{"id":412,"date":"2021-02-17T03:23:43","date_gmt":"2021-02-17T03:23:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dh-wordpress.ramapo.edu\/discovering1920s\/?p=412"},"modified":"2023-05-12T13:49:28","modified_gmt":"2023-05-12T13:49:28","slug":"ida-b-wells-role-in-women-suffrage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh-wordpress.ramapo.edu\/discovering1920s\/blog\/2021\/02\/17\/ida-b-wells-role-in-women-suffrage\/","title":{"rendered":"Ida B. Wells"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Photograph of Ida B. Wells.
Source: https:\/\/www.biography.com\/activist\/ida-b-wells<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Biographical Overview<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Ida B. Wells (1862-1931) was born during the Civil War Era into slavery on July 16, 1862, in Holly Springs, Mississippi. After the end of the Civil War, Wells’ parents become very active in politics, which clearly left an impression on Ida. She attended higher education at Rust College until both of her parents, unfortunately, passed away after getting sick from Yellow Fever. She was forced to drop out of school to move back home to take care of her siblings. They moved to Memphis, Tennessee where she worked as an educator. [1]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After growing up in slavery and seeing the blatant mistreatment of African Americans, Ida B. Wells worked very hard to be an advocate. One of her first occurrences with discrimination as an adult was in 1884, Wells was removed from a first-class train, even though she had fully paid for a ticket. She sued the train company and took her case to court. She did win on the local level, but when it was appealed and brought to the federal court, it was overturned. According to a biography of Ida B. Well’s on Britannica, three of Wells’ close friends was a victim of a lynching by a white mob, which led Wells’ advocacy to expand into white supremacy violence. [2] She later wrote a piece on the lynchings of African Americans which greatly angered the local citizens in Memphis, Tennesse. Her teaching contract was not renewed and she began to receive numerous threats to her life which forced her to move herself and her family to Chicago Illinois. [3] She began touring the United States lecturing in favor of African American rights and began organizing anti-lynching organizations. [4] She became Ida B. Wells-Barnett in 1895, after marrying Chicago lawyer, Ferdinand L. Barnett, and taking on his name in addition to keeping her own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ida B. Wells led multiple women’s organizations such as founding the National Association of Colored Women’s Club and she was present for the founding of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The purpose of the National Association of Colored Women’s Club was “created to address issues dealing with civil rights and women’s suffrage.” [5] The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was created in response to the consistent violence that was being carried out against people of color throughout the United States. At the time it was, and still remains, one of the largest and most influential civil rights organizations in the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other notable organizations Ida B. Wells worked on was the founding of the Negro Fellowship League, an organization that assisted colored people migrating from the South to the North. She also founded Chicago’s Alpha Suffrage Club which was one of the first Black women suffrage groups. Ida B Wells’ took on other leadership roles during her course of advocacy for African American’s rights such as from 1913 to 1916 when she worked for the Chicago Municipal Court as a probation officer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She also greatly contributed to the women’s suffrage movement as she began the Alpha Suffrage Club in 1913. Ida B. Wells was motivated to begin such an organization after seeing the hardships African American women faced and the lack of education they had to actively partake in politics and following along with the electoral process. She created these clubs in hope of encouraging other African American women to join her in her passion for politics and provide a space for African American women to become engaged and educated about politics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Washington D.C. on March 3, 1913, there were 8,000 women that gathered to march for a woman’s right to vote. However, though marching for the same goal, Ida B. Wells and other African American women were forced to march in the very back, they were not allowed near the white women. In an article for PBS, the reasoning for this was not only discriminatory but also political as one of the main oppositions to women suffrage at the time, was the “fear” or “concern” of African Americans gaining more rights, such as African American women gaining the right to vote. Initially, after learning this news, Ida B. Wells did not feel comfortable being a part of the march, however, she joined and moved along. It was not until the march was halfway done, that she emerged from the very back of the parade to the very front and marched in between two white women suffrage supporters. The PBS article quoted a saying that Ida B. Wells pinned as her motto, “One had better die fighting against injustice than die like a dog or a rat in a trap.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ida B. Wells passed away on March 25, 1931, of kidney disease in Chicago Illinois, leaving behind many legacies of advocacies such as women’s rights, African American’s rights, and urban reform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Significance in 1920 – Women Gain the Right to Vote <\/h1>\n\n\n\n

While Ida B. Wells began her activism several years prior to 1920, her accomplishments were crucial to the ratification of the nineteenth amendment. However, it should be noted that just because the nineteenth amendment was passed and women were technically granted the right to vote, it does not mean that her work was done. When looking at the women’s rights movement, many tend to remember white women, such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton or Susan B. Anthony, which are amazing in their own way and contributed many accomplishments to the women’s rights movement, however, African American women such as Ida B. Wells, was forced to fight two times harder as she was not just fighting for gender equality, but she was also fighting for racial equality. Many women AND men were left in the dust after the nineteenth amendment: those of color. Many Southern politicians hated the idea of millions of people of color would be granting voting rights to people of color after the fifteenth amendment had opened up voting to African American men. Additional obstacles were implemented for both women of color and women, in general, to try and prevent them from voting, however, deliberate racism was the most significant hurdle that was the driving force.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was announced that the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution had been ratified on August 26, 1920. It stated, “The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.” [6] However, many ignored what was so clearly stated in the Constitution and there were many women that were trying to be indirectly stopped from voting, African American women and women of color. Local governments in northern states had tried to pass laws and policies to prevent the disenfranchisement of African Americans. However, it is important to note that it was not only African American women that were experiencing difficulties voting, but it was also African American men that experienced this hardship, as certain places still had poll taxes, literacy tests, grandfather clauses, and the intimidation and threats of being lynched.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

African American women did not let the obstacles deter them from trying to vote in the Fall 1920 elections. They gathered together to go to the polls but many were turned away by polling officials due to failing a constitutional test, according to an article written by National Geographic. Those that were turned away were from southern states such as Georgia and Alabama. However, African American women that were residing in states such as California, New York, and Illinois, were able to vote. This was likely due to an argument that southern states claimed that “all individuals” must be registered to vote at least six months prior to an election, however, the ratification of the nineteenth amendment happened sooner than that. Thus, this disqualified many women in southern states. In more northern states such as California and New York, women already had the right to vote prior to it becoming federal law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ida B. Wells spoke out against the racism of the women’s suffrage movement, specifically calling out white women that would only discuss voting rights for women in general, forgetting that the majority of people of color were consistently discriminated against. Voting rights being granted to women, specifically only some women, in 1920 is an example of intersectionality. This is a concept that was penned by Kimberle Crenshaw in 1989 which speaks to how an issue cannot just be looked at as between men and women, but it is further divided to people of color. While Wells’ activism took place many years to Crenshaw, the concept of what they were fighting for, the acknowledgment that women of color are more oppressed than white women, was very similar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To celebrate her impact on the women’s suffrage and anti-lynching movement, a large mosaic was installed on the floor at Union Station in Washington D.C. as part of an exhibit in August 2020. The mosaic was created by visual artist Helen Marshall. The mosaic is made up of thousands of smaller photos of various women who fought for women’s suffrage. During the 1920s, Wells continued to advocate for women’s rights and fighting against lynching African Americans. For her work for the anti-lynching movement, she was posthumously awarded a Pulitzer prize as well in 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Footnotes: <\/strong><\/h5>\n\n\n\n

[1] \u201cIda B. Wells-Barnett,\u201d Encyclop\u00e6dia Britannica (Encyclop\u00e6dia Britannica, inc., March 21, 2021), https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/biography\/Ida-B-Wells-Barnett.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid.
[5] \u201cIda B. Wells,\u201d Biography.com (A&E Networks Television, January 6, 2021), https:\/\/www.biography.com\/activist\/ida-b-wells.
[6] Martha S. Jones, \u201cFor Black Women, the 19th Amendment Didn’t End Their Fight to Vote,\u201d History (National Geographic, May 3, 2021), https:\/\/www.nationalgeographic.com\/history\/article\/black-women-continued-fighting-for-vote-after-19th-amendment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

References: <\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Brown, DeNeen L. \u201cIda B. Wells Gets Her Due as a Black Suffragist Who Rejected Movement’s Racism.\u201d The Washington Post. WP Company, September 18, 2020. https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/history\/2020\/08\/25\/mosaic-ida-b-wells-black-suffragist-union-station\/.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brown, DeNeen L. \u201cIda B. Wells Gets Her Due as a Black Suffragist Who Rejected Movement’s Racism.\u201d The Washington Post. WP Company, September 18, 2020. https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/history\/2020\/08\/25\/mosaic-ida-b-wells-black-suffragist-union-station\/.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIda B Wells : The Advocate.\u201d PBS. Public Broadcasting Service. Accessed May 13, 2021. https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/wgbh\/americanexperience\/features\/vote-ida-b-wells-advocate\/.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIda B. Wells-Barnett.\u201d Encyclop\u00e6dia Britannica. Encyclop\u00e6dia Britannica, inc., March 21, 2021. https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/biography\/Ida-B-Wells-Barnett.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIda B. Wells.\u201d Biography.com. A&E Networks Television, January 6, 2021. https:\/\/www.biography.com\/activist\/ida-b-wells.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jones, Martha S. \u201cFor Black Women, the 19th Amendment Didn’t End Their Fight to Vote.\u201d History. National Geographic, May 3, 2021. https:\/\/www.nationalgeographic.com\/history\/article\/black-women-continued-fighting-for-vote-after-19th-amendment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA Noble Endeavor: Ida B. Wells-Barnett and Suffrage (U.S. National Park Service).\u201d National Parks Service. U.S. Department of the Interior. Accessed May 13, 2021. https:\/\/www.nps.gov\/articles\/000\/a-noble-endeavor-ida-b-wells-barnett-and-suffrage.htm.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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