IDA B. WELLS-BARNETT
Ida B. Wells-Barnett is first among many. She was a civil servant and fought injustices amongst the black community. Ida was born a slave in Holly Springs, Mississippi in 1862. There she witnessed the Civil War and the dramatic changes it brought to her life. During Reconstruction she found possession of previously unheard-of freedoms, her civil rights. The most dramatic change was the institution of schools for the education of blacks. The establishment of the Freedman’s Aid Society founded by Shaw University, later renamed Rust College, and was where Ida attended classes. Ida possessed an interest in school, and she quickly worked her way through every book in the Rust College library. At an early age she demonstrated leadership and a strong liking to journalism. Growing up in Memphis opened opportunities for Ida to further her education at LeMoyne Institution and Fisk University. Her impact among the Negro community was first felt in May 1884. On her way to work, Ida boarded her usual seat on the first-class ladies coach, she was asked by the conductor to move to the forward car, which was a smoker. Wells refused, got off the train, returned to Memphis, and filed suit against the Chesapeake, Ohio, and SouthWestern Railroad Company for refusing to provide her the first-class accommodations for which she paid. In December, 1884 the Memphis Circuit Court ruled in her favor and awarded her $500 in damages. The reaction within the white community was expressed in the Memphis Appeal, “Darky Damsel Gets Damages” (Klots, 32) Although her success was short lived when the company appealed the case to the Tennessee Supreme Court, which reversed the decision.
Wells-Barnett’s willingness to use the courts to challenge Jim Crow laws was well ahead of her time. Using her forceful pen to write of her experience and outcome soon led her to writing regularly for the black press throughout the country. Ida gained a reputation for fearlessness because of her militant opinions she openly expressed in print. Through her writings she was able to influence the black community, nonetheless educate them and sympathizers of injustices against them. The impact of Ida B. Wells-Barnett was felt within the Negro community through her anti-lynching crusade, journalistic writings, and prominent organizations.
With the sharpness of her pen...
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...tion. Wells-Barnett was a woman with a strong sense of justice. She was the pioneer of the anti-lynching crusade raising her voice in protest, and writing with a fiery pen.
She was direct and possessed strength during a time when this was unheard of by a woman especially a black woman. A reformer of her time, she believed Negroes had to
organize themselves and fight for their independence against white oppression. She roused the white South to bitter defense and began the awakening of the conscience of a nation. Through her campaign, writings, and agitation she raised crucial questions about the future of black Americans. Today we as black Americans do not rally against oppression like those that came before us. Gone are the days when we organized together, today we live in a society that does not want to get involved as a whole. What we fail to realize is that there is strength in numbers and that we must not lose sight of the struggles that went on before us that granted our civil rights. Sure, gone are the days of Jim Crow and even though there is not a movement that will define this generation it is important to realize that the fight for equality is never over.
As compared to its rivals, Target has presented its brand as a middle-class brand which assists in attracting customers that find other stores like Walmart unpleasant
The history of The Black Civil Rights Movement in the United States is a fascinating account of a group of human beings, forcibly taken from their homeland, brought to a strange new continent, and forced to endure countless inhuman atrocities. Forced into a life of involuntary servitude to white slave owners, African Americans were to face an uphill battle for many years to come. Who would face that battle? To say the fight for black civil rights "was a grassroots movement of ordinary people who accomplished extraordinary things" would be an understatement. Countless people made it their life's work to see the progression of civil rights in America. People like W.E.B. DuBois, Marcus Garvey, A Phillip Randolph, Eleanor Roosevelt, and many others contributed to the fight although it would take ordinary people as well to lead the way in the fight for civil rights. This paper will focus on two people whose intelligence and bravery influenced future generations of civil rights organizers and crusaders. Ida B.Wells and Mary Mcleod Bethune were two African American women whose tenacity and influence would define the term "ordinary to extraordinary".
Wells. In May 1892, whites envied three of her friends for opening a successful grocery store. Her friends were arrested, then taken from jail, and lynched. Lynching was a very public act that differs from ordinary murders or assaults because it is a killing that is against the boundaries of due process; the legal requirement that all states must respect all legal rights owed to a person. This horrific execution took place every other day in the 1890’s, but the mob killing of the innocent three men who owned the grocery store was extremely frightening. In protest 2000 black residence left Memphis that summer and headed West for Oklahoma, but Ida B Wells stayed and began her own research on lynching. Her editorials in the “Memphis Free Speech and Headlight” confronted the Lynch Law; which was said to be in place to protect white women, even though they leave white men free to seduce all the colored girls he can, yet black men were being lynched for having consensual relations with white women. Ida B. Wells states, “No one believes the old thread lies that Negro men assault white women, and if the southern white men are not careful they will overreach themselves and a conclusion will be reached which will be very damaging to the moral reputation of their women”. Whites were outraged with her words and Wells was fortunately away in the East when a mob came looking for her, they trashed the offices
Ida B. Wells was born into slavery, and lived in Holly Springs Mississippi. She was later freed, and learned from her parents what it meant to be a political activist. By 1891, Wells was the owner of the newspaper, Free Speech, and was reporting on the horrors that were occurring in the south. Wells, along with other people of the African American activist community were particularly horrified about the lynching’s that were occurring in the south. As a response to the lynching that was occurring, and other violent acts that the African American community was dealing with Wells wrote three pamphlets: Southern Horrors, The Red Record, and Mob Brutality. Muckraking and investigative journalism can be seen throughout these pamphlets, as well as Wells intent to persuade the African American community, and certain members of the white community to take a stand against the crime of lynching. Wells’ writings are an effective historical text, because she serves as a voice to an underrepresented African American community.
...nspired to make a change that she knew that nothing could stop her, not even her family. In a way, she seemed to want to prove that she could rise above the rest. She refused to let fear eat at her and inflict in her the weakness that poisoned her family. As a child she was a witness to too much violence and pain and much too often she could feel the hopelessness that many African Americans felt. She was set in her beliefs to make choices freely and help others like herself do so as well.
Her parents nurtured the background of this crusader to make her a great spokesperson. She also held positions throughout her life that allowed her to learn a lot about lynching. She was fueled by her natural drive to search for the truth.
Throughout her career Ida achieved more than anyone thought was possible for an African American women during that time. However, it was not an easy process. Ida faced many hardships throughout her career including, racial discrimination, gender discrimination, and hate from the people she fought against. Ida faced all her problems head on which is a major reason for her success. She continued to persevere even when everyone seemed to be against her. She never took no for an answer and always worked hard till she accomplished her goals. Everyone knew and still knows Ida as a hard worker, determined to fight for the rights of her and others around her. Ida died in Chicago on March 25th of 1931 but her legacy continues to live on.
...s, and beliefs. She spoke on behalf of women’s voting rights in Washington D.C, Boston, and New York. She also was the first speaker for the foundation, National Federation of Afro-American Women. On top of all of it, she helped to organize the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church (blackhistorystudies.com 2014).
The Life and Activism of Angela Davis. I chose to do this research paper on Angela Davis because of her numerous contributions to the advancement of civil rights as well as to the women’s rights movement. I have passionate beliefs regarding the oppression of women and people of racial minorities. I sought to learn from Davis’ ideology and propose solutions to these conflicts that pervade our society. As well, I hope to gain historical insight into her life and the civil rights movement of the 1960’s and 70’s.
She started out as a guest lecturer speaking out against slavery. Stone was a known as a major abolitionist in the pre-civil war period. At this time, the other Women’s rights leaders wondered if her abolition speaking would take away from their cause.
Barnett, Ida B., and Ida B. Barnett. Southern horrors and other writings: the anti-lynching campaign of Ida B. Wells, 1892-1900. Boston, MA: Bedford Books, 1997.
Slave Rebellions were becoming common and one of the most famous was Nat Turner’s Rebellion. Led by slave preacher Nat Turner, who “became convinced that he had been chosen by God to lead his people to freedom”, a group of almost 80 slaves murdered over 60 white men, women, and children (Slave Rebellions). Maria Stewart was the first black women reported to have delivered a public speech (Coddon). She wrote a manuscript to a black audience that encouraged them not to “kill, burn, or destroy”, but rather “improve your talents… show forth your powers of mind (Coddon).” She wanted black people to know that both God and our founding documents affirmed them as equal with other men (Coddon). Being a black woman herself, she addressed other black women stating “ O, ye daughters of Africa, awake! Awake! Arise! No longer sleep nor slumber, but distinguish yourselves. Show forth the world that ye are endowed with noble and exalted faculties (Coddon).” Stewart believed that the world wasn 't going to change for the blacks, that the blacks had to change for the world, but by changes she meant show the world their worthiness and fight for their equality. Another woman fighting for equality was Sojourner Truth. Truth, formerly known as Isabella and former slave, was singer and public speaker against slavery (Coddon). SHe was the only black delegate at the Worcester, Massachusetts women’s rights convention in 1850 (Coddon).
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