Ida B Wells Barnett

Meet Ida B Wells Barnett, a native of Mississippi, a well spoken journalist agitator, civil rights activist, and suffragette, who spoke out concisely and firmly at a time when those who disagreed with you could do much more than hurt your feelings.

The city I lived in, and live near now, Memphis, has in my personal opinion, deep and pervasive history of racism and white denial/avoidance of that subject. I stress the words ,my personal opinion, because it is based solely on my own experiences and observation as opposed to on a finely tuned academic investigation.

In 1866, there were race riots that left 46 six black Americans dead, two white Americans dead, and hundreds others injured with substantial property damage. The dispute started between union soldiers who were mainly black and the local police and quickly spread.

On April Th, 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King was assasinated in Memphis. On a previous visit to Memphis, in support of striking sanitation workers, violence broke out after a broken window was heard and police waded into the crowd. However, the memorial march four days later was peaceful.

The sort of white racism I encounter these days is that of defensiveness, muttering about the race card being played, asking why they can’t forget the past. Of course, the reason, some white Memphians wish Black Memphians would forget the past is so whites can be excused from that past.

Wells Barnett wrote extensively about the subject of lynching. You can read a sample of here powerful work on the subject right here. Lynching was not a theoretical threat or some movie concept. It is estimated that between 1882 and 1968 in excess of 3,000 lynchings occurred in the United States and a majority of victims were Black Americans. Recent events in the news highlight the effect that laying a noose in a strategic location can have upon the intended receiver. It is not a joke. It does not “mean nothing”. It is a death threat. There really is no other way to perceive it.When perpetrators toss off the noose as a prank it is sly and cowardly way to deny their own deep racism.

Wells Barnett gained attention and admiration within the Black community in her era by engaging in a revolutionary act. In 1884, she refused to relinquish her seat on a bus to a white man. And further, she launched a lawsuit against the company that operated the bus, she lost the suit on after an initial award for damages was given after it was appealed in a higher court. Wells, was a teacher at the time and continued as both a teacher and a writer until she was dismissed from her job for daring to write about the conditions in the black public schools in Memphis.

She was directly and personally affected by lynching. Three acquaintances opened a grocery store in predominantly black area of Memphis. When a white mob attacked the store angered because it was “stealing” business from a white grocery store across from it the black owners defended themselves and injured three white men. Newspapers of the day twisted the scenario to make it appear that innocent whites were attacked. The men were killed in jail by a mob. Wells suggested in an editorial that the only sensible solution was for black Memphians to relocate to territory of Oklahoma. Many took heed of her suggestion.

  Ironically enough, in 1921, Tulsa Oklahoma was the ground zero for a “race riot” after an incident in which a young black man accidentally tripped and fell on a young white woman. The white woman thought she was being attacked and the young man attempted to stop her from striking him. Although she declined to press charges, the press portrayed it as an unprovoked attack and actually called for a lynching. The press got its wish. Violence against the black community resulted in widespread property damage in the black community, death and injury. The press in that era often gleefully reported lynchings and enjoyed providing graphic details and generally denounced the victims of lynchings as being guilty or deserving of punishment.

Wells Barnett often focused on the fraudulent claims against those who were attacked and lynched. Not surprisingly she was eventually forced to leave Memphis. Her truth seeking ways were not welcomed in the south of that era. She continued her campaign, traveling, writing and lecturing in both the United States and later in England. She also married a Chicago newspaper man and attorney, who was a fellow activist and had children. She noted of that time  in her life I married in the city of Chicago to attorney F. L. Barnett and retired to what I thought was the privacy of a home. She did return to public life. She made an impact as a determined and principled suffragette. In 1913, the National American Woman Suffrage Association held a parade in Washington. Wells-Barnett was a well know member of the Illinois contingent and her lecturing skills were often utilized. However, the national organization never condemned Jim Crow laws. They accepted what was assumed to be the natural order of things, likely because their own position was tenuous within the national debate about women’s rights and wanted to avoid appearing to “radical.” During the march she refused to walk at the back with the other black participants. She believed the southern contingent of the organization needed to be held accountable for evading issues of race withing the suffragette movement.] She left the parade and then as the march continued she stepped from the crowd and joined two of the white participants who supported her ideals. Her brilliant direct action was noted in a photograph that received national attention. Wells-Barnett forced the hand of suffragettes. The 1920 Nineteenth Amendment enfranchised all females regardless of race. As we all know, in the south, voting rights would not be fully realized for Black Americans for many years.

She was also a participant and founding member of the NAACP. She was one of the few Black voices who openly opposed the accommodation policies promoted by Booker T Washington.

Ida B Wells Barnett asserted herself as a community activist in Chicago, her frustration and commitment led her to run for office in the in the Illinois state senate. She lost to an incumbent. She died in 1931. Her fervent belief was that Black Americans had to write their won histories or risk being buried in oblivion. Her autobiography was aptly titled Crusade For Justice.

There are always eras of history more discouraging that what we experience now . Agitators can act firmly and peacefully, the stakes are always high. When we speak of change and the risks we all chose to take or evade we owe a debt to women like Ida B Wells Barnett, who spoke a truth about humanity and equality that still echoes firmly today.