1 00:00:02,279 --> 00:00:05,280 Speaker 1: Happy is Saturday, everybody. In light of what's been going 2 00:00:05,320 --> 00:00:07,400 Speaker 1: on in the United States this week, we thought we 3 00:00:07,440 --> 00:00:10,559 Speaker 1: would return to investigative journalist and activists. I to b 4 00:00:10,680 --> 00:00:14,840 Speaker 1: Wells Barnett, who spent decades fighting against lynching and advocating 5 00:00:14,840 --> 00:00:19,040 Speaker 1: for anti lynching legislation. Almost ninety years after her death, 6 00:00:19,200 --> 00:00:22,560 Speaker 1: legislators are still trying to get legislation passed that would 7 00:00:22,600 --> 00:00:26,079 Speaker 1: make lynching a federal crime, most recently with the Emmett 8 00:00:26,079 --> 00:00:30,800 Speaker 1: Till Anti Lynching Act. That act passed the House in February, 9 00:00:30,800 --> 00:00:33,240 Speaker 1: but it needs to be reconciled with a slightly different 10 00:00:33,360 --> 00:00:38,000 Speaker 1: version passed by the Senate. In This episode originally came 11 00:00:38,000 --> 00:00:44,199 Speaker 1: out on June four, Welcome to Stuff You Missed in 12 00:00:44,240 --> 00:00:53,920 Speaker 1: History Class, a production of I Heart Radio. Hello, and 13 00:00:54,000 --> 00:00:57,240 Speaker 1: welcome to the podcast. I'm Tracy V. Wilson and I'm 14 00:00:57,280 --> 00:01:01,280 Speaker 1: Holly Fry. I to b Wells Barnett, one of those 15 00:01:01,320 --> 00:01:05,920 Speaker 1: figures who connects to a lot of our past episodes. 16 00:01:06,640 --> 00:01:09,360 Speaker 1: She's mentioned in our podcast on Frederick Douglas, and the 17 00:01:09,400 --> 00:01:12,800 Speaker 1: two of them were colleagues and friends. In our show 18 00:01:12,840 --> 00:01:15,840 Speaker 1: In the Night of Terror at the Aquaquon Workhouse, we 19 00:01:15,920 --> 00:01:19,040 Speaker 1: talked about her refusing to march in a segregated section 20 00:01:19,080 --> 00:01:23,280 Speaker 1: of the nineteen thirteen Woman's Suffrage progression, instead saying and 21 00:01:23,360 --> 00:01:26,679 Speaker 1: I am refusing to play by that racist rule and 22 00:01:26,800 --> 00:01:31,440 Speaker 1: marching with the Illinois contingent with everyone else. She investigated 23 00:01:31,440 --> 00:01:33,800 Speaker 1: the death of Robert Charles in New Orleans and nineteen 24 00:01:33,840 --> 00:01:37,080 Speaker 1: hundred and the racist violence that surrounded that, and then 25 00:01:37,080 --> 00:01:39,600 Speaker 1: the discussion of lynching, and our two partner on the 26 00:01:39,640 --> 00:01:44,800 Speaker 1: Wilmington's queue of was also informed by her investigative reporting 27 00:01:44,840 --> 00:01:48,600 Speaker 1: in her anti lynching campaign, I W. Wells Barnett fought 28 00:01:48,640 --> 00:01:52,080 Speaker 1: against lynching for decades, and this on its own would 29 00:01:52,080 --> 00:01:54,520 Speaker 1: be remarkable, but she also lived at a time when 30 00:01:54,520 --> 00:01:56,880 Speaker 1: it was not common at all for a woman, especially 31 00:01:56,920 --> 00:02:00,360 Speaker 1: a woman of color, to become a prominent journ list 32 00:02:00,400 --> 00:02:03,800 Speaker 1: and speaker in this way, and then doing this work 33 00:02:03,920 --> 00:02:06,880 Speaker 1: also meant that she had to speak out very candidly 34 00:02:06,960 --> 00:02:11,520 Speaker 1: about violence and about rape. Discussing rape at all was 35 00:02:11,560 --> 00:02:14,520 Speaker 1: a huge taboo, but it was especially taboo coming from 36 00:02:14,600 --> 00:02:17,600 Speaker 1: a woman, and for a substantial part of her career 37 00:02:17,720 --> 00:02:20,799 Speaker 1: she was an unmarried woman, so it was even more taboo. 38 00:02:21,320 --> 00:02:24,520 Speaker 1: And that is all why we are talking about her today. 39 00:02:25,120 --> 00:02:28,720 Speaker 1: Ida B. Wells Barnett was born Ida Bell Wells in 40 00:02:28,800 --> 00:02:33,600 Speaker 1: Holly Springs, Mississippi, on July six, eighteen sixty two. She 41 00:02:33,720 --> 00:02:36,600 Speaker 1: was the oldest child of James Wells, who was known 42 00:02:36,639 --> 00:02:39,960 Speaker 1: as Jim, and Elizabeth Warrenton, who was known as Lizzie, 43 00:02:40,080 --> 00:02:44,360 Speaker 1: and they were both enslaved, so Ida was enslaved from birth. 44 00:02:45,280 --> 00:02:48,600 Speaker 1: Jim and Lizzie both worked for a man named Spiers Bawling. 45 00:02:49,280 --> 00:02:51,760 Speaker 1: Jim was owned by another man, but had been hired 46 00:02:51,800 --> 00:02:56,560 Speaker 1: out to Bawling for an apprenticeship in carpentry. The American 47 00:02:56,639 --> 00:02:59,799 Speaker 1: Civil War was ongoing when Ida was a baby, and 48 00:03:00,080 --> 00:03:02,519 Speaker 1: part of Mississippi, where she and her parents lived, was 49 00:03:02,680 --> 00:03:07,200 Speaker 1: no stranger to raids and skirmishes. The Emancipation Proclamation was 50 00:03:07,240 --> 00:03:10,120 Speaker 1: issued on January one of eighteen sixty three, and while 51 00:03:10,160 --> 00:03:12,720 Speaker 1: it technically freed her family and everyone else who was 52 00:03:12,800 --> 00:03:17,679 Speaker 1: enslaved in Mississippi, slavery persisted until Mississippi surrendered on May 53 00:03:17,680 --> 00:03:21,040 Speaker 1: fourth of eighteen sixty five, and probably beyond that point 54 00:03:21,160 --> 00:03:25,160 Speaker 1: really um as word reached more outlying areas of what 55 00:03:25,240 --> 00:03:28,400 Speaker 1: had happened. Once they were able to do so, Jim 56 00:03:28,440 --> 00:03:32,360 Speaker 1: and Lizzie Wells made their marriage legal. The young Ida 57 00:03:32,440 --> 00:03:35,960 Speaker 1: Wells was too young to remember the earliest years of reconstruction, 58 00:03:36,440 --> 00:03:39,800 Speaker 1: but in general life was really difficult for the freed people. 59 00:03:40,400 --> 00:03:44,400 Speaker 1: It was also chaotic as politicians and social reformers tried 60 00:03:44,440 --> 00:03:47,119 Speaker 1: to work out what to do about the formerly enslaved 61 00:03:47,160 --> 00:03:51,520 Speaker 1: population and the social and economic conditions that slavery had caused. 62 00:03:52,120 --> 00:03:55,280 Speaker 1: But the Wells Is had a couple of advantages. Jim's 63 00:03:55,320 --> 00:03:58,800 Speaker 1: owner had also been his father, and Jim had no siblings, 64 00:03:59,200 --> 00:04:02,600 Speaker 1: and being his own ER's only child came with some privileges, 65 00:04:02,760 --> 00:04:06,600 Speaker 1: including an education. For a time after the end of 66 00:04:06,600 --> 00:04:09,640 Speaker 1: the war, the Wells has continued to work for Spires Bowling. 67 00:04:09,720 --> 00:04:13,120 Speaker 1: But then Bawling told Jim to vote for the Democratic 68 00:04:13,160 --> 00:04:16,520 Speaker 1: candidate in the upcoming election, and Jim had no intention 69 00:04:16,600 --> 00:04:19,520 Speaker 1: of doing this. As we've talked about before, the Democratic 70 00:04:19,520 --> 00:04:21,679 Speaker 1: Party at this point was mostly made up of wealthy 71 00:04:21,720 --> 00:04:25,120 Speaker 1: white slave owners. He intended to vote for the radical 72 00:04:25,200 --> 00:04:28,600 Speaker 1: Republican candidate. He came back from the polls to find 73 00:04:28,600 --> 00:04:30,960 Speaker 1: that his employer had locked him out of the workplace. 74 00:04:31,960 --> 00:04:34,720 Speaker 1: The fact that Jim and Lizzie Wells were skilled workers 75 00:04:34,839 --> 00:04:38,039 Speaker 1: rather than manual laborers, made it easier for them to 76 00:04:38,080 --> 00:04:41,960 Speaker 1: find other work. Lizzie and her children also enrolled in school. 77 00:04:42,680 --> 00:04:46,320 Speaker 1: The family also became politically active, and Ida's father became 78 00:04:46,320 --> 00:04:49,240 Speaker 1: a member of the board at Rust College, then known 79 00:04:49,279 --> 00:04:52,960 Speaker 1: as Shaw College, where Ida would go on to study. 80 00:04:53,120 --> 00:04:56,760 Speaker 1: Ida learned quickly, and she read voraciously, including reading the 81 00:04:56,800 --> 00:04:59,719 Speaker 1: Bible all the way through, which was the only reading 82 00:04:59,720 --> 00:05:03,960 Speaker 1: that was allowed in the Wells home on Sundays. In 83 00:05:04,080 --> 00:05:08,560 Speaker 1: eighteen seventy eight, Idawell's life changed dramatically. She went to 84 00:05:08,680 --> 00:05:11,080 Speaker 1: visit her grandparents on their farm, and while she was 85 00:05:11,120 --> 00:05:14,440 Speaker 1: away from home, a yellow fever epidemic spread to Memphis. 86 00:05:15,040 --> 00:05:17,440 Speaker 1: At first, when they heard about this outbreak, Ida and 87 00:05:17,520 --> 00:05:21,719 Speaker 1: her grandparents weren't particularly concerned. Memphis had dealt with yellow 88 00:05:21,720 --> 00:05:24,560 Speaker 1: fever before, and outbreaks had never made it as far 89 00:05:24,680 --> 00:05:27,520 Speaker 1: from there as Holly Springs, which was roughly fifty miles 90 00:05:27,640 --> 00:05:32,000 Speaker 1: or eight kilometers away. People also blamed yellow fever on 91 00:05:32,120 --> 00:05:36,040 Speaker 1: miasmas or bad swamp air, so they thought Holly Springs 92 00:05:36,080 --> 00:05:39,280 Speaker 1: was protected by being on the highest ground in the area. 93 00:05:39,920 --> 00:05:43,080 Speaker 1: So instead of calling for a quarantine, officials in Holly 94 00:05:43,080 --> 00:05:47,400 Speaker 1: Springs offered refuge to Memphis residents who were fleeing the illness. 95 00:05:48,160 --> 00:05:52,080 Speaker 1: But yellow fever is really transmitted by mosquitoes, not by 96 00:05:52,120 --> 00:05:56,080 Speaker 1: swamp vapor, so once people arrived in Holly Springs carrying 97 00:05:56,080 --> 00:06:00,479 Speaker 1: the illness, it spread rapidly. Holly Springs had a population 98 00:06:00,640 --> 00:06:03,680 Speaker 1: of about three thousand, five hundred people, and more than 99 00:06:03,800 --> 00:06:07,919 Speaker 1: four hundred of them contracted the disease. More than three 100 00:06:08,040 --> 00:06:12,240 Speaker 1: hundred people died. This included both of Ida's parents, and 101 00:06:12,279 --> 00:06:14,880 Speaker 1: as soon as she and her grandparents learned what had happened, 102 00:06:15,160 --> 00:06:18,120 Speaker 1: she took a freight train back to Holly Springs. She 103 00:06:18,200 --> 00:06:21,280 Speaker 1: went against the advice of basically everyone. Everyone was telling 104 00:06:21,279 --> 00:06:23,040 Speaker 1: her that it was way too dangerous. There were not 105 00:06:23,160 --> 00:06:26,120 Speaker 1: even any passenger trains that were running, which was why 106 00:06:26,200 --> 00:06:28,200 Speaker 1: she was on a freight train in the first place. 107 00:06:28,760 --> 00:06:31,520 Speaker 1: But there was nobody else to look after her siblings, 108 00:06:31,800 --> 00:06:33,599 Speaker 1: and by the time she got back home, her baby 109 00:06:33,640 --> 00:06:37,600 Speaker 1: brother had also died. Ida's father had been a Mason, 110 00:06:37,839 --> 00:06:41,320 Speaker 1: in his Masonic brothers came to the family's aid. They 111 00:06:41,360 --> 00:06:44,800 Speaker 1: started talking about dividing up the Wells children, sending them 112 00:06:44,839 --> 00:06:48,920 Speaker 1: to live with other families in ones and two's. Ida's sister, 113 00:06:49,000 --> 00:06:52,839 Speaker 1: Eugenia was of special concern. She was paralyzed from the 114 00:06:52,839 --> 00:06:56,520 Speaker 1: waist down due to severe scoliosis. Ida was in the 115 00:06:56,640 --> 00:07:00,200 Speaker 1: room for this conversation, but she wasn't really consulted about 116 00:07:00,240 --> 00:07:04,120 Speaker 1: these decisions, and she finally told her father's Masonic brothers 117 00:07:04,120 --> 00:07:05,880 Speaker 1: that they were not going to send any of her 118 00:07:05,880 --> 00:07:08,640 Speaker 1: siblings anywhere, that her parents would be spinning in their 119 00:07:08,680 --> 00:07:11,200 Speaker 1: graves if they heard that their children had been split up. 120 00:07:11,760 --> 00:07:14,119 Speaker 1: She said that if the Masons helped her find a job, 121 00:07:14,400 --> 00:07:18,200 Speaker 1: that she would look after all of her siblings. With that, 122 00:07:18,560 --> 00:07:21,680 Speaker 1: she became both the breadwinner and the head of household. 123 00:07:22,440 --> 00:07:25,440 Speaker 1: She and her siblings had two legal guardians, but i'da 124 00:07:25,480 --> 00:07:27,440 Speaker 1: got a job as a teacher so that she could 125 00:07:27,520 --> 00:07:31,040 Speaker 1: raise and support her five younger siblings. She was only 126 00:07:31,080 --> 00:07:34,920 Speaker 1: sixteen at this point. Ida b Wells kept up her 127 00:07:34,960 --> 00:07:38,320 Speaker 1: studies while she worked as a teacher and raised her siblings. 128 00:07:38,320 --> 00:07:40,440 Speaker 1: Her job was at a rural school, so she had 129 00:07:40,440 --> 00:07:43,240 Speaker 1: to travel back and forth to it by mule. She 130 00:07:43,320 --> 00:07:46,400 Speaker 1: also started taking college courses at Rust College. Although she 131 00:07:46,520 --> 00:07:48,760 Speaker 1: was expelled from the school in eighteen eighty one or 132 00:07:48,800 --> 00:07:53,000 Speaker 1: eighteen eighty two. The details of exactly why are not known, 133 00:07:53,080 --> 00:07:56,520 Speaker 1: but she wrote about losing her temper with the teachers 134 00:07:56,560 --> 00:08:00,400 Speaker 1: and speaking to them with hateful words. In eighteen eight one, 135 00:08:00,480 --> 00:08:03,840 Speaker 1: when she was nineteen, one of Welles's aunts invited her 136 00:08:04,040 --> 00:08:07,800 Speaker 1: and her two youngest sisters to move to Memphis. By 137 00:08:07,800 --> 00:08:10,840 Speaker 1: this point, her brothers had both been placed in apprenticeships 138 00:08:11,000 --> 00:08:14,080 Speaker 1: and Eugenia had gone to live with another aunt. And 139 00:08:14,120 --> 00:08:16,560 Speaker 1: this offer gave the Wells sisters the chance to move 140 00:08:16,600 --> 00:08:19,720 Speaker 1: to a bigger city with more opportunities, and it gave 141 00:08:19,800 --> 00:08:22,840 Speaker 1: Item more freedom to pursue her own education and career 142 00:08:23,200 --> 00:08:26,200 Speaker 1: since her aunt would be helping to look after her sisters. 143 00:08:27,080 --> 00:08:29,480 Speaker 1: It was in Memphis that she really started to become 144 00:08:29,520 --> 00:08:41,360 Speaker 1: politically active, which we will talk about after a sponsor break. 145 00:08:42,080 --> 00:08:45,040 Speaker 1: After moving to Memphis, I had to be Wells continued 146 00:08:45,200 --> 00:08:48,440 Speaker 1: to work as a teacher. She had a job in Woodstock, Tennessee, 147 00:08:48,480 --> 00:08:50,600 Speaker 1: which was not all that far away. She traveled back 148 00:08:50,640 --> 00:08:54,199 Speaker 1: and forth to it by train. She was very carefully 149 00:08:54,200 --> 00:08:56,840 Speaker 1: trying to build a middle class life for herself and 150 00:08:56,880 --> 00:08:59,840 Speaker 1: her sisters, stretching her teacher's pay to cover things like 151 00:09:00,040 --> 00:09:02,400 Speaker 1: ice dresses, in a comfortable place for them to live, 152 00:09:03,000 --> 00:09:05,040 Speaker 1: and one of the things that she spent her money 153 00:09:05,040 --> 00:09:08,240 Speaker 1: on was on first class tickets in the Ladies car. 154 00:09:08,320 --> 00:09:11,679 Speaker 1: Whenever she traveled by train. The ladies car was more 155 00:09:11,720 --> 00:09:15,000 Speaker 1: comfortable than the second class cars, which were called smokers. 156 00:09:15,600 --> 00:09:18,840 Speaker 1: The Lady's car was quieter and it had more comfortable seats, 157 00:09:19,440 --> 00:09:22,920 Speaker 1: and since she was a young, petite, attractive woman traveling alone, 158 00:09:23,360 --> 00:09:26,800 Speaker 1: it was also just safer. She had been going back 159 00:09:26,840 --> 00:09:29,920 Speaker 1: and forth from Memphis to Woodstock for two years without 160 00:09:29,920 --> 00:09:33,400 Speaker 1: incident in the ladies car, and then in three she 161 00:09:33,480 --> 00:09:36,520 Speaker 1: was traveling back to Memphis from Holly Springs on the Chesapeake, 162 00:09:36,559 --> 00:09:40,520 Speaker 1: Ohio and Southwest Railroad. The conductor came to take her 163 00:09:40,559 --> 00:09:43,240 Speaker 1: ticket and told her that she would have to move 164 00:09:43,400 --> 00:09:48,080 Speaker 1: to the smoker's car. Wells refused. She had bought a 165 00:09:48,120 --> 00:09:51,200 Speaker 1: ticket and she was, as was clear by her dress, 166 00:09:51,280 --> 00:09:55,520 Speaker 1: her demeanor, and behavior, a lady. The conductor insisted that 167 00:09:55,559 --> 00:09:57,760 Speaker 1: she would have to move, and even went so far 168 00:09:57,840 --> 00:10:00,840 Speaker 1: as to move her luggage and belong longings into the 169 00:10:00,880 --> 00:10:04,959 Speaker 1: forward car, expecting her to follow them. When she stayed 170 00:10:04,960 --> 00:10:07,880 Speaker 1: where she was, he came back and attempted to remove 171 00:10:07,960 --> 00:10:12,360 Speaker 1: her bodily from her seat. She once again refused to move. 172 00:10:12,920 --> 00:10:16,000 Speaker 1: She was, as we said, a petite woman. She braced 173 00:10:16,000 --> 00:10:18,960 Speaker 1: herself against the seat to keep this man from dragging 174 00:10:19,000 --> 00:10:22,320 Speaker 1: her away, and when he kept man handling her, she 175 00:10:22,440 --> 00:10:26,200 Speaker 1: bit him. Ultimately, Wells was forcibly removed from the train 176 00:10:26,640 --> 00:10:29,760 Speaker 1: with both sleeves torn out of her linen duster, and 177 00:10:29,800 --> 00:10:32,480 Speaker 1: when she got back to Memphis, she filed suit against 178 00:10:32,480 --> 00:10:35,520 Speaker 1: the railroad. She was removed from the ladies car a 179 00:10:35,600 --> 00:10:38,679 Speaker 1: second time before that suit had even been settled, so 180 00:10:38,720 --> 00:10:41,880 Speaker 1: she filed another one. This is kind of on a 181 00:10:41,960 --> 00:10:46,439 Speaker 1: cusp of segregation by race on railroads, Like it was 182 00:10:46,480 --> 00:10:48,320 Speaker 1: a lot more common to have a ladies car that 183 00:10:48,400 --> 00:10:52,679 Speaker 1: women could pay additional you know, in an upgraded fair 184 00:10:52,960 --> 00:10:55,440 Speaker 1: to sit in, and all the cars were all the 185 00:10:55,440 --> 00:10:58,200 Speaker 1: other cars were just kind of a mix, and it 186 00:10:58,240 --> 00:11:02,160 Speaker 1: was becoming more formalized to instead have have trained cars 187 00:11:02,320 --> 00:11:05,960 Speaker 1: segregated by race. Since this was sort of in the 188 00:11:06,200 --> 00:11:10,439 Speaker 1: interim of that that changeover happening. So a circuit court 189 00:11:11,040 --> 00:11:13,800 Speaker 1: found in I. Toby Wells favor under the Civil Rights 190 00:11:13,840 --> 00:11:16,320 Speaker 1: Act of eighteen seventy five, and she was awarded five 191 00:11:16,400 --> 00:11:19,319 Speaker 1: hundred dollars in the first case and two hundred dollars 192 00:11:19,320 --> 00:11:22,680 Speaker 1: in the second case. But the railroad appealed the decision 193 00:11:22,920 --> 00:11:26,680 Speaker 1: and the Tennessee Supreme Court overturned that ruling in seven. 194 00:11:27,360 --> 00:11:30,600 Speaker 1: The Supreme Court's assertion was that Wells had only filed 195 00:11:30,640 --> 00:11:33,360 Speaker 1: the suit in the first place to harass the train company, 196 00:11:33,480 --> 00:11:36,400 Speaker 1: and that her actions were quote not in good faith 197 00:11:36,480 --> 00:11:40,440 Speaker 1: to obtain a comfortable seat for a short ride. That 198 00:11:40,559 --> 00:11:44,600 Speaker 1: is infuriating. Uh. Wells was devastated, and it wasn't just 199 00:11:44,640 --> 00:11:48,240 Speaker 1: the loss of the case, it was what that law signified, 200 00:11:48,480 --> 00:11:51,600 Speaker 1: especially since she had been taking this legal action pretty 201 00:11:51,640 --> 00:11:53,760 Speaker 1: much on her own, without the help of any civil 202 00:11:53,800 --> 00:11:57,800 Speaker 1: rights organizations or the greater Black community of Memphis. Her 203 00:11:57,800 --> 00:11:59,640 Speaker 1: case wound up being one of the ones on the 204 00:11:59,720 --> 00:12:02,360 Speaker 1: road to Plessy versus Ferguson, which we have covered on 205 00:12:02,400 --> 00:12:05,000 Speaker 1: the show before, in which the U. S. Supreme Court 206 00:12:05,120 --> 00:12:11,520 Speaker 1: ruled that racial segregation was constitutional. This whole experience inspired 207 00:12:11,559 --> 00:12:15,080 Speaker 1: Wells to become more politically vocal. While she was still 208 00:12:15,120 --> 00:12:17,839 Speaker 1: working as a teacher, she started working as a journalist 209 00:12:17,880 --> 00:12:22,400 Speaker 1: as well, under the pen name of Iola. She wrote 210 00:12:22,400 --> 00:12:25,040 Speaker 1: about civil rights, and she wrote about social issues, and 211 00:12:25,120 --> 00:12:29,439 Speaker 1: she was eventually nicknamed Iola Princess of the Press. By 212 00:12:29,440 --> 00:12:32,240 Speaker 1: the end of the eighteen eighties, Wells had already written 213 00:12:32,240 --> 00:12:36,280 Speaker 1: a prolific body of newspaper columns. She also purchased a 214 00:12:36,360 --> 00:12:39,440 Speaker 1: one third share in the Memphis Free Speech and Headlight 215 00:12:39,720 --> 00:12:42,920 Speaker 1: in eighteen eighty nine, and eventually she and one of 216 00:12:42,920 --> 00:12:46,160 Speaker 1: the other co owners, J. L. Fleming, bought out their 217 00:12:46,200 --> 00:12:49,439 Speaker 1: third partner and they owned and ran the Free Speech together. 218 00:12:50,120 --> 00:12:52,760 Speaker 1: In eighteen ninety one, Wells wrote an article that was 219 00:12:52,840 --> 00:12:56,600 Speaker 1: critical of the Memphis School Board, and her teaching contract 220 00:12:56,920 --> 00:13:00,000 Speaker 1: was not renewed. She then turned her attention to journal 221 00:13:00,080 --> 00:13:03,360 Speaker 1: is um full time, and soon the focus of her 222 00:13:03,400 --> 00:13:07,760 Speaker 1: journalism turned to lynching. The catalyst was the May nine 223 00:13:08,840 --> 00:13:13,120 Speaker 1: lynching of Calvin McDowell, Thomas Moss, and Henry Stewart in Memphis. 224 00:13:13,720 --> 00:13:17,160 Speaker 1: They had been arrested and charged with maintaining a public 225 00:13:17,320 --> 00:13:20,480 Speaker 1: nuisance while trying to defend themselves and a grocery store 226 00:13:20,480 --> 00:13:24,280 Speaker 1: called the People's Grocery from an armed white mob. McDowell 227 00:13:24,400 --> 00:13:27,640 Speaker 1: was the store's manager, Stewart was the clerk, and Moss 228 00:13:27,679 --> 00:13:30,320 Speaker 1: was the president of the joint stock company that owned 229 00:13:30,360 --> 00:13:33,679 Speaker 1: the store. This incident started with a group of black 230 00:13:33,720 --> 00:13:37,320 Speaker 1: and white children playing marbles near the store. A fight 231 00:13:37,400 --> 00:13:40,479 Speaker 1: broke out after a black child won all the marbles. 232 00:13:41,000 --> 00:13:43,320 Speaker 1: A white man came out and beat the child who 233 00:13:43,400 --> 00:13:45,839 Speaker 1: had won the game, and a group of black men 234 00:13:45,960 --> 00:13:50,760 Speaker 1: attempted to intervene. A white mob formed in retaliation bent 235 00:13:50,880 --> 00:13:55,040 Speaker 1: on destroying the people's grocery. One of the white instigators 236 00:13:55,080 --> 00:13:58,920 Speaker 1: actually owned a competing grocery store. Yeah, they definitely had 237 00:13:58,960 --> 00:14:00,760 Speaker 1: it in their minds to run a grocery store out 238 00:14:00,800 --> 00:14:04,640 Speaker 1: of business and to hurt or kill its owners. So 239 00:14:04,679 --> 00:14:07,600 Speaker 1: after McDowell, Moss, and Stewart were jailed on the public 240 00:14:07,679 --> 00:14:11,679 Speaker 1: nuisance charged, an armed militia of black men tried to 241 00:14:11,760 --> 00:14:15,880 Speaker 1: stand guard outside of the jail. Was a known risk 242 00:14:16,000 --> 00:14:18,800 Speaker 1: if a black man was in jail for something that 243 00:14:18,920 --> 00:14:21,040 Speaker 1: a white mob could come and take him out of 244 00:14:21,040 --> 00:14:23,320 Speaker 1: that jail and harm him, so they were standing guard, 245 00:14:24,200 --> 00:14:28,120 Speaker 1: but eventually the sheriff ordered them to disperse and confiscated 246 00:14:28,160 --> 00:14:31,520 Speaker 1: all of their weapons. After they were gone, a crowd 247 00:14:31,560 --> 00:14:34,360 Speaker 1: of white men, as they had feared, came to the jail. 248 00:14:34,760 --> 00:14:37,560 Speaker 1: They took McDowell, Moss, and Stewart to a field outside 249 00:14:37,560 --> 00:14:42,360 Speaker 1: of town and shot all of them. Wells knew all 250 00:14:42,400 --> 00:14:45,880 Speaker 1: of these men. She was friends with Tom Moss, and she, 251 00:14:46,440 --> 00:14:49,160 Speaker 1: along with the rest of the black population, was terrified, 252 00:14:49,800 --> 00:14:53,720 Speaker 1: especially since the sheriff secured a court order authorizing him 253 00:14:53,760 --> 00:14:56,680 Speaker 1: to shoot any black person who seemed to be causing 254 00:14:56,720 --> 00:15:00,800 Speaker 1: trouble on site, even though men this had passed a 255 00:15:00,880 --> 00:15:03,800 Speaker 1: law banning the sale of firearms to its black population. 256 00:15:03,920 --> 00:15:06,560 Speaker 1: Wells bought a pistol, and she carried it in her purse. 257 00:15:07,120 --> 00:15:10,160 Speaker 1: But she also recognized that that pistol was only going 258 00:15:10,200 --> 00:15:13,360 Speaker 1: to go so far to defend her and the pages 259 00:15:13,440 --> 00:15:15,720 Speaker 1: of the Free Speech. She became one of the many 260 00:15:15,800 --> 00:15:18,800 Speaker 1: black voices urging the rest of the black population to 261 00:15:19,040 --> 00:15:23,840 Speaker 1: leave Memphis. There was actually a mass exodus out of Memphis, 262 00:15:24,160 --> 00:15:26,760 Speaker 1: was big enough that it's set off an economic crisis 263 00:15:26,840 --> 00:15:31,440 Speaker 1: as black business owners and laborers fled the city. After 264 00:15:31,440 --> 00:15:36,480 Speaker 1: this incident, Wells began researching, investigating, and writing about lynching. 265 00:15:37,160 --> 00:15:39,200 Speaker 1: This was the work that she would pursue for most 266 00:15:39,200 --> 00:15:42,840 Speaker 1: of the rest of her life. Almost immediately this work 267 00:15:42,920 --> 00:15:48,120 Speaker 1: led to Wells being threatened with lynching herself. On two 268 00:15:48,320 --> 00:15:50,840 Speaker 1: she published an article in The Free Speech that started 269 00:15:50,880 --> 00:15:53,360 Speaker 1: out with a statement that eight men had already been 270 00:15:53,480 --> 00:15:56,320 Speaker 1: lynched in the span of just a week. Five of 271 00:15:56,360 --> 00:15:59,560 Speaker 1: them had been accused of rape. She went on to write, quote, 272 00:15:59,640 --> 00:16:01,960 Speaker 1: no but in this section of the country believes the 273 00:16:02,000 --> 00:16:06,200 Speaker 1: old threadbare lie that negro men rape white women. If 274 00:16:06,240 --> 00:16:09,600 Speaker 1: Southern white men are not careful, they will overreach themselves, 275 00:16:09,680 --> 00:16:13,280 Speaker 1: and public sentiment will have a reaction. A conclusion will 276 00:16:13,320 --> 00:16:15,960 Speaker 1: then be reached which will be very damaging to the 277 00:16:16,000 --> 00:16:21,040 Speaker 1: moral reputation of their women. This was basically the same 278 00:16:21,160 --> 00:16:23,800 Speaker 1: argument that would appear in the Wilmington's Daily Record in 279 00:16:25,640 --> 00:16:29,760 Speaker 1: that these rape allegations were stemming from consensual relationships between 280 00:16:29,760 --> 00:16:32,920 Speaker 1: black men and white women. That was the article that 281 00:16:33,000 --> 00:16:36,360 Speaker 1: was used as justification for the Wilmington's coup and the 282 00:16:36,400 --> 00:16:40,640 Speaker 1: mass racist violence that followed it, and Wells's article sparked 283 00:16:40,640 --> 00:16:44,560 Speaker 1: similar outrage, although it did not launch a massacre. A 284 00:16:44,600 --> 00:16:47,880 Speaker 1: few days later, a white paper called the Daily Commercial 285 00:16:47,960 --> 00:16:51,920 Speaker 1: responded to wells article, and here's a quote quote. The 286 00:16:51,960 --> 00:16:55,640 Speaker 1: fact that a black scoundrel is allowed to live and 287 00:16:55,720 --> 00:17:00,600 Speaker 1: utter such loathsome and repulsive calumnies is of volvolume of 288 00:17:00,640 --> 00:17:04,439 Speaker 1: evidence as to the wonderful patience of Southern whites. But 289 00:17:04,560 --> 00:17:08,840 Speaker 1: we have had enough of it. Similar sentiments ran in 290 00:17:08,920 --> 00:17:11,840 Speaker 1: other papers, and a mob of people convened at the 291 00:17:11,880 --> 00:17:15,840 Speaker 1: Cotton Exchange Building in Memphis intending to lynch both co 292 00:17:15,960 --> 00:17:19,240 Speaker 1: owners of the Free Speech but Wells had gone to 293 00:17:19,280 --> 00:17:23,760 Speaker 1: Philadelphia to attend the African Methodist Episcopal Churches General Conference, 294 00:17:24,080 --> 00:17:25,719 Speaker 1: and from there she went on a trip to New 295 00:17:25,840 --> 00:17:29,879 Speaker 1: York rather than returning to Memphis. J. L. Fleming had 296 00:17:29,920 --> 00:17:33,199 Speaker 1: also left town for fear of his life. While Wells 297 00:17:33,240 --> 00:17:36,919 Speaker 1: and Fleming survived, the Free speech didn't. The mobs sacked 298 00:17:36,960 --> 00:17:39,879 Speaker 1: its offices and destroyed all of their equipment and furniture. 299 00:17:40,480 --> 00:17:43,800 Speaker 1: After this incident, Wells followed her own advice and she 300 00:17:43,880 --> 00:17:46,639 Speaker 1: left Memphis. She didn't even go back to try to 301 00:17:46,680 --> 00:17:50,320 Speaker 1: get her belongings. We will talk about her life after 302 00:17:50,400 --> 00:18:01,159 Speaker 1: leaving Memphis after a sponsor break. Even though I to 303 00:18:01,280 --> 00:18:04,879 Speaker 1: B Wells left Memphis behind, she did not back down 304 00:18:05,080 --> 00:18:08,440 Speaker 1: in her writing against lynching. After all of this happened, 305 00:18:08,840 --> 00:18:11,520 Speaker 1: she published a response to what had happened in the 306 00:18:11,560 --> 00:18:15,520 Speaker 1: New York Age on June nine two, and then a 307 00:18:15,560 --> 00:18:19,400 Speaker 1: lot of that response became her pamphlet, Southern Horrors Lynch 308 00:18:19,520 --> 00:18:22,480 Speaker 1: Law in all its phases. This pamphlet is one of 309 00:18:22,520 --> 00:18:26,480 Speaker 1: the most well known of her many many written works. 310 00:18:27,000 --> 00:18:30,399 Speaker 1: It started with a letter of praise from Frederick Douglas 311 00:18:30,440 --> 00:18:33,719 Speaker 1: saying of his own efforts related to lynching quote, I 312 00:18:33,840 --> 00:18:38,159 Speaker 1: have spoken, but my word is feeble in comparison to 313 00:18:38,240 --> 00:18:42,600 Speaker 1: quickly recamp. Lynching is the extra judicial murder of someone 314 00:18:42,640 --> 00:18:45,400 Speaker 1: who has been accused of a crime or other wrongdoing. 315 00:18:46,200 --> 00:18:49,760 Speaker 1: Between eighteen eighty two and nineteen sixty eight, there were 316 00:18:49,800 --> 00:18:53,240 Speaker 1: more than four thousand recorded lynchings in the United States. 317 00:18:53,920 --> 00:18:56,959 Speaker 1: More than seventy percent of the victims were black, and 318 00:18:57,000 --> 00:19:00,159 Speaker 1: many of the white victims were civil rights workers or 319 00:19:00,200 --> 00:19:03,760 Speaker 1: other people who tried to defend black citizens. Most of 320 00:19:03,760 --> 00:19:05,919 Speaker 1: these happened in the South, and they were away to 321 00:19:06,040 --> 00:19:11,680 Speaker 1: terrorize the black community and violently reinforced white supremacy. By 322 00:19:11,720 --> 00:19:14,840 Speaker 1: the time Ida B. Wells started her anti lynching work, 323 00:19:15,000 --> 00:19:19,359 Speaker 1: a false idea had been well established within the white community, 324 00:19:19,480 --> 00:19:23,000 Speaker 1: and that idea was that black men were raping white 325 00:19:23,000 --> 00:19:27,240 Speaker 1: women and that lynching was necessary to discourage these rapes. 326 00:19:28,200 --> 00:19:31,600 Speaker 1: Wells tackled this idea head on, countering that there were 327 00:19:31,640 --> 00:19:36,199 Speaker 1: consensual relationships between black men and white women like we 328 00:19:36,280 --> 00:19:39,840 Speaker 1: alluded to before the break. She wrote, quote, hundreds of 329 00:19:39,880 --> 00:19:43,000 Speaker 1: such cases might be cited, but enough have been given 330 00:19:43,080 --> 00:19:45,639 Speaker 1: to prove the assertion that there are white women in 331 00:19:45,680 --> 00:19:49,400 Speaker 1: the South who love the Afro Americans company, even as 332 00:19:49,440 --> 00:19:52,760 Speaker 1: there are white men notorious for their preference for Afro 333 00:19:52,880 --> 00:19:58,440 Speaker 1: American women. She also documented multiple instances of the same pattern, 334 00:19:59,000 --> 00:20:01,880 Speaker 1: a black man at used of a crime, then removed 335 00:20:01,880 --> 00:20:04,560 Speaker 1: from his jail cell by a white mob who murdered 336 00:20:04,640 --> 00:20:09,240 Speaker 1: him and desecrated his body. She wrote about the disenfranchisement 337 00:20:09,280 --> 00:20:12,119 Speaker 1: of the black population in the South through racist voting 338 00:20:12,200 --> 00:20:15,760 Speaker 1: laws and how that was contributing to the problem, and 339 00:20:15,800 --> 00:20:19,040 Speaker 1: she picked apart how white newspapers were participants in this 340 00:20:19,200 --> 00:20:23,600 Speaker 1: violence as well, repeating the same unproven and sometimes completely 341 00:20:23,720 --> 00:20:27,239 Speaker 1: fabricated allegations about the victims of lynching as though they 342 00:20:27,240 --> 00:20:31,639 Speaker 1: were fact, often using racist and sensationalized language to do it, 343 00:20:32,760 --> 00:20:35,879 Speaker 1: and Southern horrors. Wells also wrote about the need for 344 00:20:35,920 --> 00:20:38,840 Speaker 1: the black community to protect itself since no one else 345 00:20:38,880 --> 00:20:42,640 Speaker 1: was willing to do it, writing quote, the lesson this teaches, 346 00:20:42,800 --> 00:20:46,280 Speaker 1: and which every Afro American should ponder well, is that 347 00:20:46,320 --> 00:20:49,399 Speaker 1: a Winchester rifle should have a place of honor in 348 00:20:49,520 --> 00:20:52,439 Speaker 1: every black home, and it should be used for that 349 00:20:52,520 --> 00:20:56,840 Speaker 1: protection which the law refuses to give. She made the 350 00:20:56,880 --> 00:21:00,440 Speaker 1: point that this wasn't about the law. The people carried 351 00:21:00,440 --> 00:21:03,840 Speaker 1: out these lynchings were not interested in punishing all alleged 352 00:21:03,920 --> 00:21:08,280 Speaker 1: rapists only the black ones. Lynch mobs weren't operating within 353 00:21:08,359 --> 00:21:11,000 Speaker 1: any kind of legal framework, and they were celebrating the 354 00:21:11,040 --> 00:21:15,080 Speaker 1: murders they committed with things like postcards depicting the hanged 355 00:21:15,440 --> 00:21:20,159 Speaker 1: and desecrated bodies of the victims. After the publication of 356 00:21:20,240 --> 00:21:23,399 Speaker 1: Southern Horrors, Wells spent some time in New York City, 357 00:21:23,680 --> 00:21:25,639 Speaker 1: and then she went to the United Kingdom for an 358 00:21:25,680 --> 00:21:29,199 Speaker 1: anti lynching lecture tour. She wrote about her travels in 359 00:21:29,240 --> 00:21:33,040 Speaker 1: a dispatch called inter Ocean, including how, for the first time, 360 00:21:33,200 --> 00:21:36,639 Speaker 1: en route to Britain, white passengers treated her with quote 361 00:21:36,680 --> 00:21:39,679 Speaker 1: the courtesy they would have offered to any lady of 362 00:21:39,720 --> 00:21:43,159 Speaker 1: their own race. But she also remarked that some of 363 00:21:43,160 --> 00:21:45,720 Speaker 1: them seemed to be courteous to her in order to 364 00:21:45,920 --> 00:21:50,159 Speaker 1: shock the other white people around them. Wells returned from 365 00:21:50,200 --> 00:21:52,679 Speaker 1: the United Kingdom to take part in a boycott and 366 00:21:52,760 --> 00:21:57,480 Speaker 1: protest of the World's Colombian Exposition in eight three, also 367 00:21:57,560 --> 00:22:00,920 Speaker 1: known as the Chicago World's Fair. As we've talked about 368 00:22:00,920 --> 00:22:03,560 Speaker 1: on the show before, these fairs were celebrations of a 369 00:22:03,680 --> 00:22:08,399 Speaker 1: very particular aspect of American progress, that being white progress. 370 00:22:09,119 --> 00:22:12,760 Speaker 1: The Chicago World's Fair left black Americans almost entirely out 371 00:22:12,800 --> 00:22:18,080 Speaker 1: of its exhibitions, and what representations there were were demeaning. Also, 372 00:22:18,160 --> 00:22:21,880 Speaker 1: apart from janitors, porters and laborers, the fair only had 373 00:22:21,920 --> 00:22:27,240 Speaker 1: two black employees, both of them were clerks. So I. T. B. Wells, 374 00:22:27,359 --> 00:22:31,560 Speaker 1: Frederick Douglas, F. L. Barnett, and Jay Carlin Penn published 375 00:22:31,640 --> 00:22:35,679 Speaker 1: a pamphlet called The Reason Why the Colored American Is 376 00:22:35,720 --> 00:22:39,520 Speaker 1: Not in the World's Columbian Exposition, which was basically an 377 00:22:39,520 --> 00:22:43,480 Speaker 1: explainer written for fair attendees with an introduction in English, French, 378 00:22:43,520 --> 00:22:47,560 Speaker 1: and German. It walked through the many social and political 379 00:22:47,640 --> 00:22:51,000 Speaker 1: issues affecting the black population, and then it detailed a 380 00:22:51,240 --> 00:22:55,800 Speaker 1: lengthy back and forth with organizers, basically going back and 381 00:22:55,840 --> 00:22:59,520 Speaker 1: forth about including black people in the fair that showed 382 00:22:59,560 --> 00:23:04,840 Speaker 1: discrimin nation against the black community at every step. Ferdinand 383 00:23:04,920 --> 00:23:08,560 Speaker 1: Lee Barnett, co author of this pamphlet, attorney and founder 384 00:23:08,560 --> 00:23:11,879 Speaker 1: of Chicago's first black newspaper, would go on to be 385 00:23:11,960 --> 00:23:15,240 Speaker 1: Wells's husband. It's not clear exactly when they met or 386 00:23:15,280 --> 00:23:19,119 Speaker 1: how their courtship began. Wells had from her teenage years 387 00:23:19,119 --> 00:23:22,040 Speaker 1: had lots of suitors, and by her thirties she was 388 00:23:22,080 --> 00:23:25,200 Speaker 1: frustrated that she was not yet married. And the fact 389 00:23:25,200 --> 00:23:28,400 Speaker 1: that she wasn't caused a lot of suspicion about her morals. 390 00:23:29,040 --> 00:23:33,080 Speaker 1: Black women were heavily stereotyped as promiscuous, and Wells's work 391 00:23:33,160 --> 00:23:35,640 Speaker 1: meant she was often in the company of men, so 392 00:23:35,680 --> 00:23:40,439 Speaker 1: she had to constantly defend herself against malicious gossip. Some 393 00:23:40,560 --> 00:23:45,800 Speaker 1: of this was like malicious gossip published in newspapers as fact, 394 00:23:45,960 --> 00:23:48,880 Speaker 1: it wasn't just people talking about her behind her back. 395 00:23:50,080 --> 00:23:53,120 Speaker 1: For a time, this courtship was long distance. Wells returned 396 00:23:53,119 --> 00:23:56,760 Speaker 1: to the UK and eighteen ninety four to continue her 397 00:23:56,800 --> 00:24:00,640 Speaker 1: anti lynching tour. She was really finding a much more 398 00:24:00,720 --> 00:24:03,560 Speaker 1: receptive audience to her work in the UK than in 399 00:24:03,640 --> 00:24:07,560 Speaker 1: the US. She helped found the British Anti Lynching Committee, 400 00:24:07,600 --> 00:24:10,840 Speaker 1: which started launching other anti lynching groups and working with 401 00:24:10,880 --> 00:24:15,359 Speaker 1: British clergy to get their American colleagues on board. Ida B. 402 00:24:15,520 --> 00:24:20,800 Speaker 1: Wells and Ferdinand Barnett married on June when Wells was 403 00:24:20,840 --> 00:24:24,040 Speaker 1: thirty two. She was so well known by this point 404 00:24:24,080 --> 00:24:26,320 Speaker 1: that The New York Times mentioned her wedding in a 405 00:24:26,359 --> 00:24:30,480 Speaker 1: small feature at the bottom of the front page. That's 406 00:24:30,520 --> 00:24:33,760 Speaker 1: suspicion and criticism of her personal life that had been 407 00:24:33,760 --> 00:24:36,800 Speaker 1: going on while she was single. Didn't really stop after 408 00:24:36,880 --> 00:24:42,280 Speaker 1: Wells Barnett's marriage, though other activists, including Susan b. Anthony, 409 00:24:42,320 --> 00:24:46,080 Speaker 1: criticized her for getting married. Susan b Anthony basically told 410 00:24:46,080 --> 00:24:48,360 Speaker 1: her she shouldn't be messing around with some man when 411 00:24:48,400 --> 00:24:51,440 Speaker 1: she had important work to do. But unlike a lot 412 00:24:51,440 --> 00:24:54,360 Speaker 1: of the white women who were activists and were choosing 413 00:24:54,400 --> 00:24:57,479 Speaker 1: not to marry, Wells Barnett did not come from money 414 00:24:57,600 --> 00:25:00,320 Speaker 1: or have other family to help support her in her work. 415 00:25:00,840 --> 00:25:04,080 Speaker 1: She also just wanted to be married and to have children. 416 00:25:04,720 --> 00:25:07,479 Speaker 1: She and Frederick had each found in one another a 417 00:25:07,520 --> 00:25:10,680 Speaker 1: partner that they could trust and who could work with 418 00:25:10,840 --> 00:25:13,280 Speaker 1: and support the other and the civil rights work that 419 00:25:13,359 --> 00:25:17,760 Speaker 1: they were both doing, and their marriage was not exactly conventional. 420 00:25:18,359 --> 00:25:22,520 Speaker 1: Wells Barnett hyphenated her last name rather than taking her husband's, 421 00:25:22,560 --> 00:25:24,800 Speaker 1: and her work and travel did slow down a little 422 00:25:24,800 --> 00:25:27,680 Speaker 1: bit as she raised children. She and Ferdinand had four 423 00:25:27,760 --> 00:25:30,280 Speaker 1: kids together, and he had too from his marriage to 424 00:25:30,359 --> 00:25:33,160 Speaker 1: his late first wife, but she did not stop working, 425 00:25:33,280 --> 00:25:36,880 Speaker 1: and sometimes she traveled to speaking engagements with the babies 426 00:25:37,040 --> 00:25:41,960 Speaker 1: and a nurse. Wells Barnett continued her anti lynching campaign 427 00:25:42,080 --> 00:25:43,879 Speaker 1: for much of the rest of her life, and she 428 00:25:44,040 --> 00:25:48,040 Speaker 1: also advocated for other causes. She called for a kindergarten 429 00:25:48,040 --> 00:25:50,960 Speaker 1: in Chicago that would enroll black children. She was part 430 00:25:50,960 --> 00:25:53,840 Speaker 1: of the movement for women's suffrage, and in addition to 431 00:25:54,040 --> 00:25:57,680 Speaker 1: investigating and spreading awareness of the lynching of black men, 432 00:25:58,119 --> 00:26:01,080 Speaker 1: she did the same for lynching, ray and sexual assault 433 00:26:01,119 --> 00:26:04,960 Speaker 1: of black women. She also butted heads with a lot 434 00:26:05,119 --> 00:26:11,600 Speaker 1: of other leaders in these spaces. She was described as difficult, headstrong, stubborn, temperamental, 435 00:26:12,000 --> 00:26:16,119 Speaker 1: and prickly. She helped found multiple civil rights organizations, but 436 00:26:16,200 --> 00:26:18,920 Speaker 1: she often didn't become an ongoing member. In the face 437 00:26:18,960 --> 00:26:22,360 Speaker 1: of these personality conflicts, many of which were likely due 438 00:26:22,400 --> 00:26:24,719 Speaker 1: to the fact that she was not behaving as was 439 00:26:24,760 --> 00:26:29,199 Speaker 1: expected of a woman. Gets pretty well agreed upon that 440 00:26:29,320 --> 00:26:31,679 Speaker 1: if she had been a man, a lot of the 441 00:26:31,680 --> 00:26:34,880 Speaker 1: things that people criticized her for would have instead been 442 00:26:34,920 --> 00:26:39,000 Speaker 1: seen as assets. She also called out both black and 443 00:26:39,080 --> 00:26:43,520 Speaker 1: white activists for their complicity or their missteps. This included 444 00:26:43,640 --> 00:26:47,199 Speaker 1: ongoing disagreements with Booker T. Washington, whose work was a 445 00:26:47,240 --> 00:26:50,119 Speaker 1: lot more focused on the idea of giving black citizens 446 00:26:50,160 --> 00:26:54,320 Speaker 1: the tools and education to help themselves, not on advocating 447 00:26:54,400 --> 00:26:58,520 Speaker 1: for changes to the law or aggressively fighting back against injustice. 448 00:26:59,080 --> 00:27:02,480 Speaker 1: She really saw his approach as to conciliatory and too 449 00:27:02,560 --> 00:27:05,800 Speaker 1: tolerant of white racism, and she finally cut ties with 450 00:27:05,880 --> 00:27:09,800 Speaker 1: him after he refused to denounce a particularly horrifying lynching. 451 00:27:11,000 --> 00:27:15,119 Speaker 1: She also called out past podcast subject Jane Adams. On 452 00:27:15,240 --> 00:27:18,800 Speaker 1: January third, nineteen o one, Adams published an essay in 453 00:27:18,800 --> 00:27:23,200 Speaker 1: The Independent called Respect for the Law. This essay clearly 454 00:27:23,280 --> 00:27:27,119 Speaker 1: and definitively condemned lynching, but it also gave the people 455 00:27:27,240 --> 00:27:30,359 Speaker 1: perpetrating these crimes a lot of the benefit of the doubt. 456 00:27:31,119 --> 00:27:34,360 Speaker 1: She wrote, quote, let us assume that the Southern citizens 457 00:27:34,400 --> 00:27:36,480 Speaker 1: who take part in and a bet the lynching of 458 00:27:36,560 --> 00:27:40,439 Speaker 1: negroes honestly believe that it is the only successful method 459 00:27:40,520 --> 00:27:43,800 Speaker 1: of dealing with a certain class of crimes. And later 460 00:27:43,880 --> 00:27:46,239 Speaker 1: she went on to write, quote, let us give the 461 00:27:46,240 --> 00:27:49,960 Speaker 1: Southern citizens the full benefit of this position, and assume 462 00:27:50,080 --> 00:27:52,440 Speaker 1: that they have set aside trial by jury and all 463 00:27:52,480 --> 00:27:55,639 Speaker 1: processes of law because they have become convinced that this 464 00:27:55,720 --> 00:27:58,760 Speaker 1: brutal method of theirs is the most efficient method in 465 00:27:58,840 --> 00:28:02,040 Speaker 1: dealing with a peculiar case of crime committed by one 466 00:28:02,119 --> 00:28:05,399 Speaker 1: race against another. Jane Adams, in a lot of ways 467 00:28:05,440 --> 00:28:08,960 Speaker 1: when it came to to to racism and racial discrimination, 468 00:28:09,040 --> 00:28:11,119 Speaker 1: like a lot. In a lot of ways she was 469 00:28:11,160 --> 00:28:14,000 Speaker 1: really progressive, and this was not a case where she 470 00:28:14,119 --> 00:28:17,440 Speaker 1: was really progressive, and you know, I'd be Wells Barnett 471 00:28:17,720 --> 00:28:19,360 Speaker 1: knew her and worked with her they were both living 472 00:28:19,359 --> 00:28:23,960 Speaker 1: in Chicago. She published a rebuttal on May sixt So 473 00:28:24,960 --> 00:28:28,040 Speaker 1: Wells Barnett started out by praising Jane Adams and saying 474 00:28:28,040 --> 00:28:30,960 Speaker 1: that she was reluctant to diminish the impact of what 475 00:28:31,000 --> 00:28:34,960 Speaker 1: Adams had done. Adams was a well known, well respected 476 00:28:35,000 --> 00:28:38,200 Speaker 1: white woman who was condemning lynching, and she was doing 477 00:28:38,280 --> 00:28:42,640 Speaker 1: so with a dispassionate and logical argument. So this just 478 00:28:42,800 --> 00:28:45,520 Speaker 1: was not something that most white leaders in the United 479 00:28:45,520 --> 00:28:48,840 Speaker 1: States were doing. So Wells Barnett made it clear that 480 00:28:48,880 --> 00:28:52,880 Speaker 1: if every white activist wrote a similar essay, the nation 481 00:28:52,920 --> 00:28:56,640 Speaker 1: would be in a much better place. But from there, 482 00:28:56,920 --> 00:29:01,160 Speaker 1: Wells Barnett directly criticized the assumption that Adams had rested 483 00:29:01,160 --> 00:29:04,800 Speaker 1: her argument on. She pointed out that giving the perpetrators 484 00:29:04,840 --> 00:29:07,480 Speaker 1: of lynching the benefit of the doubt, as quote doing 485 00:29:07,520 --> 00:29:12,000 Speaker 1: what was best, was dangerous and damaging. She also picked 486 00:29:12,040 --> 00:29:14,959 Speaker 1: apart once again the idea that the victims of lynching 487 00:29:15,000 --> 00:29:19,440 Speaker 1: had committed rape, using the Chicago Tribunes annual lynching statistics 488 00:29:19,440 --> 00:29:23,160 Speaker 1: to back up what she was saying. Wells Barnett was 489 00:29:23,280 --> 00:29:25,600 Speaker 1: present at the founding of the Double A c P 490 00:29:26,000 --> 00:29:28,160 Speaker 1: and at its first meetings she gave a talk called 491 00:29:28,280 --> 00:29:32,560 Speaker 1: Lynching Our National Crime, which incorporated her, at that point, 492 00:29:32,640 --> 00:29:38,440 Speaker 1: almost twenty years of research and advocacy. To sum it up, quote, first, 493 00:29:38,840 --> 00:29:43,480 Speaker 1: lynching is color line murder. Second, crimes against women is 494 00:29:43,520 --> 00:29:47,040 Speaker 1: the excuse, not the cause. And third, it is a 495 00:29:47,160 --> 00:29:51,800 Speaker 1: national crime and requires a national remedy. So, although she 496 00:29:51,840 --> 00:29:54,880 Speaker 1: did continue to participate in the Double A CPS work 497 00:29:54,920 --> 00:29:59,080 Speaker 1: at various points, she wasn't listed as an official founder, 498 00:29:59,120 --> 00:30:03,959 Speaker 1: and she eventually distanced herself from that organization. In spite 499 00:30:03,960 --> 00:30:07,880 Speaker 1: of Wells Barnett's lifelong work, there was no national remedy 500 00:30:07,920 --> 00:30:12,600 Speaker 1: for lynching. Although some states passed laws against lynching, Southern 501 00:30:12,640 --> 00:30:16,000 Speaker 1: Democrats blocked efforts to pass laws at the national level. 502 00:30:16,720 --> 00:30:20,560 Speaker 1: The protections Wells Barnett was fighting for we're finally included, 503 00:30:20,640 --> 00:30:23,560 Speaker 1: at least on paper, in the Civil Rights Act of 504 00:30:23,680 --> 00:30:27,880 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty four. By that point, Wills Barnett had been 505 00:30:27,920 --> 00:30:30,800 Speaker 1: dead for more than thirty years. She died on March 506 00:30:31,800 --> 00:30:34,640 Speaker 1: thirty one, at the age of sixty nine. At the 507 00:30:34,680 --> 00:30:37,800 Speaker 1: time of her depths, she had been working on her autobiography, 508 00:30:37,840 --> 00:30:41,280 Speaker 1: which she started on about three years before. She was 509 00:30:41,360 --> 00:30:45,520 Speaker 1: motivated in part to write this autobiography by attending a 510 00:30:45,600 --> 00:30:49,480 Speaker 1: Negro History Week event in Chicago. They were discussing a 511 00:30:49,560 --> 00:30:52,120 Speaker 1: book by Carter G. Woodson, who was one of the 512 00:30:52,160 --> 00:30:56,120 Speaker 1: first scholars of black history like that was becoming a field, 513 00:30:56,120 --> 00:30:59,320 Speaker 1: and he's recognized as one of the first people doing 514 00:30:59,360 --> 00:31:02,280 Speaker 1: this work. His book that he had written on a 515 00:31:02,360 --> 00:31:06,600 Speaker 1: topic made no mention of her anti lynching work at all, 516 00:31:06,680 --> 00:31:09,040 Speaker 1: and she realized that if she wanted her life and 517 00:31:09,120 --> 00:31:11,400 Speaker 1: work to be documented, she was going to have to 518 00:31:11,400 --> 00:31:17,280 Speaker 1: do it herself. Her youngest daughter, ALFREDA. Duster, edited this autobiography, 519 00:31:17,320 --> 00:31:20,360 Speaker 1: which is called Crusade for Justice, and it was published 520 00:31:20,360 --> 00:31:23,680 Speaker 1: in nineteen seventy and the book came out just as 521 00:31:23,720 --> 00:31:26,959 Speaker 1: there was an increasing focus on both black history and 522 00:31:27,040 --> 00:31:30,719 Speaker 1: women's history in the United States. It helped bring Wells 523 00:31:30,720 --> 00:31:33,680 Speaker 1: Barnet's work and accomplishments back to the forefront of the 524 00:31:33,760 --> 00:31:37,480 Speaker 1: national consciousness. Yeah and those decades between her death and 525 00:31:37,480 --> 00:31:39,560 Speaker 1: when the book came out, she she kind of faded 526 00:31:39,560 --> 00:31:41,640 Speaker 1: in the background. She wasn't included in a lot of 527 00:31:42,080 --> 00:31:45,880 Speaker 1: discussion about black history. Today, there is an Ida B. 528 00:31:45,960 --> 00:31:49,360 Speaker 1: Wells Barnett Museum at the Spirous Bowling House. The IDB. 529 00:31:49,480 --> 00:31:52,520 Speaker 1: Wells Barnett House in Chicago is a private residence, but 530 00:31:52,560 --> 00:31:56,480 Speaker 1: it's also a National Historical Landmark. And the National Memorial 531 00:31:56,560 --> 00:31:59,040 Speaker 1: for Peace and Justice, which is a memorial to the 532 00:31:59,120 --> 00:32:02,640 Speaker 1: victims of lynch, ng and racist terror, opened on April 533 00:32:03,840 --> 00:32:07,800 Speaker 1: teen in Montgomery, Alabama. And we will end with a 534 00:32:07,880 --> 00:32:10,880 Speaker 1: quote that sums up both what made her such a 535 00:32:11,000 --> 00:32:14,239 Speaker 1: force to be reckoned with and why people describe her 536 00:32:14,280 --> 00:32:17,560 Speaker 1: with words like prickly. That makes me angry, but I 537 00:32:17,600 --> 00:32:20,320 Speaker 1: also know that people describe me with words like prickly, 538 00:32:20,480 --> 00:32:23,440 Speaker 1: So I feel like a tiny bit of kinship with her, 539 00:32:24,840 --> 00:32:30,360 Speaker 1: although she is far beyond my abilities Anyway. In nineteen 540 00:32:30,360 --> 00:32:33,560 Speaker 1: o nine, a man had been lynched in Cairo, Illinois, 541 00:32:34,200 --> 00:32:37,680 Speaker 1: and according to a nineteen o four Illinois in Illinois law, 542 00:32:37,920 --> 00:32:41,120 Speaker 1: a sheriff whose prisoner was lynched had to be removed 543 00:32:41,160 --> 00:32:44,440 Speaker 1: from his position and then he had to apply for reinstatement. 544 00:32:44,960 --> 00:32:48,880 Speaker 1: So the sheriff who was involved with this lynching. I 545 00:32:48,880 --> 00:32:50,960 Speaker 1: don't know if he was directly involved, but the man 546 00:32:51,080 --> 00:32:53,400 Speaker 1: had been taken from his jail while he was the 547 00:32:53,400 --> 00:32:57,400 Speaker 1: person in charge. UH he had applied for reinstatement, and 548 00:32:57,480 --> 00:33:01,880 Speaker 1: Wells Barnett went to Cairo and successfully got that application 549 00:33:01,960 --> 00:33:06,200 Speaker 1: for reinstatement denied. So the Springfield Forum had this to 550 00:33:06,240 --> 00:33:10,440 Speaker 1: say on December eleven of that year. Quote, Ida Wells 551 00:33:10,480 --> 00:33:14,600 Speaker 1: Barnett is to be highly lauded for her courage and magnanimity. 552 00:33:14,880 --> 00:33:18,959 Speaker 1: She towers high above all of her male contemporaries and 553 00:33:19,080 --> 00:33:22,680 Speaker 1: has more of the aggressive qualities than the average man. 554 00:33:23,120 --> 00:33:25,760 Speaker 1: It belittles the men to some extent to have a 555 00:33:25,840 --> 00:33:28,760 Speaker 1: woman come forward to do the work that is naturally 556 00:33:28,840 --> 00:33:32,640 Speaker 1: presumed to be that of men. But Mrs Barnett never 557 00:33:32,840 --> 00:33:36,200 Speaker 1: shrinks or evades. She is a heroine of her age, 558 00:33:36,240 --> 00:33:39,000 Speaker 1: and the nation is better off for her having lived 559 00:33:39,040 --> 00:33:44,560 Speaker 1: in it. Long live Mrs Ida b Wells Barnett. I 560 00:33:44,640 --> 00:33:52,400 Speaker 1: love that quote. Thank you so much for joining us 561 00:33:52,400 --> 00:33:55,360 Speaker 1: today for this Saturday classic. If you have heard any 562 00:33:55,440 --> 00:33:57,640 Speaker 1: kind of email address or maybe a Facebook you are 563 00:33:57,760 --> 00:33:59,600 Speaker 1: l during the course of the episode that might be 564 00:33:59,640 --> 00:34:02,240 Speaker 1: obsole leap. It might be doubly obsolete because we have 565 00:34:02,320 --> 00:34:05,560 Speaker 1: changed our email address again. You can now reach us 566 00:34:05,600 --> 00:34:08,960 Speaker 1: at history podcasts at i heart radio dot com, and 567 00:34:09,000 --> 00:34:11,880 Speaker 1: we're all over social media at missed in History, and 568 00:34:11,960 --> 00:34:15,839 Speaker 1: you can subscribe to our show on Apple podcasts, Google podcasts, 569 00:34:15,840 --> 00:34:18,439 Speaker 1: the I heart Radio app, and wherever else you listen 570 00:34:18,440 --> 00:34:23,880 Speaker 1: to podcasts. Stuff you Missed in History Class is a 571 00:34:23,920 --> 00:34:27,120 Speaker 1: production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from I 572 00:34:27,200 --> 00:34:30,399 Speaker 1: heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple podcasts, 573 00:34:30,520 --> 00:34:32,560 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.