Ida Barnett Wells was born during slavery and lived during the emancipating of enslaved African-American. Wells witnessed the birth of Jim Crow laws instituted to prevent African-Americans for what Abraham Lincoln stated about African-American, "free but not equal" under the separate but equal doctrine. As an educated woman she discovered that would not protect an African-American woman from being manhandled by raced white men. During Wells time period she experienced the silence on the intersectional position of being both an African-American and a woman.
Wells story is about a woman picking up the unfinished business of Maria Stewart. Stewart stated that it was up to the African-American woman to define what it meant to be a woman instead of following in the footsteps of raced white women. And she warned the African-American woman not to leave it up to African-American to fight for their rightful place in society. Stewart did this as the first woman to speak in where Stewart left off and demands and answer to Sojourner Truth question, "Ain't I Woman. Wells life journey reminds us of the outrage years later when mild mannered Rosa Parks, a woman, refused to give her seat to a raced white male and remained in her seat.
During Wells lifetime she must have experienced what Oprah refers to as pivot defining moments. And one of the moment had to be when Wells was asked to move to another section of the train. Wells, was told to move into a smoking section. Wells understood that this demand not only insulted her a citizen but denied her protection as a woman. Wells refused. This light bulb moment illuminated a different path for the teacher, Wells began a life time crusade against not only discrimination against African-Americans but fought for legal protection for African-American women.
Well outrage from being thrown off the train put as in a unique position of having a story to tell. Wells began a writing a newspaper, the Free Speech to tell about the injustices committed against her as a woman and later the lynchings that was occurring in the south.
Wells used the newspaper to document the number of lynchings that were occurring under the passive Separate but Equal doctrine. One reported incident of lynching involved her friends and another the torturing a man accused or raping a raced white young female. The lynching was a public event with witnesses collecting souvenirs.
So outraged was Wells with the South total disregard for human life, she suggested that African-Americans leave Memphis and go elsewhere to live. Wells learned through her travel other countries were sympathy to her outraged. Wells found a listen ear from the women in Britain. Britain had offer emancipated African-Americans before President Lincoln. The south was losing many African-Americans fleeing from the south to both Britain and Canada.
Women in other countries were surprised to leave that Wells was not finding support for her causes from other women fighting against injustice. Wells reported that the women movement did not include African-American women. Wells pointed out membership of African-American women were non existence, highlighting the hypocrisy within the pious women movement fight for equality for all women. A fight was for who could enter the sphere of true womanhood and be classed a "lady" among raced white women. These women would be allowed to enter society or sororities to be selected for married to patriotic males.
Wells writings about these contradictions in America angered her opponents and her newspaper was destroyed. Wells had to do what she was advocating to other, Wells had to flee to the north for her own safety. Wells continued her crusade by helping organize the NAACP and taking Maria Steward political speech to the next level by running for office. Wells understood for African-American voices to be heard, by both African-American males and other women, she had to enter the political legal arena of the shaping of America.
