FREE ESSAY ON IDA B. WELLS-BARNETT

IDA B. WELLS-BARNETT

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, Ida raised the battle cry against the American "national
crime" of lynching. Infuriated by the Memphis lynching in 1892, which involved a close
friend; Ida expressed her grief in an editorial in the local black newspaper, Free
Speech:
"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 outnumbered and without
arms…There is therefore only one thing left we can do; save our money and leave
town which will neither protect our lives and property, nor give us a fair trial in the
courts, when accused by white persons." (Hine, 28)
At the same time Wells saw what lynching really was; an excuse to "keep the nigger down",
and execute those "who acquired wealth and property." (Duster, 64) This sparked her
investigation into the causes of lynching-rape. In Crusade for Justice Ida, "stumbled on
the amazing record that every case of rape reported became such only when it became
public." (Duster, 65) Since whites could no longer hold blacks as slaves they found in
mob violence a different means of maintaining a system of "economic, 
psychological, and sexual exploitation." (Klots, 42) In addition, the result of her
investigation and editorial 
sparked the black community to retaliate and encourage all who could to leave, and those
who stayed to boycott the city Railroad Company. Ida saw the success of the boycott, and
asserted, "the appeal to the white man's pocket has ever been more effectual than all
appeals ever made to his conscience." (Klots, 42) Her numerous editorials on lynching
received an enormous response amongst black Americans. At any rate, Wells-Barnett knew
that to campaign effectively against lynching she had to reach white northerners and the
northern press. She began lecturing throughout the Northeast. 
Touring brought Ida local and international fame, which lead to her invitation overseas.
Wells lectured all over England, Scotland, and Wales. Her lectures were praised as,
"clear, enlightening, and powerful", and provided the British with an insight of the
atrocities of lynching against blacks. (Smith, 1235) On the other hand, her efforts saw
the growth of organizations pledging to fight segregation and lynching. Wells-Barnett
brought forth an issue to the forefront of America. Not only did 
she strive to seek justice for lynchings but justice from crimes that hindered black
progression. 
Her writing discussed other issues plaguing the black community. As a teacher employed in
the Memphis School System, Ida witnessed the poor conditions in school for black
children. In an unsigned article, she condemned this discrimination as well as "the poor
mental and moral character" of many of her fellow educators. (Klots, 37) Wells-Barnett
used her experience to attack the injustice against blacks in the school system but she
also addressed the issue of the weakness of the black community that allowed such
injustices to continue. Ida possessed a passionate feeling for education. She saw
education as an opportunity for advancement. Ida hole outwardly disagreed with Booker T.
Washington's position on industrial education and was mortified with his implication that
blacks were illiterate and immoral, until the coming of Tuskegee. (Hine, 80) Outraged by
his remarks, she considered his rejection of a college education as a bitter pill. (Hine,
80) As matter of fact, She argued in an article entitled Booker T. Washington and His
Critics (World Today, April 1904) regarding industrial education, 
This gospel of work is no new one for the Negro. It is the South's old slavery practice
in a new dress. (Hine, 198) Furthermore, she felt that industrial education limited the
types of education and number of school open to aspiring young blacks. Ida saw Washington
as no better than the whites that justified their actions through lynching. In all her
writings she maintained her goal of finding justice for the Negro race and in doing so
she set forth in community work.
Her diligent commitment to the community resulted in prominent organizations. Her work
among the clubwomen for social improvement in Chicago started the formation of the Ida B.
Wells Club. Through her club she established a kindergarten for black children. It was
the first black women's club in Chicago with there motto stating, Helping Hand. The clubs
main objective was Elevation of Women, Home, and Community. The club achieved two other
outstanding achievements besides establishing the first kindergarten; it assisted in
forming the first black orchestra in Chicago, and had a charter membership in the League
of Cook County Clubs. The last achievement was significant because it lead to integration
with the 
participation of other black clubs in the formally all white organization. Elizabeth L.
Davis, founder of the 
Phyllis Wheatley Club, recognized the benefit derived by later organizations from the
association and activities of the first club:
From these helpful programs of club work, race unity and parliamentary drill in the
mother club, have sprung all the other clubs of Chicago and the state and from the ranks
of its members have come many of our club presidents, our leading business women and our
leading church and social service workers. (Hine, 90)
In addition to her commitment among black women she acknowledged as a whole the
importance of civil rights among the Negro race as a whole. Her activity lead to her
being one of the founders of the NAACP, which to this day plays a pivotal role in the
civil rights activity of black Americans. 
Ida B. Wells-Barnett was a crusader for the black race she possessed a gift for
expressing her ideas in a way that could stir a nation. 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.