My great-grandparents Ida and Ferdinand were determined to work on behalf of those who defended themselves in the face of terror. Through their Negro Fellowship League, they helped individuals such as Steve Green, a young man from Arkansas who had previously worked on a plantation. He and the owner got into a fight that ended when Green accidentally killed the man in self-defense. Knowing that he would be lynched by a mob if he remained in Arkansas, he escaped to Chicago.
Unfortunately, he was captured by local police who agreed with Arkansas authorities to return him to the state. Ida heard about this situation and knew Green would get no fair trial in Arkansas. She, along with attorneys including Ferdinand, negotiated with Illinois authorities to make a deal to prosecute him in Illinois if he did not go across the state line. While on the train heading South to a certain death, Green was taken into custody by a sheriff at the southern tip of Illinois right before crossing into Missouri.
Once back in Chicago, Green was hidden and ultimately escaped to Canada with the assistance of Ida. He returned a few years later, found a night job, and slept during the day at the League until he was able to get on his feet.
Women Belong in the House and Senate and Every Hall of Power
Ida knew that not only did laws need to change, but women needed to get involved in politics. Her husband was an assistant state’s attorney. They were both politically and socially engaged in changing things from the inside out. She, and so many who fought for the rights of Black people and all women, paved the way for a succession of trailblazers. In 1917, Jeannette Rankin of Montana became the first woman in either chamber of Congress. In 1968, Shirley Chisholm became the first Black woman to serve in Congress, and she even ran for president in 1972. That same year, Barbara Jordan was the first Black woman to be elected to Congress from the South. The legacy of Ida B. Wells—when it comes to challenging laws, providing support for the most vulnerable citizens, and fighting for political engagement—has lived on for ninety years since her death in 1931.
In 1993, the Illinois representative Carol Moseley Braun became the first Black female senator in the country’s history.
Nancy Pelosi.
As of this writing, almost a quarter of the 116th House of Representatives (101 out of 435) and Senate (26 out of 100) are women. In addition, Nancy Pelosi is the first woman to serve as Speaker of the House. Hundreds of women are mayors of cities and nine women serve as governors. This follows Hillary Clinton, who served as a U.S. senator from New York, and who broke barriers in 2016 by becoming the first woman to be the nominee for a major party in a presidential race.
In 2017, Kamala Harris was the first Black woman to be elected senator for the state of California. She was the second Black woman to run for a major party’s presidential nomination, and in August 2020, the year of the centennial of the Nineteenth Amendment, Kamala Harris made history as the first woman of color to be nominated for vice president. The ticket of Joe Biden/Kamala Harris was made possible by the thousands of women who fought for decades for racial and gender equality.
The Brooklyn-born Shirley Chisholm was the first African American woman ever elected to the United States House of Representatives. In 1972, she became the first African American candidate for a major party’s presidential nomination, and was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Barack Obama in 2015.
Carol Moseley Braun.
Hillary Clinton.
Barbara Jordan.
Passing the Torch
Ida B. Wells lived life on her own terms, fighting against an oppressive society that tried its best to keep Black people in a second-class-citizen status. She did not have the right to vote for almost her entire life. She had limited resources compared to the power structure she was fighting. She was a Black woman operating in a white male-dominated society. So, she used the only tool she had—her voice. She spoke up against lynching. She spoke up against segregation. She spoke up against a government that was willing to kill its own soldiers. She organized and marched for the right of women to vote and to have roles in the leadership of the country.
Wherever Ida saw a need to fight for equality, she was on it. In doing this, she endured criticism, financial hardship, terrorism, threats, and enormous loss. Yet she kept on speaking out in order to help the country be all it promised to be. She had a remarkable level of internal fortitude, the courage to speak the truth, and the boldness to challenge systems and social norms that were unjust and limiting. A woman who was born into slavery went on to take on an entire country—and more. She spoke across the United Kingdom in addition to the United States. She spoke with presidents, governors, mayors, other civil rights activists, women organizers, as well as those who had no home or places to eat. She was uncompromising in her belief of what was right and wrong and believed in herself enough to speak up for what was right.
United States Senator and 2020 vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris.
Despite all her achievements, my great-grandmother did have her low moments. She wrote about how in 1921 while recovering from a health challenge she thought, “All at once the realization came to me that I had nothing to show for all those years of toil and labor.” She was human and experienced turmoil and self-doubt at times. But she summed up her overall attitude when she wrote “I could no longer hold my peace, and I feel, yes, I am sure, that if it had to be done over again (provided no one else was the loser save myself) I would do and say the very same again.”
We know today that she left an indelible legacy and belief that all people should be treated equally. And the next generation of leaders has her example to follow. The next generation of young women can look at Ida B. Wells and realize that they, too, are capable of tremendous actions. If she could believe in herself enough to not be limited by the circumstances of her birth, so can they. If she could fight for liberty and justice, so can they. Because they, too, are important parts of this world. And their voices matter.
VII. Monumental
Somebody must show that the Afro-American race is more sinned against than sinning, and it seems to have fallen upon me to do so.
—Ida B. Wells
Ida’s legacy has been preserved and promoted by our family for decades. The multigenerational family efforts to give Ida her due started with my grandmother Alfreda Barnett Duster, who was the youngest of Ida’s four children. She edited her mother’s autobiography and got it published in 1970. She also donated her papers to her alma mater, the University of Chicago, and her mother’s desk to the DuSable Museum of African American History in Chicago.
My father and his siblings started the Ida B. Wells Memorial Foundation in 1988 in order to protect, preserve, and promote their grandmother’s legacy. Through the years, they’ve consulted with authors, filmmakers, museum curators, playwrights, and others who created work about our ancestor.
I became involved in the Foundation in the mid-2000s. We implemented college scholarships at Ida’s alma mater, Rust College, to help the next generation of leaders get their educations.
Ida died at the height of the Depression. For the first several decades after she died, the only tribute to her in Chicago was the Ida B. Wells Homes—the public housing community that opened in 1941. The expansive buildings were located close to the home she lived in for more than ten years.
Ida B. Wells Way, Chicago, Illinois.
Rust College.
Alfreda Duster.
The Ida B. Wells Homes, 1942, Chicago, Illinois, and dedication poster.
A renewed interest in Ida led to the 1974 national landmark status of her house on 3624 S Dr. Martin Luther King Drive. Two decades later, in 1995, the house was given Chicago landmark status.
Ida B. Wells-Barnett House on S Dr. Martin Luther King Drive, Chicago, Illinois.
Over twenty-five years will have passed by the time a monument to Ida B. Wells is installed—the first to a Black woman in Chicago. That was after a major downtown street was renamed in 2019 to Ida B. Wells Drive, an
honorary street near her house was named Ida B. Wells Way, and a historical marker was placed on that same corner.
These memorials and monuments aren’t confined to Chicago. In 1987, a marker was installed on Beale Street in Memphis near the location where her printing press once existed. The more people learn about my great-grandmother, the more in awe they are. And people want to honor her in ways my family never imagined.
Ida B. Wells Drive, Chicago, Illinois.
Fitness groups like GirlTrek have created historical walks in Ida’s honor. There are social clubs and schools named after her. There was a twenty-five-cent U.S. Heritage stamp created with her image in 1990. A post office in her hometown of Holly Springs was named after her. More recently, a historical marker was placed in the town square.
There are numerous other awards given in Ida’s name, as well as tributes such as the 2019 induction into the Mississippi Writers Trail. A room in the Russell Senate Building and a street in Brooklyn were conamed after Ida. And a Baltimore restaurant, Ida B’s Table, opened in 2017 and pays homage to her.
Even Google created a doodle for her in 2015, in honor of her 153rd birthday.
Today, more people are carrying on Ida’s work through writing, too. The Ida B. Wells Society for Investigative Reporting was cofounded in 2016 by journalists Nikole Hannah-Jones of the New York Times Magazine, Topher Sanders of ProPublica, Ron Nixon of the Associated Press, and Corey Johnson of the Tampa Bay Times. The organization provides training and mentorship for journalists of color to compete for positions as investigative journalists who will walk in the footsteps of Ida B. Wells.
Ida B. Wells historical marker, Chicago, Illinois, installed on July 20, 2019, on the corner where the sign for the Ida B. Wells Homes once stood.
The Ida B. Wells-Barnett Museum, created in the 1990s, is located at 200 North Randolph Street in Holly Springs, and so fittingly in the house that was once owned by Spires Boling—the man who enslaved Ida’s parents, James and Elizabeth Wells.
My great-grandmother’s life was not easy. She endured death threats. She lost friends to lynching. She lost parents through disease. She lost her teaching job when she spoke up against inequality. She lost her printing press when she spoke up against injustice. But through it all, she stayed focused on truth-telling. She believed that her voice was important and her story needed to be heard.
Four generations of my family have worked for more than eight decades to help people remember and honor our foremother, the matriarch of our family—Ida B. Wells-Barnett. We have written about her. Spoken about her. Created books and plays about her. We have worked with politicians and artists. Filmmakers and writers. Community organizations and students. Schools and municipalities. All to make sure that Ida’s story is known.
And today, her bravery, tenacity, and willingness to sacrifice it all is a source of inspiration for current and future generations. She is a giant in our country’s history. Little girls today can grow up knowing that they have the right to vote. They have the ability to run for political office. They can reach as high and as far as their talents will take them.
Ida B. Wells did all she could with what she had to work with. She was a teacher, journalist, civil rights activist, suffragist, social worker, wife, and mother. She did not let anyone limit her thinking or her dreams. She believed in herself. She believed in the truth. And she left the world better than she found it.
Ida B. Wells-Barnett Museum, Holly Springs, Mississippi.
Today, boys and girls across the globe can learn about her strength and focus and believe that they, too, can make a difference in this world. By learning about how someone could be born into slavery, yet go on to have a seismic effect on so many people, they, too, can dare to dream big.
Ida B. Wells’s desk.
Three generations of Ida B. Wells-Barnett descendants—four grandchildren, nine great-grandchildren, and four great-great-grandchildren—and others with Paula J. Giddings (seated, center) at her book launch.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Ida B. the Queen is the result of the incredible vision of Julia Cheiffetz, who saw my great-grandmother Ida B. Wells-Barnett as more than a historic figure. She saw her as someone who is connected to the present and serves as an inspiration for current and future generations.
Between the guidance of Cheiffetz, the skill set and unique perspective of Hannah Giorgis, the gorgeous artwork of Monica Ahanonu, and the photo editing of Nicholas Ciani, the story of Ida’s life developed a new vibrancy and relevance that contemporizes her. My agent, Daniel Greenberg, has been an incredible advocate and cheerleader for me during the creation of this book. My hope is that a new generation will be inspired by the extraordinary story of a woman who refused to allow societal restrictions to limit or define her.
I am forever grateful to my brothers, David and Daniel, who have always been supportive of the work involved in the telling of our ancestor’s story. Shout-out to my Girlfriends Brunch Club—a group of incredibly smart, witty, down-to-earth friends with whom I can relax, unwind, share laughs, and have fun with. Thank all of you for your friendship and support. To all of my college, high school, and other lifelong friends, you have been my rocks during the ups and downs in this thing called life. To my writing partners Trina Sotira and Bernard C. Turner, thank you for your wisdom and talent. To my aunts, uncles, and cousins who have been with me every step of the way during the decades-long journey of preserving Ida’s story, I appreciate all of your encouragement.
This book is dedicated to my mother, Maxine, who always insisted that I embrace my story and my voice; and my father, Donald, who always encouraged me to take chances in life and believe in myself—you have my forever love and gratitude. Thank you to my grandmother Alfreda Barnett Duster, who always made sure that I knew my history while also insisting that I had my own sense of individual identity. And my great-grandmother Ida B. Wells-Barnett, for being a trailblazer and incredible role model of a Black woman who refused to be quiet, who held her head high, and who challenged systems in order to make this world a better place for everyone.
And to the current and next generations of fierce women! You go! I look forward to seeing how you transform our world.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Michelle Duster is a writer, speaker, professor, and champion of racial and gender equity. She has written, edited, or contributed to sixteen books, two that feature the writing of her great-grandmother Ida B. Wells. She has written articles for Time, Essence, Refinery29, HuffPost, Teen Vogue, and the North Star. Her advocacy has led to street names, monuments, historical markers, and other public history projects that highlight women and African Americans, including Wells.
SimonandSchuster.com
www.SimonandSchuster.com/Authors/Michelle-Duster
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ALSO BY MICHELLE DUSTER
Ida In Her Own Words
Ida From Abroad
Michelle Obama’s Impact on African American Women and Girls
Shifts: An Anthology of Women’s Growth Through Change
Tate and His Historic Dream
Exploring Our History
Impact: Personal Portraits of Activism
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SOURCES
I. Who Was Ida B. Wells?
the Federal Bureau of Investigation updated its file: Federal Surveillance of Afro-Americans (1917–1925), Associate Editors Randolph Boehm and R. Dale Grinder, Guide Compiled by Martin Schipper, Reel 10, #116 (file #123754), https://www.fold3.com/image/1433054.
denied
the passport: Becky Little, “See How Women Traveled in 1920,” National Geographic, August 24, 2018, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/destinations/north-america/united-states/women-equality-day-history-politics-passport.
heinous killing of three Black men: Linda A. Moore, “125th Anniversary of People’s Grocery Lynching Remembered,” Commercial Appeal, March 9, 2017, https://www.commercialappeal.com/story/news/local/2017/03/09/125th-anniversary-peoples-grocery-lynching-remembered/98607052/.
“crimes” as minor as “being saucy to white people”: Ida B. Wells, A Red Record: Tabulated Statistics and Alleged Causes of Lynchings in the United States, 1892-1893-1894 (Chicago: self published, 1895).
Ida was one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP): “Nation’s Premier Civil Rights Organization,” NAACP, https://www.naacp.org/nations-premier-civil-rights-organization.
found the National Association of Colored Women: “Our History,” NACWC, http://nacwc.org/history.
Pulitzer Prize Special Citation: “Ida B. Wells,” The Pulitzer Prizes, https://www.pulitzer.org/winners/ida-b-wells.
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