It’s only been a little over six months since the 47th president took office. And every day the country transforms into an increasingly harsh place for anyone who is not a wealthy, White, able-bodied, “Christian,” straight, cisgender male. It seems like every hour there’s more news of another department being shuttered. More people fired. Programs defunded. Funds frozen. Programs cancelled. Departments dismantled. Organizations broken. The Disunited States of America is rapidly returning to an “I Got Mine, Eff You” society where the wealthy take, exploit and hoard as much as possible, leaving everyone else to scramble and suffer — then be blamed for their own hardship.
This is the type of country my great-grandmother, Ida B. Wells, experienced for most of her life. Except for the brief 12-year period of post-Civil War Reconstruction from 1865-1877, the country was hostile toward the plight and reality of Black people — the majority of whom had been enslaved. Wells lived through and experienced a hyper-violent period where thousands of lynchings, hundreds of riots and massacres, terrorism and mass destruction of Black people and communities ran rampant. She lost three friends to lynching in 1892, which set off her lifelong activism. She wrote, spoke and formed organizations to expose and change the state-sanctioned violence that was all too common. There was no protection for Black people from violence, and some of it was inflicted by those who were allegedly supposed to uphold the law. “Law and order” meant brutalizing Black people under the guise of “protecting” White women. As a people, we have almost never been protected by the police state, but rather experienced a force of invasion and violation.
As the current administration uses a multi-pronged approach in their war to unravel the fragile social fabric and economic opportunities of the country that too many thought was strong, many are turning to the strategies used by my great-grandmother and other leaders who lived through incredibly dangerous and hostile times. Chronicling truth has never been a safe thing to do, but some did it anyway. Through her Memphis Free Speech newspaper and several pamphlets such as Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All its Phases (1892) and A Red Record (1895), Wells chronicled the extreme violence inflicted on the Black community, most times with impunity.
She advocated for exerting economic pressure by encouraging boycotts of Memphis street cars and White-owned businesses, as well as mass exodus from a city where justice was not possible (1892). She also used the court system to fight for justice when she sued the Chesapeake, Ohio & Southwestern Railroad for discrimination after she was forcibly removed from a train (1893-’94). She also did extensive speaking tours to educate people about the economic and social oppression and violence against Black people — both across the United States and Britain (1892-1895) — with the goal of creating change based on exposing the light of truth and shaming the country for treating its citizens in such a brutal way.
She helped form organizations including the National Association of Colored Women (1896), the NAACP (1909) and the Alpha Suffrage Club (1913) to engage in organizing and collective action. She also participated in marches, including the famous Washington, D.C., suffrage march in 1913 that was the largest form of women’s protest up to that time with over 5,000 participants. With the Alpha Suffrage Club, she enthusiastically registered voters and canvassed for Oscar DePriest, who was elected in 1914 as the first Black alderman in Chicago. She also spoke directly to power to effect change by meeting with Presidents William S. McKinley in 1898 to push for anti-lynching legislation and Woodrow Wilson in 1913 to fight against resegregation of the federal government. She protested alone in 1918 by forging a one-person resistance against the government for executing its own (Black) soldiers at Camp Logan, outside of Houston, before they were scheduled to go overseas to fight for someone else’s freedom and democracy. And ultimately, in 1930 — a year before she died — Wells ran for state senate herself in order to impact laws in Illinois. Although she lost by a landslide, she pushed the boundaries of women’s voices in politics by having the audacity to run.
With July 16 being Wells’ 163rd (heavenly) birthday, there were many who recently recognized her legacy and created tributes to her. I attended the annual Ida B. Wells Birthday Celebration on July 12 in her hometown of Holly Springs, Mississippi, hosted by the Ida B. Wells-Barnett Museum. My brothers, David and Dan and I presented plaques to the four awardees of the Ida B. Wells Scholarship, which our Ida B. Wells Memorial Foundation awards every year to Rust College students. Also in Holly Springs, on July 13, a large-scale mural by Byhalia, Mississippi-based artist Anthony D. Moore was unveiled featuring Wells and other native Mississippi civil rights activists Fannie Lou Hamer and Alfred “Skip” Robinson. Three days later, the Chicago Women’s History Center hosted a celebration that included a screening of the film Light of Truth: Richard Hunt’s Monument to Ida B. Wells, produced by Rana Segal and Laurie Little. On July 18, the final plaques for the “Light of Truth: Ida B. Wells National Monument” were dedicated in an informal dedication ceremony in Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood. The next day, the Bellwood Public Library hosted a book talk and signing about my books Ida B the Queen and Ida B. Wells Voice of Truth and recognized Wells’ birthday with a cake. A display of student artwork honoring both Wells and Hunt was on view.
The past three generations of my family have worked for decades to make sure that the work my great-grandmother did is not swept into the dustpan of history. My grandmother, Alfreda Duster, edited and got her mother’s autobiography, Crusade for Justice, published in 1970. My father’s generation created the Ida B. Wells Memorial Foundation in 1988, which my brothers and I manage today. And my brother Dan and I give speeches and presentations as well as consult on major projects such as Mattel’s Ida B. Wells doll, the Ida B. Wells quarter with the United States Mint and the Monument in Chicago. In addition, I have written articles, books, served on committees, produced murals, historical markers, organized the Ida B. Wells Festival in Bronzeville and other public history tributes to resist erasure that is a constant threat to our history.
Those of us impacted by the never-ending assault from the current “administration” (especially Black women) are in the throes of collectively strategizing on how to combat the unraveling of the past 60 years of hard-fought progress (from the 1964 Civil Rights Act to making Juneteenth into a national holiday in 2021). Many are turning to the past to take notes from our ancestors who lived during violent and oppressive times.
The life and work of Wells is something today’s leaders can study and use to keep moving our country forward. All of the tactics Wells used are needed and can produce results. Applied at the same time, the non-billionaires can collectively impact change. Over 75 million people voted to make health care, education, and housing more accessible and affordable. They voted to address climate change and use technology for good. They voted for a multi-racial world where the vulnerable are safe and everyone has a chance to succeed and prosper. It is imperative to not feel helpless, powerless, or without a voice.The current administration that thrives on cruelty and division does not have a mandate. In the face of multi-pronged resistance rule by truth-twisting, name-calling and strong-arming, cannot and will not last.
