In a small town of Holly Springs, Mississippi lives a young woman, Ida B. Wells, who uses the power of her words to make a change. Her parents, James and Elizabeth Wells, emphasized the importance of education and her father was involved in politics by becoming a member of Loyal League. Through these teachings an interest in politics and ambitious goals were born. Following the footsteps of her parents, Ida B. Wells, born as a slave, devoted her whole life in creating a place of racial equality for the African Americans. Ida B. Wells has helped the African-American Community against lynching and discrimination by publishing book, writing articles and creating an anti-lynching crusade as she realizes the effects of her method. With these strategies, Ida B. Wells became a part of a group striving for African-American Justice. (CITE AT THE END OF PARAGRAPH) Pursuing this further, Ida’s first step into this new idea of racial equality was through her love of writing. This development first began when she attended Shaw University, which turned her into a person fighting for her rights. Her first article that began developing new strategies was the incident that occurred on May 4, 1884. While coming home from her job, the conductor asked Ida to move from the ladies cart to the front of the smoking car. After she refused, the conductor attempted to relocate her, but failed. Getting off at the next stop, she immediately hired a lawyer, went to court and sued the “Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad “winning $500. However, the railroad appealed the verdict and in 1887, the Tennessee Supreme Court reversed the decision of the lower court and Ida was ordered to pay court costs. Even though Ida lost the money, she gained a new opportunity that pr... ... middle of paper ... ...ting her article. In addition, One of the major drawbacks in her approach is most people do not know Ida B. Wells., She has done a great amount of justice for the African American community and is considered the first Rosa Parks. Ida was the first one to stand up for her people and created different organizations that continue to carry on till this day. Without Ida B. Wells these organizations might not have been born. Her contributions have been neglected until the civil rights movement and many of her writings, activities and accomplishment are finally released after a while. In addition, after Booker T. Washington and W.E. B Du bois became spokesperson, Ida was overshadowed due to her radical views. Luckily, Ida B, Wells accomplishments are available and she is recognized as the leader and heroine she is supposed to be, even though not many people heard of her.
The forties and fifties in the United States was a period dominated by racial segregation and racism. The declaration of independence clearly stated, “All men are created equal,” which should be the fundamental belief of every citizen. America is the land of equal opportunity for every citizen to succeed and prosper through determination, hard-work and initiative. However, black citizens soon found lack of truth in these statements. The Montgomery Bus Boycott and the murder of Emmett Till in 1955 rapidly captured national headlines of civil rights movement. In the book, Coming of Age in Mississippi, the author, Anne Moody describes her experiences, her thoughts, and the movements that formed her life. The events she went through prepared her to fight for the civil right.
Anne Moody’s memoir, Coming of Age in Mississippi, is an influential insight into the existence of a young girl growing up in the South during the Civil-Rights Movement. Moody’s book records her coming of age as a woman, and possibly more significantly, it chronicles her coming of age as a politically active Negro woman. She is faced with countless problems dealing with the racism and threat of the South as a poor African American female. Her childhood and early years in school set up groundwork for her racial consciousness. Moody assembled that foundation as she went to college and scatter the seeds of political activism. During her later years in college, Moody became active in numerous organizations devoted to creating changes to the civil rights of her people. These actions ultimately led to her disillusionment with the success of the movement, despite her constant action. These factors have contributed in shaping her attitude towards race and her skepticism about fundamental change in society.
Ida B. Wells was born into slavery, and lived in Holly Springs Mississippi. She was later freed, and learned from her parents what it meant to be a political activist. By 1891, Wells was the owner of the newspaper, Free Speech, and was reporting on the horrors that were occurring in the south. Wells, along with other people of the African American activist community were particularly horrified about the lynching’s that were occurring in the south. As a response to the lynching that was occurring, and other violent acts that the African American community was dealing with Wells wrote three pamphlets: Southern Horrors, The Red Record, and Mob Brutality. Muckraking and investigative journalism can be seen throughout these pamphlets, as well as Wells intent to persuade the African American community, and certain members of the white community to take a stand against the crime of lynching. Wells’ writings are an effective historical text, because she serves as a voice to an underrepresented African American community.
Deborah Gray White was one of the first persons to vigorously attempt to examine the abounding trials and tribulations that the slave women in the south were faced with. Mrs. White used her background skills acquired from participating in the Board of Governors Professor of History and Professor of Women 's and Gender Studies at Rutgers University to research the abundance of stories that she could gather insight from. It was during her studies that she pulled her title from the famous Ain’t I A Woman speech given by Sojourner Truth. In order to accurately report the discriminations that these women endured, White had to research whether the “stories” she was writing about were true or not.
In the beginning of the book Hunter proceeded to tell us about the history of African-American women in a broader narrative of political and economic life in Atlanta. Her first chapter highlights the agency of Civil War era urban slaves who actively resisted the terms of their labor and thus hastened
The life of Anna Julia Cooper (1858-1964) affords rich opportunities for studying the developments in African-American and Ameri can life during the century following emancipation. Like W.E.B. DuBois, Cooper's life is framed by especially momentous years in U.S. history: the final years of slavery and the climactic years of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's. Cooper's eclect ic and influential career mirrored the times. Although her life was privileged in relation to those of the majority of African-Americans, Cooper shared in the experiences of wrenching change, elevating promise, and heart-breaking disappointment. She was accordingly able to be an organic and committed intellectual whose eloquent speech was ensnarled in her concern for the future of African-Americans.
Throughout her career Ida achieved more than anyone thought was possible for an African American women during that time. However, it was not an easy process. Ida faced many hardships throughout her career including, racial discrimination, gender discrimination, and hate from the people she fought against. Ida faced all her problems head on which is a major reason for her success. She continued to persevere even when everyone seemed to be against her. She never took no for an answer and always worked hard till she accomplished her goals. Everyone knew and still knows Ida as a hard worker, determined to fight for the rights of her and others around her. Ida died in Chicago on March 25th of 1931 but her legacy continues to live on.
Anne Moody had thought about joining the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), but she never did until she found out one of her roommates at Tougaloo college was the secretary. Her roommate asked, “why don’t you become a member” (248), so Anne did. Once she went to a meeting, she became actively involved. She was always participating in various freedom marches, would go out into the community to get black people to register to vote. She always seemed to be working on getting support from the black community, sometimes to the point of exhaustion. Son after she joined the NAACP, she met a girl that was the secretary to the ...
I chose to do this research paper on Angela Davis because of her numerous contributions to the advancements of civil rights as well as to the women’s rights movement. I have passionate beliefs regarding the oppression of women and people of racial minorities. I sought to learn from Davis’ ideology and proposed solutions to these conflicts that pervade our society. As well, I hoped to gain historical insight into her life and the civil rights movement of the 1960’s and 70’s. I believe this research paper to be a way to honor Davis for her efforts toward furthering justice for all people, no matter their sex or race.
Ida Barnett Wells was born a slave on July 16, 1862 in Holly Springs, Mississippi. She was the oldest child of eight children for her parents. Approximately six months after Ida B. Wells was conceived, African American slaves were ordered to be free by the Union, thanks to the Emancipation Proclamation. However, since Ida Wells’ family resided in Mississippi, they still were facing racial prejudices and were confided by discriminatory rules and practices (pbs.org, 2002).
Though the library only served African American patrons, the position as a librarian normally went to a white person. She convinced the employer that she was qualified by showing him/her that she was a published poet. She also taught at her alma mater, the Virginia Theological Seminary and College for free, just because she loved teaching Clark. On the other hand, Edward was Lynchburg, Virginia’s first parcel postman. Not only was this an enormous achievement for the city of Lynchburg, but also because Edward was an African American.
Discrimination is “the unjust or prejudicial treatment of different categories of people or things.” On December 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, Rosa Parks was ordered to give up her bus seat to a white passenger and refused. This act of opposition defied all normalities for the average black woman. The treatment of a woman who was black compared to the treatment of a white woman in that age was completely discriminatory. Rosa Park’s strength to influence justice against racial segregation has slowly influenced justice against all discrimination. “The Help,” a 2009 novel written by American author, Kathryn Stockett, is a story about African-American maids working for white households in Jackson, Mississippi set in the early 1960’s. “The Help” depicts these women as individuals similar to Rosa Parks, who want to influence change and equality. Through “The Help,” the reader can relate the thoughts and views of the characters to our society today, particularly on the grounds of race, class and gender.
Wells. In May 1892, whites envied three of her friends for opening a successful grocery store. Her friends were arrested, then taken from jail, and lynched. Lynching was a very public act that differs from ordinary murders or assaults because it is a killing that is against the boundaries of due process; the legal requirement that all states must respect all legal rights owed to a person. This horrific execution took place every other day in the 1890’s, but the mob killing of the innocent three men who owned the grocery store was extremely frightening. In protest 2000 black residence left Memphis that summer and headed West for Oklahoma, but Ida B Wells stayed and began her own research on lynching. Her editorials in the “Memphis Free Speech and Headlight” confronted the Lynch Law; which was said to be in place to protect white women, even though they leave white men free to seduce all the colored girls he can, yet black men were being lynched for having consensual relations with white women. Ida B. Wells states, “No one believes the old thread lies that Negro men assault white women, and if the southern white men are not careful they will overreach themselves and a conclusion will be reached which will be very damaging to the moral reputation of their women”. Whites were outraged with her words and Wells was fortunately away in the East when a mob came looking for her, they trashed the offices
Ida B. Wells was a woman dedicated to a cause, a cause to prevent hundreds of thousands of people from being murdered by lynching. Lynching is defined as to take the law into its own hands and kill someone in punishment for a crime or a presumed crime. Ida B. Wells’ back round made her a logical spokesperson against lynching. She drew on many experiences throughout her life to aid in her crusade. Her position as a black woman, however, affected her credibility both in and out of America in a few different ways.
Ransby, Barbara. Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement: a Radical Democratic Vision. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina, 2003. Print.