III. A Voice for the People
Negro Fellowship League: Mariame Kaba, “Ida B. Wells-Barnett & the Negro Fellowship League,” Prison Culture blog, April 18, 2012, https://www.usprisonculture.com/blog/2012/04/18/why-dont-we-know-more-about-the-negro-fellowship-league.
24th Infantry: Paula J. Giddings, Ida: A Sword Among Lions: Ida B. Wells and the Campaign Against Lynching (New York: Amistad Press, 2009), 566–72; Chuck Bauerlein, “When Black Soldiers Fought Back Against Police Brutality 100 Years Ago in Texas,” Philadelphia Inquirer, August 22, 2017, https://www.inquirer.com/philly/opinion/commentary/police-brutality-race-riot-black-soldiers-hanged-20170822.html.
included Americans of German heritage: Robert Seigel and Art Silverman, “During World I, U.S. Government Propaganda Erased German Culture,” April 7, 2017, in All Things Considered, https://www.npr.org/2017/04/07/523044253/during-world-war-i-u-s-government-propaganda-erased-german-culture.
W. E. B. Du Bois: “NAACP History: W. E. B. Du Bois,” NAACP, https://www.naacp.org/naacp-history-w-e-b-dubois.
Tuskegee Airmen: Zach Giroux, “Rising Above: Tuskegee Airmen, Trailblazers of US Military’s First African-American Pilots,” Moultrie News, February 25, 2020.
A. Philip Randolph: “A. Philip Randolph,” AFL-CIO, https://aflcio.org/about/history/labor-history-people/asa-philip-randolph.
Ella Baker: “Who Was Ella Baker?,” Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, https://ellabakercenter.org/about/who-was-ella-baker.
Adam Clayton Powell Jr.: “Powell, Adam Clayon, Jr.,” Stanford University, The Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute, https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/powell-adam-clayton-jr.
Malcolm X: Malcolm X, Alex Haley, and Attallah Shabazz, The Autobiography of Malcolm X (New York: Ballantine Books, 1992).
significantly excluded from: Linda O. McMurry, To Keep the Waters Troubled: The Life of Ida B. Wells (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998), 304–5.
case was overturned: “Chesapeake, Ohio & Southwestern Railroad Company v Wells” Tennessee Reports: 85 Cases Argued and Determined in the Supreme Court of Tennessee for the Western Division, Jackson, April Term, 1887, p. 615, Ida B. Papers, [Box 8, Folder 11], Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/ead/pdf/ibwells-0008-011-02.pdf.
extremely rare for a Black woman: Linda O. McMurry, To Keep the Waters Troubled: The Life of Ida B. Wells (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998), 87–90.
IV. HOW IDA BECAME IDA
Ida Bell Wells: Alfreda M. Duster, ed., Crusade for Justice: The Autobiography of Ida B. Wells, 2nd ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2020).
Dozens of people: Mackenzie Lanum, “Memphis Riot, 1866,” BlackPast, November 20, 2011, https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/memphis-riot-1866.
Formerly enslaved women: Linda O. McMurry, To Keep the Waters Troubled: The Life of Ida B. Wells (New York: Oxford University Press, 1998), 25.
Jim Crow law in 1881: “Jim Crow Laws: Tennessee, 1866–1955,” BlackPast, January 03, 2011, https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/jim-crow-laws-tennessee-1866-1955/.
V. 400 YEARS OF PROGRESS
Quakers: History.com Editors, “First American abolition society founded in Philadelphia”, https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/first-american-abolition-society-founded-in-philadelphia, A&E Television Networks Accessed October 28, 2020.
African Methodist Episcopal Church: The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, “African Methodist Episcopal Church”, March 5, 2020, https://www.britannica.com/topic/African-Methodist-Episcopal-Church, Accessed October 28, 2020.
Frederick Douglass escaped: Andrew Glass, “Frederick Douglass escapes from slavery, Sept. 3, 1838,” September 3, 2015, https://www.politico.com/story/2015/09/frederick-douglass-escapes-from-slavery-on-sept-3-1838-213281.
Jim Crow laws: “Jim Crow Laws: Tennessee, 1866-1955,” https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/jim-crow-laws-tennessee-1866-1955.
Memphis to Woodstock: “Ida Wells Case,” Digital Public Library of America, http://dp.la/item/8fdc4cecc932be68b7af2180ed2468d8; “The Chesapeake, Ohio and Southwestern Railroad Company vs. Ida B. Wells”, Tennessee Virtual Archive, https://teva.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p15138coll18/id/176/.
Woodstock to Memphis: Ibid.
Ida won: “The Memphis (Tenn.) Appeal Avalanche,” December 25, 1884, https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/ead/pdf/ibwells-0008-011-01.pdf.
lawsuit overturned: “Chesapeake, Ohio & Southwestern Railroad Company v Wells” Tennessee Reports: 85 Cases Argued and Determined in the Supreme Court of Tennessee for the Western Division, Jackson, April Term, 1887, p. 615, Ida B. Papers, [Box 8, Folder 11], Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library, https://www.lib.uchicago.edu/ead/pdf/ibwells-0008-011-02.pdf.
Frederick Douglass died: Steve Hendrix, “Frederick Douglass died Feb. 20, 1895, just hours after his public makeup with Susan B. Anthony” Washington Post, February 18, 2019, https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/02/18/frederick-douglass-died-feb-just-hours-after-his-public-make-up-with-susan-b-anthony/.
Postmaster Frazier B. Baker: “1898 Postmaster Lynching”, https://postalmuseum.si.edu/exhibition/behind-the-badge-case-histories-assaults-and-murders/1898-postmaster-lynching.
started Negro Fellowship League: “Ida B. Wells and Sixth-Grace Chicago”, https://history.pcusa.org/blog/2016/06/ida-b-wells-and-sixth-grace-chicago.
formation of NAACP: “1908 Springfield race riot led to the creation of the NAACP,” State Journal-Register, August 14, 2018, https://www.sj-r.com/news/20180814/1908-springfield-race-riot-led-to-creation-of-naacp.
Lynching of Will “Frog” James: Alfreda M. Duster, ed., Crusade for Justice: The Autobiography of Ida B. Wells, 2nd ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2020), 263–73; Paula J. Giddings, Ida: A Sword Among Lions: Ida B. Wells and the Campaign Against Lynching (New York: Amistad Press, 2008), 482–87.
East St. Louis: Tabitha Wang, “East St. Louis Race Riot, 1917,” Blackpast, June 1, 2008, https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/east-st-louis-race-riot-1917.
Houston race riot: James Jeffrey, “Remembering the Black Soldiers Executed after Houston’s 1917 Race Riot,” PRI, February 1, 2018, https://www.pri.org/stories/2018-02-01/remembering-black-soldiers-executed-after-houstons-1917-race-riot.
Red Summer: Olivia B. Waxman, “ ‘It Just Goes On and On’: How the Race Riots of 1919’s ‘Red Summer’ Helped Shape a Century of American History,” Time, July 29, 2019, https://time.com/5636454/what-is-red-summer.
Ida B. Wells Homes: “March Center Court: Ida B. Wells” Illinois Tech, March 5, 2018, https://www.iit.edu/news/march-center-court-star-ida-b-wells.
Emmett Till: History.com Editors, “Emmett Till is Murdered”, https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-death-of-emmett-till, A&E Television Networks Accessed October 28, 2020.
Rosa Parks’s: Lewis, Femi. “Montgomery Bus Boycott Timeline.” ThoughtCo, Aug. 26, 2020, thoughtco.com/montgomery-bus-boycott-timeline-45456.
Voting Rights Act: https://www.britannica.com/event/Voting-Rights-Act.
Ida B. Wells-Barnett House: “Illinois: Ida B. Wells-Barnett House Chicago,” National Park Service, https://www.nps.gov/places/illinois-ida-b-wellsbarnett-house-chicago.htm.
Tennessee Press Hall of Fame: “Hall of Fame,” Tennessee Press Association, https://tnpress.com/hall-of-fame.
marker on Beale Street: “Ida B. Wells,” Historical Marker Database, https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=9306; “Historical Markers of Shelby County,” Shelby County Register of Deeds, https://register.shelby.tn.us/shelby_landmarks/index.php.
National Women’s Hall of Fame: “Ida B. Wells-Barnett,” National Women’s Hall of Fame, https://www.womenofthehall.org/inductee/ida-b-wellsbarnett.
postage stamp: “Ida B. Wells,” National Postal Museum, https://postalmuseum.si.edu/exhibition/the-black-experience-prominent-journalists/ida-b-wells.
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br /> Historical marker installed for People’s Grocery: “People’s Grocery Historical Marker,” Lynching Sites Project Memphis, https://lynchingsitesmem.org/archives/peoples-grocery-historical-marker; Lee Eric Smith, “Historic Marker Unveiled at Gravesite of ‘People’s Grocery Lynchings,’ ” New Tri-State Defender, March 29, 2019, https://tri-statedefender.com/historic-marker-unveiled-at-gravesite-of-peoples-grocery-lynchings/03/29.
Ida B. Wells-Barnett House designated: “Ida B. Wells-Barnett House,” City of Chicago, https://webapps1.chicago.gov/landmarksweb/web/landmarkdetails.htm?lanId=1453.
Ida B. Wells-Barnett Museum: Ida B. Wells-Barnett Museum website http://idabwellsmuseum.org.
Ida B. Wells Homes in Chicago started being demolished: Jake Bittle, Srishti Kapur, and Jasmine Mithani, “Redeveloping the State Street Corridor,” South Side Weekly, January 31, 2017, https://southsideweekly.com/chicago-unfulfilled-promise-rebuild-public-housing.
United States Senate issued a resolution: “Senate Apologizes for Inaction on Lynchings,” NBC News, June 13, 2005, https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna8206697#.X0Kv56eSnIU.
S Res 39: “S.Res. 39 (109th): Lynching Victims Senate Apology Resolution,” GovTrack, https://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/109/sres39/text.
Russell Building—invitation to Ida B. Wells’s descendants from United States Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship Chair Mary L. Landrieu; April 2010.
Chicago Literary Hall of Fame: “Ida B. Wells,” Chicago Literary Hall of Fame, https://chicagoliteraryhof.org/inductees/profile/ida-b.-wells.
Ida B. Wells Society: “Our Creation Story,” The Ida B. Wells Society, https://idabwellssociety.org/about/our-creation-story.
National Museum of African American History and Culture: “About the Museum,” National Museum of African American History and Culture, https://nmaahc.si.edu/about/museum.
New York Times obituary: Caitlin Dickerson, “Ida B. Wells, Who Took on Racism in the Deep South with Powerful Reporting on Lynchings,” New York Times, 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/obituaries/overlooked-ida-b-wells.html.
New York Times The Daily podcast: Michael Barbaro, “Listen to ‘The Daily’: Women We Overlooked,” New York Times, March 16, 2018, https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/16/podcasts/the-daily/ida-b-wells-overlooked-obituaries.html.
Legacy Museum: The Legacy Museum: From Enslavement to Mass Incarceration website, https://museumandmemorial.eji.org/museum.
Congress Parkway in Chicago renamed Ida B. Wells Drive: Gregory Pratt and John Byrne, “Ida B. Wells Gets Her Street—City Council Approves Renaming Congress in Her Honor,” Chicago Tribune, July 25, 2018, https://www.chicagotribune.com/politics/ct-met-rahm-emanual-ida-b-wells-street-20180725-story.html.
Ida B. Wells Drive street sign unveiling ceremony: Mary Mitchell, “Ida B. Wells Finally Gets a Top Honor with Street Name,” Chicago Sun Times, February 11, 2019, https://chicago.suntimes.com/2019/2/11/18328682/ida-b-wells-finally-gets-a-top-honor-with-street-name.
Senate antilynching bill: Justice for Victims of Lynching Act of 2019, S. 488, 116th Cong., (2019), https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/488.
House antilynching bill: Emmett Till Antilynching Act, H.R. 35, 116th Cong., (2020), https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/35/text/ih.
Rand Paul: David Smith, “Rand Paul Stalls Bill That Would Make Lynching a Federal Hate Crime,” Guardian, June 11, 2020, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jun/11/rand-paul-lynching-hate-crime-bill-limbo.
Ida B. Wells Way and historical marker: Megann Horstead, “Plaque and Honorary Street Sign Unveiled in Memory of Ida B. Wells,” Chicago Defender, July 25, 2019, https://chicagodefender.com/plaque-and-honorary-street-sign-unveiled-in-memory-of-ida-b-wells.
Mississippi Writers Trail: Reggi Marion, “Literary Lawn Party: Mississippi Book Festival Held in Jackson,” WLBT, August 17, 2019, https://www.wlbt.com/2019/08/17/literary-lawn-party-mississippi-book-festival-held-jackson.
Pulitzer Prize Special Citation: “Ida B. Wells,” The Pulitzer Prizes, /ida-b-wells. https://www.pulitzer.org.
Edward Carmack: “Nashville Protesters Set Fires, Topple Controversial Statue,” Associated Press, May 30, 2020, https://apnews.com/2e7f5b2a93025df5b4343fc14184842c.
Ida B. Wells Plaza: Brinley Hineman and Natalie Allison, “Protesters Plan to Camp Out in Front of Capitol, Claiming Area as Autonomous Zone,” Tennessean, June 12, 2020, https://www.tennessean.com/story/news/politics/2020/06/12/nashville-capitol-hill-autonomous-zone-not-tolerated-gov-bill-lee/3176168001/.
VI. A Powerful Legacy
They had destroyed my paper: Alfreda M. Duster, ed., Crusade for Justice: The Autobiography of Ida B. Wells, 2nd ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2020).
the ideal woman was seen: Linda O. McMurry, To Keep the Waters Troubled: A Life of Ida B. Wells (New York: Oxford University Press, 2000).
Recy Taylor: “Recy Taylor, Rosa Parks, and the Struggle for Racial Justice,” National Museum of African American History and Culture blog, https://nmaahc.si.edu/blog-post/recy-taylor-rosa-parks-and-struggle-racial-justice; The Rape of Recy Taylor website, https://www.therapeofrecytaylor.com/the-film.
Daniel Holtzclaw: Madeline Holcombe and Eliott C. McLaughlin, “Oklahoma Ex-officer Convicted of Raping Multiple Women is Denied an Appeal,” CNN, August 2, 2019; https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/02/us/holtzclaw-appeal-denied/index.html.
Sarah Baartman: “Saartjie (Sarah) Baartman’s Story,” Saartjie Baartman Centre for Women and Children, http://www.saartjiebaartmancentre.org.za/about-us/saartjie-baartmans-story.
the Black Lives Matter movement: Black Lives Matter website, https://blacklivesmatter.com/about; Jamiles Lartey, “Obama on Black Lives Matter: They Are ‘Much Better Organizers Than I Was,’ ” Guardian, February 18, 2016, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/feb/18/black-lives-matter-meet-president-obama-white-house-justice-system.
Reconstruction: Adam Serwer, “Civility Is Overrated,” Atlantic, December 2019, https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/12/adam-serwer-civility/600784.
Sister Souljah: David Mills, “Sister Souljah’s Call to Arms,” Washington Post, May 13, 1992, https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1992/05/13/sister-souljahs-call-to-arms/643d5634-e622-43ad-ba7d-811f8f5bfe5d.
Bree Newsome: Lottie Joiner, “Bree Newsome Reflects on Taking Down South Carolina’s Confederate Flag 2 Years Ago,” Vox, June 27, 2017, https://www.vox.com/identities/2017/6/27/15880052/bree-newsome-south-carolinas-confederate-flag.
Dylann Roof: Bim Adewunmi, “Dylann Roof Is an American Problem,” BuzzFeed News, January 14, 2017, https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/bimadewunmi/dylann-roof-is-an-american-problem.
Colin Kaepernick: John Branch, “The Awakening of Colin Kaepernick,” New York Times, September 7, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/07/sports/colin-kaepernick-nfl-protests.html.
End Racism: “NFL to Feature Social Justice Messages in End Zones This Season,” Associated Press, September 1, 2020, https://www.si.com/nfl/2020/09/01/nfl-end-zone-social-justice-slogans-end-racism.
Muhammad Ali: Krishnadev Calamur, “Muhammad Ali and Vietnam,” Atlantic, June 4, 2016, https://www.theatlantic.com/news/archive/2016/06/muhammad-ali-vietnam/485717.
gold medalist Tommie Smith and the bronze medalist John Carlos: Gary Younge, “The Man Who Raised a Black Power Salute at the 1968 Olympic Games,” Guardian, March 30, 2012, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/mar/30/black-power-salute-1968-olympics.
Antilynching law: Amanda Shendruk, “The US has failed to pass anti-lynching laws 240 times. This is all of them,” Quartz, July 10, 2018, https://qz.com/1322702/the-us-has-tried-to-pass-anti-lynching-laws-240-times-and-failed-every-single-time/.
John H. Johnson: Kelly Connelly, “Arkansas Holiday to Celebrate the Life of Pioneering Black Publisher,” Public Radio from UA Little Rock, October 31, 2019, https://www.ualrpublicradio.org/post/arkansas-holiday-celebrate-life-pioneering-black-publisher.
1619
Project: New York Times magazine staff, “The 1619 Project,” New York Times Magazine, August 14, 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/1619-america-slavery.html.
Central Park Five: Aisha Harris, “The Central Park Five: ‘We Were Just Baby Boys,’ ” New York Times, May 30, 2019, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/30/arts/television/when-they-see-us.html.
Maxine Waters: Mekita Rivas, “Maxine Waters Was the First to Call for Impeachment. Here’s What She’s Calling for Next,” Shondaland, February 10, 2020, https://www.shondaland.com/act/news-politics/a30814592/maxine-waters-impeachment.
Lucy McBath: Jelani Cobb, “The Crucial Significance of Lucy McBath’s Win in Georgia’s Sixth Congressional District,” New Yorker, November 17, 2018, https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-crucial-significance-of-lucy-mcbaths-win-in-georgias-sixth-congressional-district.
Abrams refused: Laura Bassett, “Stacey Abrams Acknowledges Loss in Governor’s Race,” HuffPost, November 16, 2018, https://www.huffpost.com/entry/stacey-abrams-acknowledges-loss-in-georgia-governors-race_n_5bef4370e4b0b84243e25ece; Fair Fight “Meet Our Founder” https://fairfight.com/about-stacey-abrams/.
Black Lives Matter movement: Ellen Kershner, “What Is The Black Lives Matter Movement?”, World Atlas, June 4, 2020, https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/what-is-the-black-lives-matter-movement.html.
Black Youth Project 100: “About Us” http://blackyouthproject.com/about-us/.
Movement for Black Lives: “Vision for Black Lives” https://m4bl.org/policy-platforms/.
During the 1970s:Winifred Breines, “Struggling to Connect: White and Black Feminism in the Movement Years,” Contexts. 2007; 6(1):18-24. doi :10.1525/ctx.2007.6.1.18 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1525/ctx.2007.6.1.18#articleCitationDownloadContainer.
Featured a suffrage float: Ryan Carter, “This Rose Parade float celebrates 100 years since women won the right to vote” Pasadena Star News, December 30, 2019, https://www.pasadenastarnews.com/2019/12/30/this-rose-parade-float-celebrates-100-years-since-women-won-the-right-to-vote/.
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