The Success of Ida B. Wells “One had better die fighting against injustice than die like a dog or a rat in a trap.” – Ida B. Wells Ida B.
Wells was an important figure in Black American History. She was born a slave in Mississippi in 1862. Wells was able to gain an education and, later, became a journalist for various Negro papers. Through her writing, she was able to attack issues dealing with discrimination against African-American people. Ida B. Wells became an international activist for African-American rights when she informed the English people about lynching in America.
She became a well-known lecturer, activist, and organizer in American and in England. Wells established the Negro Fellowship League, the Ida B. Wells Women’s Club, the National Association of Colored Women and was extremely involved in other organizations for African-American advancement. There were a few advantageous elements that helped Wells’ success in her activist efforts. One being that gender relations, of that time, were honorable within the African-American community.
Another advantage for Ida B. 2 Wells was her biological sex. Ida B. Wells fought hard in her effort to secure America as a safe environment for Blacks, but she managed to accomplish a remarkable amount of her efforts due to various gender and sex related assets which were in her favor. One advantage Ida B.
Wells was fortunate to claim was that gender relations in the Black community were very favorable. Due to the strenuous labor male and female African-Americans had to endure during slavery, neither sex proclaimed its opposite inferior and, therefore, Ida B. Wells was able to make huge leaps within the African-American community. For instance, Wells was able to become an outstanding journalist, become editor and co-owner of a Black newspaper, and Black men did not object to her leadership in these occupations. Black men respected and honored her work in the advancement of African-Americans, instead of envying a woman for accomplishing these essential tasks before a male exhibited her achievements.
Black men, unlike Whites of the time, were able to see past Wells’ sex and support the work that she accomplished for all African-Americans. Another aspect of this time period which proved to be advantageous for Wells was the fact that she was female. White America was not nearly as threatened by Black females as the prejudiced fear Whites experienced of Black men. Whites perceived Black men to be carnal, exceedingly virile 3 and dangerous to the White society. More successful Black men were lynched than successful Black women.
Black women were not seen as a direct threat of the power roles in society, therefore Wells was able to take many more risks than any African-American male in her efforts to end the lynchings and discrimination of Blacks. White males also devalued Ida B. Wells’ work, because she was female. White men found it difficult to believe that a woman could accomplish very much, because of the way they perceived women to be inferior beings. These prejudiced thoughts actually helped Wells by giving her more space for progress in her fight to end discrimination of African-Americans. Being female also helped Wells identify with the White community.
She had the ability to fit into the male-dominated America that still exists today. Wells was able to ascertain the identity of a White female by dressing and acting “ladylike”. Wells used class and gender for her benefit. She maintained the stance of being educated, attractive, and upper-class. This also made her seem as less of a threat to the White America that believed African-Americans were more like animals than human beings and that White females were always under the control of White males.
Although Ida B. Wells had gender relations and her biological sex working on her side, she still had to face the greatest evil of that time in American history. She had 4 to fight against one of the most hostile forms of prejudice that has ever existed in this country. Ida B.
Wells was a woman who dramatically altered race relations in our country and should be honored and respected as a phenomenal civil rights activist. She kept hope alive in the African-American history and motivated others to work just as hard as she to guarantee a safe environment for all Americans.
