IntroductionOn July 16,1862 in Holly Springs,Mississippi Ida B. Wells was born.She was the oldest out of 8 siblings to James and Lizzie Wells.Living in Mississippi as African Americans, they faced racial unfairness and were restricted by unfair rules and practices.Her father, James, was involved with the Freedman’s Aid Society and helped start Shaw University, a school for the newly freed slaves (now Rust College), and served on the first board of administrator.
It was at Shaw University that Ida B. Wells received her early schooling. However at the age of 16 she had to drop out when tragedy struck her family. Both of her parents and one of her siblings died in a yellow fever outbreak, leaving Wells to care for her other siblings. Ever resourceful, she convinced a nearby country school administrator that she was 18, and landed a job as a teacher.In 1882, Wells moved with her sisters to Memphis, Tennessee, to live with an aunt.Ida B.Wells was an African-American journalist, abolitionist and feminist who led an anti-lynching crusade in the United States in the 1890s.
She went on to found and become essential in groups striving for African-American justice.The BuildupA lynching in Memphis incensed Ida B. Wells and led to her to begin an anti-lynching campaign in 1892.
Three African-American men — Tom Moss, Calvin McDowell and Will Stewart — set up a grocery store. Their new business drew customers away from a white-owned store in the neighborhood, and the white store owner and his supporters clashed with the three men on a few occasions. One night, Moss and the others guarded their store against attack and ended up shooting several of the white vandals. They were arrested and brought to jail, but they didn’t have a chance to defend themselves against the charges. A lynch mob took them from their cells and murdered them.The heart of the storyIda B. Wells led many organizations such as naacp(National association for the advancement of colored people).She affected many african americans by leading the anti-lynching crusade in Memphis,Tennessee in 1890s-1930s.
The anti-lynching movement was a civil rights movement in the United States that aimed to remove the practice of lynching. Lynching was used as a tool to repress African Americans.Lynchings were becoming a popular way of resolving some of the anger that whites had in relation to the free blacks. The Short Term Impact An incident where three businessmen were lynched by a white mob, urged her to speak against this practice, and as a result of this her newspaper office was vandalised.
There were death threats, but Ida spoke against lynching in public meeting and also tried to influence the reformed whites which eventually brought her anti-lynching crusade to the White House. She was also personally responsible for establishing a number of associations which upheld the values of civil rights, and spoke against racial discrimination in government offices.In the year 1892, Ida raised her voice against a lynching episode that took place in Memphis. Thomas Moss, a friend of Wells, operated a grocery shop in the outskirts of Memphis, which was invaded by a white mob. During the altercation, three white men were shot and injured.
As a result of this, Moss along with two other friends, was jailed pending trial but a large white lynch mob stormed the jail and killed the three men.This lynching incident made Ida to travel in the southern parts and collect information and research about lynching incidents. After an article published in newspaper, a white mob destroyed everything in her newspaper office and issued a death threat. Fortunately, Ida was travelling to New York, but she could not come back to Memphis because of the threats.In the year 1895, she published her personal account of lynching in ‘A Red Record’. This is considered as one of the most truthful and honest accounts of the history of lynching that happened in the Americas even after the passing of the Civil Rights Act.
.To continue on the path of civil rights activism, she established the ‘National Association of Colored Women’ in 1896.In 1908, she protested forcefully against assaults on the African-American community in Illinois. Later that year, she attended a conference which would eventually lead to the formation of NAACP or National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People. She later came out of the organization, as she felt that there was lack of action-based moves.ConclusionIda B.
Wells was an African-American journalist, abolitionist and feminist who led an anti-lynching crusade in the United States in the 1890s. She went on to found and become integral in groups striving for African-American justice.we should remember her because of her great work for the African American community and the fight for justice. She was also a great role model and activist for women.Ida B. Wells not only stood up for the rights of African Americans, but also for those of women.
Ida was very active in the beginnings of the suffrage movement that was sweeping the United States shortly after equal rights were granted to African American men
