope: In some areas, Black voters outnumbered white voters. Some Black men, including friends of Ida’s father, were elected to public office.
Whenever Jim went to his political meetings at night, Elizabeth paced the floor waiting for him to return home safely. There was always worry about what the Ku Klux Klan could do. Even though Ida had only a vague idea of who they were, she knew that members of this secret society terrorized Black people and the whites who supported them. Ida’s mother had good reason to be worried at night when her husband was gone. When the sun set, the KKK rode throughout the countryside. They set houses on fire. They dragged people from their homes. They whipped and murdered people with impunity. No one was safe. Despite the very real threat of violence, her father continued with his political activity. Growing up in a time when close to ninety percent of formerly enslaved people were illiterate, Ida also understood the power that came from the ability to read, write, and speak clearly. And through their example, Ida’s parents taught her to be courageous, to believe that she had a voice, and that she should be politically and socially engaged, even if it was dangerous.
Ida B. the Queen Page 5
