at 8:00 eastern on queuing day. & a. next, smith college african of talkssor paula giddings about civil rights and ida b wells. career in theher 1800s, the lynching of her friend and her activism in brooklyn and chicago. of "ida: aauthor sword among lions: ida b. wells and the campaign against lynching." the brooklyn historical society hosted this 75 minute event. good evening. my name is sylvia lewis and i am a graduate of smith college.

is anyone from smith here? newbie on the board of trustees here. marsha included me. i am on the programs committee. professor gidd ings said yes, i said we are going to take all this space. i hope they are ready. i wanted to give you a special welcome to the historical society from the black alumni of smith college and smith college club of new york city. this is a joint, cosponsorship of the reception after the presentation. please join us for that. know --anted to let you they asked me to say a few words. i want you to know that i went

there in the 1970's and we did not have a book about ida b wells. i'm so glad that she wrote that book and it is the largest book i have ever read after graduating. i do not know if you have seen it. i was so glad. she is one of those sisters -- the theme of tonight is sisterhood. she is one of those sisters -- i associate withto the deltas. she is one of those sisters who was the most famous black woman of her time. somehow, we do not know about her. thatreally thrilled to see we were able to present this program tonight. that is all i really wanted to say. it is about history, stories about the lives that were erased from history, overlooked people.

that is why i am thrilled about her presentation. we are a tight team. sister like to call my up. she has been on the board a very long time. we are like a tagteam. valerie? >> good evening, everyone. thank you so much, sylvia. you are so sweet and i am so glad that you are here with us at the historical society. ierybody knows me knows that love the historical society. i have been on this board for 32 years. [applause] my babies were small.

had sheila and sarah as my mentors. been here ever since. proud that we are doing this program on the heels of celebrating dr. martin luther king. drama in our civil rights movement. we bring you another model of a legend tonight, except she is a woman. ida b wells. proud than be more to be part of the same sisterhood as our speaker, paula giddings. she is a delta sigma theta.

would all the members of the delta sigma theta stand? tonight, we celebrate you as well because when one of us is celebrated, we are all celebrated. for those of you who do not know much about the delta sigma theta sorority, i want you to know a little bit of history because this is the historical society. delta sigma theta was established and is obsessional he known as dst. incorporated in 1913 and we are a sisterhood of more than 250,000 educated women all over the world. chapters more than 975 located in the u.s., england, japan, germany, virgin islands,

and the bahamas republic of korea. dst, shirley chisholm , aretha franklin, dorothy tyson, mary the horne, nikki giovanni. these are just a few of the delta sigmambers of theta sorority. is our speaker. woodsonhe elizabeth studies atsor of

smith college and the author of "when and where i enter." not to go into all of her background because you have her book and you know more about her than i do. i can say to you that i am most 19 -- 1917, she the -- 1970,into she was inducted into the hall of science. ladies and gentlemen, please help me welcome, on behalf of the brooklyn historical society, our community partners, the delta sigma they eddie -- delta sigma theta sorority. let's welcome paula to the brooklyn historical society and brooklyn. [applause]

welcome, my dear. [laughter] prof. giddings: i could feel it. thank you. valerie. so much, that wonderful introduction. marcia for inviting me to this place. it is really appreciated. cookie lewis, great organizer that you are, i really appreciate you doing this and reaching out. this group. thank you so much. so good to know that there are lums in thea

house. deltas in the house. [laughter] welcome, one and all. ida b wells -- i am going to , not just tonight as a black woman journalist who launched the nation's first antilynching campaign in 1892, but as a reformer, whose modern and progressive ideas became the foundation of the modern civil rights and women's rights movements. for some reason, we never think of blacks, particularly in this

period as progressive reformers and thinkers. no people were more progressive and the classical sense of the word. people were mobilizing to eliminate the problems caused by urbanization and corruption in this period. of ae who had a vision society when these reforms were realized. no one was more progressive than african-american. secondly, i want to talk about hers -- first day in brooklyn. her stay in -- brooklyn. cannot be overstated how important it is that wells came city first.to the

she had great support here, maybe more than anywhere else. sometimes we assume that someone as heroic as wells would have support everywhere, but she did not. douglass invited her to speak in washington dc. the only people in the audience were frederick and his family. support, which i will talk about in brooklyn, was so significant. course, i amf going to focus on these two things. it means i will be about more than half of her activist life. ands in chicago starting 1895. feel free to ask me in the question and answer section. even though i am preaching to the choir, i will begin by

giving a very quick bullet point her biography, just in case there are those who do not spend as much time with her as i have. i will do this very quickly and thenot to be caught in weeds, which i always do. let me go through quickly, inlet points of review chronological order. is born in wells holly springs, mississippi to enslaved parents, who like many extraordinary african-americans make a good transition to freedom. , was a skilledes carpenter who would have his own business and family home. her mother, elizabeth, was known as a famous cook.

college by the methodist inspired pre-movement society. she attended with many other blacks in the region, including her mother, who also went to school with her. she had a happy childhood until about 1878. a yellow fever epidemic raged across the mississippi valley. her parents, james and elizabeth, died within 24 hours of one another. age 16, and then three younger sisters and two younger brothers -- leaving them as orphans. we see very first act of defiance when she refuses the wishes of family friends, who wanted to divide the children among them. she asked help to get a teaching job so that she could support

the family herself. lawless andtic, victorian environment of ravaged holly springs -- this decision ofhers makes are the target vicious rumors. the charge combined with the devastating death of her parents would have a effect on her psyche and her activism. duringnot go into that this talk. 1880 she moved to memphis with also -- aunt,as who was also widowed during the yellow fever epidemic. many people fled with the coming of yellow fever. 5000 out of the remaining 20,000 in memphis perished. they were just wiped out. teacher at the memphis school system and became of a publication that she

would edit called the evening star. of 21, she the age began her activist career in earnest. she refused to give up her first class seat on the railway. endo -- she sea sued and won the suit in court. the judge in the case deemed ida comportmentladylike and a schoolteacher who had the right to sit in a first-class car." myself. help there is a transcript of this howt case and it describes ida comes to court. she is always dressed to the nines. and sitting parasol

there properly. the conductor, who tried to rip her out of the seat, trying to physically extricate her. .n doing so, she bit him in the court case, he says to the judge, she looks like a lady now, but i bled freely. baptist newspaper asked her to write about her experience. this would be the beginning of her career as a journalist, a profession where she discovers as she writes. nationally asnown a printer of the press. one third interest of a memphis newspaper called free speech. hers ander a friend of two others are viciously tortured and lynched, she would

launch the first antilynching investigative reporting, which she would called the truth about inching aboutnching -- the truth lynching. i will talk more about that. , she called for blacks to leave memphis in response to the lynching and many of them did. car bankruptlley -- boycott that led the company to bankruptcy. in that same year, after provocative editorials, the newspaper office is destroyed and her free-speech partner was run out of memphis. she herself was threatened with lynching. where sheo brooklyn

published the first study of pages.g and its of protested the lack representation and later in night -- 1893, she takes her campaign to the british isles, where she gained support from reformers, newspaper editors and the archbishop of canterbury, among others. she returned and trialed to new york city, took the campaign to california and would finally settle in chicago where she married ferdinand barnett and gave birth to four children between 1896 and 1904. it was a good marriage. chicago, wells barnett

established the first black kindergarten. lynching on monday and kindergarten on tuesday. becomes an advocate for black prisoners. she saved the lives of a number of men down for execution. she establishes both black and interracial women civics organizations. founded the organization responsible for electing the first black alderman. 1931,efore her death in she ran for a state senate seat as an independent. requested that at her song is sung, "i have done my work."

very appropriate. if you are not familiar with that, haley jackson does a juston of it that would run chills down your spine. point in herng life occurs in march 1892, when in memphis, thomas moss and henry stewart were lynched. a postal carrier who was president of a co-op called the people grocery, where the other men also worked, was a close friend of wells. he met her and talk to her on her postal route, when he went past the newspaper office. they taught sunday school together. his wife was a good friend of hers as well and was pregnant at the time.

wells was the godmother of his baby girl, maureen. what led up to the murders was a series of events provoked by a white proprietor and competitor losing business to the black grocery. the bottom line is the propagation resulted in a scuffle near the grocery and there were a lot of lack of arrests, shooting in self-defense, while the black came --hree sheriff they were imprisoned. masked man riding on horseback -- they rode to the county jail, searched for these three men, took them by train to a vacant lot and tortured and lynched them. know the gruesome details

because white newspapers were told about it in advance. dispatched reporters to write about it. offman's fingers were shot inch by inch and four holes shot into his face, large enough to insert a fist. .is right eye was shot through stuart and moss were also shot through the face and neck in the same manner. a replication of the injuries whiteed by the three deputy sheriffs. at first, wells was so devastated after hearing this , that sheurprised could not write anything. she described a black community in shock. here isg to remember 1886 that not until

more blacks were lynched than whites. the practice that began in the revolutionary years -- that is how old lynching was in the u.s. -- it had not sunk in. this was not supposed to happen in a sophisticated city like memphis, where blacks were succeeding according to the progressive ideas of the time. it certainly was not supposed to happen to a man like moss. progressive ideas in this period had religious significance. it was believed that all the innovative technology, electricity, steam engine and the press were part of god's design to propel society forward towards a perfect destiny of uplifting improvement. a destiny without corruption, ignorance, want orson.

in -- or send. -- or sin. it was a religious calling. poverty was equated with failure and sin. the undeserving poor. blacks were certainly doing their part. years before, 92% of .ligible voters they elected a republican governor and legislators, including several black legislators who propose civil rights legislation. black students had higher attendance rates in the public schools than whites. schools were racially separate, but teachers black and white, male and female were paid

on the same salary scale. was deemed important, including education for women. studentsrly with black , like a whole base trying to go to school. literacy had risen dramatically in these years. so much so that the number of providedat could read a sufficient market for black newspapers. in this period, 200 black weeklies were published throughout the country. people could make a career out of journalism. , asn were very involved well as writing women's columns. part of this progressive idea

was to uplift women. forongratulate the women the advancement of the colored press association. it is with gratitude to god that we renew our pledge as journalists to support and sustain every institution of learning and industry that enlightens and benefits our social, religious and material interest. , blacks had also struck a blow with ida's victory with railway -- with the railway. as railways were considered "the agent and symbol of america's republic civilization." in that case, she had been called a lady, which was

essential to gaining protections and benefits of the law. this was particularly pointed because black women suffered so because of thes history of slavery. this is why, when you look at history in this period, there are a number of cases of black trying --he railways, in the first class and issues of first-class ladies car. when you have a ladies car and like memphis dies of separate but will, equality depended on equal treatment of white women and black women. black women were suing for this constantly.

african-americans, in just one generation, they were doing their part in the religion of thaness, no one more so thomas moss. he was a symbol of a new, self progressive ideology. , even been saving money as a young teenager in the friedman's big -- bank. he was entrepreneurial. carrieras a postal included passing a exam, which he did. it was co-owned by black citizens, ranging from laborers to school principals. this was also symbolic of the business acumen of african-americans in memphis. this is not to say that there were not struggles.

disenfranchisement began in the late 19 -- 1880's. she lost the court case of for a people who had been in slavery, or their enslaved --been they were now teachers and store, political officials. they would inevitably be overcome. ida's minister noted in this period, blacks are in a christian civilization with republican form of government. such a nation can only build on the idea of liberty, intelligence, industry and equal

prof. giddings: get rid of ignorance, accumulate wealth, inevitable first-class citizenship. murder was, as ida wrote in her autobiography, the community's first lesson and white supremacy. while searching for the right words for the editorial, she remembered something said in one of the papers. moss's last words, as he was facing death, or tell my people to go west. there is no justice for the mayor. west was the oklahoma territories that were opening up in these. -- in this period. her own astonishment, after

reiterating his words and an editorial, black start leaving immediately. read the newspaper descriptions, thousands would line up at the docks with their mules and everything they owned and their wagons, ready to go all the way to oklahoma. within a year, 20% of the black population leaves memphis, which is a large percentage of its workforce. and the city suffers mightily. people were with other laborers. households were without maids. notes, they were great consumers in terms of restaurants and stores. they also tended to buy on layaway. and now they were gone. leads a trolley car boycott in memphis.

the trolley cars were owned by a northern firm. they had just recently been electrified. one day, representatives came to her newspaper office to ask her to persuade black writers to read them again. they had stopped writing the trolley cars -- riding the t rolley cars. they thought maybe blacks were afraid of electricity. them, were people writing the trolley cars before the moss murder? stating the obvious, ida said that it was a protest, and until his killers were brought to justice, the cars with state empty. from church to church encouraging blacks to stay off the trolleys. leaders began to feel the

pinch, not only in terms of economics, but this was also a period when it was important for the south and memphis in particular to have an image of stability, tranquility, and adhering to the progressive mantra. wells also understood this. her campaign was shaped in part to show what the south really was. response, memphis leaders started to relent. deliver the murderers, but there were apologies and newspapers. condemnations of lynching in general. snd compensation given to moss' widow. she also understood the political power. she understood this before anyone else really does. , newlyitical power available, in this modern industrial age.

a thorough knowledge and use of this power could affect a bloodless revolution. time when people were afraid of mobs, wells starts going for an inter-class, grassroots rebellion. the days when a leads could successfully negotiate wealth was coming to an end. , sheing after thelynching became not only a writer but a journalist. she pulls out statistics to prove her point.

had reached anng annual peak of 241. a conservative estimate is that took placenchings between 18 82 and 1891. after this. -- period, the number would reach about 5000. through these investigations, wells find that there are consensual lie is on between black men and white women. -- often off and called rape when discovered. furthermore, blacks were being

lynched for talking back to what people. for petty crimes. like moss, because they competed successfully with whites. this has tremendous implications for wells. implications that she is one of the first to understand. a new mantra of progress that needs to be told. black achievement alone was not a gateway to first-class citizenship. but a threat to the new southern order and even one's life. her editorials forced blacks to not judge the racial situation by only their successes. but also by the fact that at the same time, violence, this of prince in, and marson case --

disenfranchisement, and mass incarceration were increasing. she understood, well before her peers, that there had been a turn against blacks because southern whites had failed the moral and spiritual quest of progress. southern culture, with all of its violence, was corrupt. it could not write itself, could not. by its moneymaking ways. in 1887, for example, there was a referendum lobbied hard by a black and white prohibition is to keep the city of memphis dry. it lost. memphis was at the center of the south's whiskey trade. the referendum went against too many monetary interest to succeed. nevertheless, the defeat was blamed on black voters. they voted against prohibition. later analysis show this to be completely interim.

after that vote, disenfranchisement efforts began in earnest and memphis. -- in memphis. white papers pointed out that blacks were an obstacle to god's plan of progress. the idea became a foundation of the emergent social sciences at the time. premature -- and a ataur of scientific investigation. this was especially true in ivy league schools, which were financed by former slave owners.

the correlation to this belief was that blacks were compelled and raiseite women his race to a higher level. 's investigation that revealed the seductive sexuality of white women and the attractiveness and civility of their black lovers gave life to the social science. she is aware of what she is up against, which is why she uses statistics and information from white sources as well as her own. is about violence toward women and girls. like the rape of an

eight-year-old white -- black woman by a white man who became a detective in memphis. these were the real female victims, thus begging the question, who were the real rapists and criminals? thus, in a victorian world, where class was conflated with character and character destiny, white menonly accused and women with all kinds of that allry but said black women deserve protection. and that there was an important role of leadership among the laboring classes. morely, noting that the the african-american cringes and bags, the more he is insulted and outraged and lynched, wells

believed that the lessons this teaches in which every afro-american can ponder well is that a winchester rifle should have a place of honor in every black home. and you wonder why she was run out of memphis. [laughter] wrote her1892, wells favorite -- famous editorial. eight acres were lynched since the last issue. . the same program of hanging and shooting bullets into the lifeless bodies was carried out to the letter. if southern white men are not careful, they will overreach themselves and public sentiment will have a reaction. a conclusion will then be

reached which will be very damaging to the moral reputation of their women. the editorial was published when wells had already left on a long planned trip to philadelphia and an ame conference there. .rom there she went to new york said, it has been a long time getting to new york. now that you are here, i am afraid that you will have to stay. wells says what are you talking about? she did not understand why the editor said this. then she learns that all hell has broken out in memphis after that editorial. her newspaper had been destroyed.

had beeness partner threatened with castration and forced to leave the city. a former owner of the paper was pistol whipped and forced to sign a letter denouncing the editorial as slander against white women. wells was threatened with lynching. there were folks posted at the railway center to interceptor. local black a militia group would protect her if she returned. but ida concluded that doing so would mean more bloodshed, more widows. she was now in exile. she would not set foot in her native south for the next 30 years. having destroyed my paper, having a price but on my life, and been made an exile from home for hinting at the truth, she thought she owed it to herself that i the whole truth was where i could do so freely.

she would do so on the front page editorial published on june 25 in the new york age entitled "the truth about lynching." 1000 copies of the addition were sold in memphis alone. back in memphis, so-called representatives of colored folks, many of whom she personally knew and some of them she had dated, we will let go there right now, were condemning her. many blacks, even moderates like -- werester, lived in publicly critical of wells. they were forced to leave the city just because of her

association with her. one had a nervous breakdown. she was now planted in brooklyn. now i am going to talk a little , some descriptive elements about brooklyn. i love researching brooklyn and understanding the context of where she came to. was a new experience for a southerner to be in brooklyn. while memphis had a population of 34,000, brooklyn had 795,000. nevertheless, brooklyn had a black population of only 10,000. and memphis had a black population of 15,000. although the majority of blacks held low wage positions in both the north and the south, a

difference she saw was that the south restricted blacks in many personal rights, they were not excluded from working and vocations. where is by contrast, northern blacks for -- have more individual rights, but were excluded from such work by labor unions and employers. one of the biggest issues in brooklyn at the time was that of housing. tell me about it. thee were great fears on part of whites that having blacks move into the neighborhoods, the property values would decline. arrived, a new york times and reporter investigated this issue and was startled to find that african-americans who lived in brownstone's employed white

servants and road and carriages driven by a delivery coachman. they took this accumulation of wealth stuff seriously. sne can only imagine ida' emotional state while in the city. city so important how this embraced her. she was found a place to live near where the newspaper editor lived on gold street. known as the vinegar hill section of town. there, and his copublisher lived in that area. fortune would be a very good friend to her. newspaper, the new york age, was the most important black

newspaper in the country. and the most widely read. and he was a brilliant editor. he had a difficult time later in his life. he became an alcoholic and had financial problems of the paper. but he is a man who was self-taught. kits into howard law school. changes and becomes a journalist. and publishes the great new york age. would also participate in lyceum's in memphis. but those in brooklyn were something. there was the brooklyn literary union. these were all black. the concorde literary circle. the progressive union. educated african-americans like familiar with

shakespeare, dickens, the bronte sisters. was teacher in memphis, she a member of the lyceum in that city. this is not literature for literature site. promotingericans were literature that was deemed as valuable for its power to enlighten the race. this is the. of frederick douglass. wellf these forms were so attended, that the brooklyn daily eagle, a white newspaper, o othern 1892 that "ni group of people were fonder of literary pursuits than african-americans.: invited to speak on african-american literature. to open the season on the

concorde literary circle. largest audience that ever attended a literary meeting in that city. newspaper, said, she completely captivated the larger cultivated audience. she also in this. debate with a really in brooklyn.ure she was born of a prosperous free family in new york city. father's business was ruined in the draft riots of 1863. you look at history, ours is not a history of never having. it is a history of having been taken away. hundreds of black business institutions were destroyed and man wast at least one

lynched and torched while hanging from a tree. her family moved to providence, they will nothere admit her into the only high school, which is a white high school. so she sues and get submission sion the school -- admis into the school. she returns to new york, and she has been tapped to be the first assistant principal of a formerly all-white school. board's decision to consolidate rather than separate students was largely due to the effort of her lawyer, who is a member of the brooklyn board and who had gotten support of the brooklyn literary union. , she bests ida.

this is typical ida, reflecting her personality, she goes to her and keep -- says teach me to debate. and she tutors her. the sprinkling, she will be one of the best speakers. she will go on a speaking tour of england. this bodes very well for. i will tell you quickly about some other people she meets. and this great moment in support of her. like new york's first lack public school principal.

meets a graduate of new york medical college for women. the first black woman to practice medicine in new york state. and the third black woman in the country to do so. she meets victoria matthews, who has an unbelievable story. she was also a journalist who rose in the profession. her mother had been a slave in virginia. the master had treated everyone so badly that the mother leaves her children there. sues tocomes back and get them back. and she regains possession of them. these are some kind of people. that matthews suggestion

to organize the testimonial for idea was not only to show support for wells and raise money to publish her editorial as a pamphlet, but also to use the occasion to bring women activists together from philadelphia, boston, new york, and brooklyn. brooklyn and new york were to separate entities at this time. very much on the mind of the two organizers was the issue of lessening cordial relations between black women in new york and those in brooklyn. offered no further insight into this, but blacks in the two cities had a long-standing rivalry. the tension between the two groups first appeared after those riots of 1863, when more affluent families began abandoning new york city for brooklyn.

the trend continued in the 1890's. yorkersas black new amassed a considerable fortune, they moved across the east river , as the newspaper noted. thathad calculated rightly a tribute to wells would generate enough mutual interest for the women to overcome the differences. in fact, the idea was met with so much enthusiasm that soon there was no house large enough to hold us a game. finally, a committee of 250 women were appointed from both places to organize a testimonial. picture this, you are in a place called lyric hall. the stages emblazoned with gas jets. her pen name was sewn into the

silk badges worn by the ushers. she called it a brilliant gathering of women who attended, including philadelphia , a very important figure in boston, and others. wells is overwhelmed by the same. -- scene. for the first time, she tears up when she recounts what had brought her there. goes across the stage and gives her a handkerchief for her tears. ida was so mad at herself for crying. others told her, it's really moved the audience.

the event raised more than $400 beyond expenses. that was sufficient enough to pamphlet, which was horros."outhern ida dedicated it to the women of new york and brooklyn. the importance of the support of brooklyn activists come up men and especially women, cannot be overstated to her cause. they gave her campaign and her revolutionary ideas legitimacy. became the basis for the first black national women's organization in history. the national association of colored women, founded four years later. and other protest organizations like the niagara league and the

naacp. wealth and social advancement were not agents of change in themselves. she was laying the groundwork for posts picked taurean protest movements. where progress was not inevitable without political protest and action. language, not natural law, to find the meaning of grace. thebody must show that african-american race is more sinned against than sinning. she had found the vehicle of her destiny. it seemed to fall on her to do so. thank you very much. [applause]

the floor up for questions. just put your hands up and i will see if i can get to you. >> hi, so, this is absolutely fascinating. of the many questions that come to mind, how is she able to navigate all of this as a single woman? what i know about the period, it seemed like you had to have a man, be in a household in order to do anything legally. in order to be sought as a proper woman.

how did she do this being single? prof. giddings: she did even more. she started selling subscriptions all through the mississippi valley. she went a loan, as a woman -- alone, as a woman. when she sold subscriptions, her father had been a master mason. the black fraternal order in holly springs. in mississippi valley, all throughout mississippi valley helped ida with the newspapers, and protected her. this was a problem for her. not only was she single, but she was an orphan. she had no protectors. this had an impact on her -- ida, if you read the book, ida had a very interesting dating history. [laughter] a diaryddings: she kept

so we know some of this information. she just put in an initial but i found out who they were. [laughter] what shedings: demanded, always, i actually started feeling sorry for the young men. [laughter] prof. giddings: she always demanded that they had the strength enough to protect her. that they be men. manley to protect her. regressedometime, she sometimes into a childlike -- you know? thiswas part of her -- and also translates into some of her politics. mensays, when will you be and stand up? she had trouble. springsor in holly follows her for a lot of her life.

she has to fight it. with this, one of the wonderful things about ferdinand barnett, he is also called all sorts of things by the white press. ida was thinking about slander because they called her a slut. the new york times called her a -- that is my favorite. she was thinking about going to court. judge aboutwhite slander, etc. busy rightam kind of now. this was the judge doing plessy ferguson. lawyer you, i have a should talk to. that is how she meets ferdinand barnett, her husband, who defends her, despite all of those name-calling, he defends

her and stands by her. that is, i'm sure, why she married him. >> hi. thank you. you are theliant, ultimate teacher on ultimate subjects. i feel honored to be in the room. funding wasy that finally raised for a monument her honor to be erected in chicago. reading in the book a little bit about how ida was painted as crotchety. do you think that was because people like her did not give her her thing? do you think she got a bad rap based on not giving her dues? prof. giddings: both things are true. she was given a bad rap because, for one thing, she was very

critical. she was publicly critical of people. she felt like they were not living up to what they needed to for the race. people were not happy with that. is, again,he transgresses. she transgresses gender roles, around class, all that, so people are upset about that. because of hero, situation and being orphaned, if you look at the psychological minds of people who are orphaned at critical ages, she fits the psychological model of being and feeling internal anger. sometimes it just spurts out. she had a hard time making friends.

but, what is interesting about her is that -- and you see all of this in the diary. she is working so hard. she calls her anger her befitting sin. she works so hard to transform that energy into something else. she succeeds to a good degree. she is a driven reformer. drive andf that energy that she is turning in a constructive way. she does not do it completely. she still has her moments. --, she is so self reflected self reflective and self aware. she is talking about reforming society, but she is consciously trying to reform herself. here is my question. i am from memphis, tennessee. prof. giddings: ok.

>> born, raised. idar recalled hearing about in high school, early 1960's. hellestion is, given the she raised their, and may have even left their, is there a monument in her honor now in memphis? adult i would like to go back and take a look. now that i know about the civil rights museum that has been created and is growing every that museumdid embrace are as a civil rights mover? prof. giddings: i am pretty sure. i do not remember specifically about the museum, but i think she is at least mentioned. whether she has given her dues is another question.

there is a marker dedicated to on beale street. there is lots of talk. part called bedford forrest park. he was a horrible confederate mowed down just blacks. -- there is a movement to rename that. >> you are getting ready to start something. [laughter] look at what some of us could do in memphis. when i spoke in memphis the last time, there was a class of six-year-olds from the ida wells academy. they had the banner, ida wells.

it, i wouldalize have helped them out because they were holding it for so long. [laughter] prof. giddings: with their little hands. it was a really good sign. excellent research. i think it is absolutely fantastic to know about her and her life. prof. giddings: wait a minute, i cannot see you. >> over here. prof. giddings: ok, thanks. one of the things i find that is really interesting when talking about historical figures, we don't talk a lot about their lives. particularly more, talking about african-american women, we never talk about the love of their lives. i am thinking in terms of, just a lot of great prolific

african-american women as if no one loved them. --eally, really appreciate we cannot go on in our life. we cannot be that fantastic and fabulous without somebody cheering us on. there has gotta be somebody. i really, really appreciate that coming to the forefront and letting them see the whole human being of the person. not necessarily like, she did that, here is her mansion, and that's it. she is a full human. prof. giddings: i try to be very conscious of that. >> i appreciate that. prof. giddings: for all of those that she encountered as well. you are right, it is very important. an honor to say, it is to be in this room and hear you speak about her.

i want to thank you because i cited you so many times in my grad work. i graduated. [applause] prof. giddings: thank you. >> i want to thank you. i have always wanted to ask you this. i know she marched in the suffrages march in 1913. she was told to not march in the back. i always wondered what kind of relationship did she have after that with the women. with black and white women. at that particular time, mary frances berry wrote a book about reparations movement. and another black woman from the south who was trying to organize, who actually went to jail for trying to organize ex- slaves to get reparations from the country. they did things to her, similar to what they did to marcus garvey. i wonder what her relationship

with her was like. if you could speed a little bit about her relationship with mary church to well -- mary church terrel. she helped find the naacp, but she was ousted as well. prof. giddings: ok. [laughter] prof. giddings: umm. [laughter] let me starts: with this first question. wonderful scene of how ida forces are self, because they say black women cannot march in the front of the suffrage parade. until herides contingent of illinois women starts down, and then pops up and goes right into the middle of it.

she has a decent relationship with the suffragists, both black and white. she is very important in chicago politics. -- because she mobilized women's vote in chicago. man is how she got that elected. even though he never appreciated it. she mobilized white women as well. she worked with white suffragists as well. they lobbied together. course starts the therage club, which is first black women's organization. which helps everyone. she maintains a pretty good relationship with them. she was very important. they don't have much of a choice. she andlso ask to -- her husband were republicans

before she ripped -- before she becomes an independent. forgoes around the state republican candidates, white and black. she is an important figure there. what was the second? i am not sure about her relationship. ida wells also worked with marcus garvey. wells also talked about reparations because she lived in 13 italians were lynched and families got reparations. the government got reparations from the u.s. as a result of that. she said, why not african-americans? she was involved in that as well. -- mary churchro terrel had a hard time.

she is from memphis. meet at a mutual admiration society when they first meet. she liked mary church and what she stood for. she was one of those people who was not worried about that lady liking stuff. to oberlin, takes a gentleman's course. insists on taking what is called a gentleman course. if you know the history of blacks. even in black communities in the south, this is not so extraordinary. teacher who taught latin and greek in the black public schools in memphis. on, they became

competitors around the national association of colored women. terrell becomes the first president. contexto take it out of because it is a long story. tries to that terrell take too much power, and undermines the chicago people for the washington people. terrell is a little more conservative. terrell sort of stays on the other side of the idea of progress. you know? with peoplelict with that conservative point of view. >> i think we have time for one more question. kidneyiddings: she had a

-- issues with her kidneys. she was the type of person that, when things happened to her, things would happen in her body. her settlement house, a couple of days later she goes into the hospital for a while and breaks down. s s -- so, she has kidney failure in the end. did she work with frederick douglass, who would have been 44 years older than she was? prof. giddings: she and fed -- she and frederick douglass had almost a father/daughter relationship. recognizes her. in fact, after that great testimonial in brooklyn, he hears of it and here's of her

and writes a letter to her saying how courageous she was and how much he admired her. she asked if she could republish the letter in the pamphlet. race man ofading this period. even though he is aging in this period. he will die in 1895. he lends her money to go to england. with -- of course, as some of you know, scottish and english activists actually bought douglas' freedom. he gets her in touch with the similar people that are still around in new reform movements. they will have a problem towards the end.

ida wants him, while she is in england, to tell everyone that she represents the race. and he has difficulty with that. he represents the race. [laughter] so he saysngs: everything else. she is courageous, she is ,elling the truth, blah blah but he will not say, she represents the race. that is partly some gender stuff going on too. but she loves him anyway. she is disappointed, but he has done things for her as well. mournful when he dies. dies, it iswhen he really wells who should have

been the new race. mantleuld have taken the of the race leader. duboisnow, it w.e.b. will do it. that is a whole mother story. thank you -- that is a whole nother story. thank you. [applause] watching american history tv. only on c-span3. >> c-span, where history unfolds daily. in 1979, c-span was created as a public service by america's public cable television company. bring youcontinue to

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