Black History Month Thread #9: "Did You Know?" (Ida B. Wells)

[Hissyspit]

Every day for the rest of February, I am posting some form of interesting information regarding African American history.

Ida B. Wells

I'd rather go down in history as one lone Negro who dared to tell the government that it had done a dastardly thing than to save my skin by taking back what I have said. - Ida Wells

Though virtually forgotten today, Ida B. Wells was a household name in Black America during much of her lifetime (1863-1931) and was considered the equal of such well-known contemporary African American leaders as Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. DuBois. She and Mary Church Terrell were the only two black women who signed a petition leading to the formation of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

In "Crusade for Justice," published posthumously, Ida Wells described being threatened with arrest for treason after distributing anti-lynching buttons during the First World War:

One morning very soon after we began distributing these buttons, a reporter from the Herald Examiner came into the office and asked to see one. I gave it to him and told him that the purpose was to give one to every member of our race who wanted to wear one.

The reporter went away with a button, and in less than two hours men from the secret service bureau came into the office with a picture of the button which I had given to the reporter. They inquired for me, showed me the button, and told me that they had been sent out to warn me that if I distributed those buttons I was liable to be arrested.

"On what charge?" I asked. One of the men, the smaller of the two, said, "Why, for treason."

"Will you give us the buttons?" I said no. "Why," he said, "you have criticized the government." "Yes," I said, "and the government deserves to be criticized."

"Well," said the shorter of the two men, "the rest of your people do not agree with you." I said, "Maybe not. They don't know any better or they are afraid of losing their whole skins. As for myself I don't care. I'd rather go down in history as one lone Negro who dared to tell the government that it had done a dastardly thing than to save my skin by taking back what I have said."

Ida B. Wells; source, Library of Congress

SOURCES:
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/FWWafro.htm
http://www.cr.nps.gov/nr/travel/civilrights/il2.htm
http://www.williamgreaves.com/catalog.htm

Yesterday's Black History Thread #8: http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/FWWafro.htm

[dave29]

1. I love people like Ida

speaking truth to power may not get you ever-lasting fame, but the consequences of a single action can echo through the generations. It is this selfless determination to do what is right that should be the focus of all our endeavors. I feel we have such a long way to go.

[Hissyspit]

2. self-kick for the morning crowd

[Neil Lisst]

3. she was a great one

Like many of America's heroes, she'd be under investigation and monitored today, were she alive.

[magellan]

4. Selfishly, for I'm certain she's in a far better place

...but I wish she were with us now.

K&R for a true American leader.

[Hissyspit]

11. I left this part of her life out of the post:

"In 1884, when 22 and a teacher in Tennessee, Wells ignored a train conductor's order directing her to sit in a segregated car. Forcibly removed, Wells-Barnett filed a successful lawsuit against the railroad company. The Tennessee Supreme Court, however, reversed the lower court's decision in 1887. Racism also contributed to the poor conditions of Memphis' black schools, which Wells-Barnett openly criticized. School board disapproval resulted in her termination in 1891, after which she turned to journalism full-time."

[kellenburger]

5. Why didn't I know this ?

Why wasn't this covered in school?

It's people like Ida B. Wells that have fought the good fight
and helped forge this country into something better.

I feel slighted that the only time we hear about people like
Ida is during black history month.

Thank you Hissyspit

[pearl]

6. Thanks Hissyspit

I have so enjoyed your nuggets of history this month.
Did you see that Karenna Gore has a new book out which has
a Chapter on Ida B. Wells?

Keep it going

[Hissyspit]

10. I'd like to think I subverted the 'Black History Month' paradigm in a

positive way by only posting for half half the month :7 , but the truth of the matter is that I don't think I could keep this up for a whole month; also, I didn't think of doing until half of February was over.

I have plenty of left-over topics that I've researched, so I will probably do some stuff on them during the rest of the year.

Some facetiously argue that August is the real black history month because the first African indentured servants settled in Jamestown. Of course, there is no real black history month - every month is human history month.

[bobbieinok]

18. according to some Bacon's Rebellion turned VA to a slave economy

I recently discovered some possible ancestors were involved in Bacon's Rebellion. Remembering only a very little about this from school courses, I've tried to find out more about the rebellion.

I found this

http://www.wm.edu/niahd/journals/index.php?browse=entry&id=442

....

The upper class greatly needed a “stable labor pool,” and thus aggressively tried to exploit hapless inhabitants. They intentionally denied the freedmen land in order to effectively lure a desperate population to labor. Inexorably, the freedmen were “discontent” with the planters’ prohibition of their acclaimed “freedom.” However, Bacon’s Rebellion demonstrated that these men were not willing to give up their liberty readily.

With an aggravated class of indentured servants, black slaves, and poor freedmen, the “giddy multitude” threatened the planter elite and their economic goals. In “A Changing Labor Force and Race Relations in Virginia,” T.H. Breen justifies the planters’ fears as a mass of disgruntled, armed Virginians seemed rather inauspicious. The freed blacks and whites proved to be an unstable work force, so Breen suggested that the planters controlled the “giddy multitude” by depriving them of the vote; imposing a rigid caste system in which they were relegated to the bottom; forced them into debt because they had to execute all transactions through a “middleman;” and rewarding loyal servants who warned their master of an impending attack. However, through taking away their political freedom, economic opportunity, and social tolerance, the planters enlivened new incentives for the “giddy multitude” to rebel. In 1676, poor farmers, freedmen, and black slaves joined Nathanial Bacon in a social rebellion against the unrelenting planter elite.

Bacon’s rebellion is frequently referred to as the rebellion between “whites and whites,” but in the final analysis, the repercussions transformed the rebellion into a struggle between the whites and blacks. After the rebellion, the former interracial multitude divided into a separated black labor force and a white labor force. The rebellion gave poor whites access to new lands, yet the blacks were only blamed and constrained after the insurrection. As the rebellion demonstrated the danger of freed men, the government tried to control this “dangerous race” through enslavement. In “Codifying Race and Slavery,” a governmental decree declared all Virginian blacks as slaves, and the free blacks were forced to leave or were enslaved by 1680. Breen specified the reasons government pursued the blacks and not whites for exploitation. The major reason was the language barrier, which led the tobacco planters to believe the blacks would not understand the cruelty of the slavery institution. Also, as the blacks spoke several different languages, the change of slaves conspiring minimized. Secondly, the blacks provided a more stable work force as they served for life. The marginalized blacks suffered at the hand of the planters, and the chasm between rich and poor and black and white widened.

more....

[Hissyspit]

20. I ACTUALLY do remember learning about Bacon's Rebellion in grade school,

but I went to grade school in northern Virginia in the early 70s, so it was a bit more in-depth about Virginia incidents than maybe you would get in other places at other times. I don't really remember WHAT I was taught about it, though.

[BlueStorm]

16. It's part of the gov supressing black folks

My mother tells me that it is because the gov and white people don't teach this stuff in school because they don't want blacks to have credit and thus become empowered. My stepdad's brother has a huge list of black folks and the things that they have done to contribute to mankind. Like for example the light bulb wasn't invented by Edison, it was done by a black man, a slave and of course he wasn't allowed to patent it so thus the credit went to Edison. Same thing with the traffic light as well as the first open heart surgery.

It's just so amazing to find all of the things in black history that I have never heard of.

Blu

[Hissyspit]

17. Welcome to DU, BlueStorm!

:patriot: :party:

I thought about doing a post on the traffic light invention, but there are two other scientific contributors I will probably do instead. It was Garrett A. Morgan who patented in 1923 a three-way flag stop signal - before him they only had "Go" and "Stop" flags - his system used a flag at half mast as a warning to stop, so in a sense you can say he invented the yellow caution signal!





And his gas mask:

"Morgan was an inventor and businessman from Cleveland who invented a device called the Morgan safety hood and smoke protector in 1914. On July 25, 1916, Garrett Morgan made national news for using his gas mask to rescue 32 men trapped during an explosion in an underground tunnel 250 feet beneath Lake Erie. Morgan and a team of volunteers donned the new "gas masks" and went to the rescue. After the rescue, Morgan's company received requests from fire departments around the country who wished to purchase the new masks. The Morgan gas mask was later refined for use by U.S. Army during World War I. In 1914, Garrett Morgan was awarded a patent for a Safety Hood and Smoke Protector."

[BlueStorm]

25. Very interesting...

I will have to look up more on this guy. It's amazing how one can learn on their own rather than depending on the school system. Let's face it, the school system LIES and SUPRESSES when it comes to black history.

My mother is also of the opinion that black history should be a semester long required curriculum rather than relegated to one month and not an elective course either.

Blu

[theHandpuppet]

7. Thank you for this thread

I am really enjoying the history lessons. I was wondering if someone could compile links to all of the black history threads under one header? I'd like to reread them.

[applegrove]

8. Love her. Never heard of her before. Thanks. Those are great words.

[goclark]

9. Kicked and recommended and bookmarked

Thanks for your work on this series.

Great job!

[Twist_U_Up]

12. We could use her today !!

What a fighter.

[Hissyspit]

13. OOPS. No, THIS is yesterday's Black History Thread #8:

Put the wrong link in...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x505860

[Hissyspit]

14. They accused her of TREASON! ...for fighting against lynchings!

What a load of bull manure! Does that tactic sound familiar lately??

[Catherine Vincent]

15. Kick!

And thanks, Hissy! :hi:

[Orsino]

19. And notice who was sent to squelch the dissenter?

The Secret Service. Has a familiar ring.

[Hissyspit]

21. self-kick before tomorrow's post

[applegrove]

22. I'm sorry. I'm useless at K & R. I loved this post.

[Hissyspit]

23. Thanks, applegrove. I should be doing 4 or 5 more. n/t

[applegrove]

24. Thanks.