in the same vein. >> sunday night at 8:00 eastern on c-span q&a. american history tv, smith college africana professor paula giddings talks about civil rights and ida b. wells. wells' careerthe in the 1800s, the lynching of her friend and her activism in brooklyn and chicago. miss giddings is the author of "ida: a 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 cookie lewis and i am a graduate of smith college. is anyone from smith here? i am a newbie on the board of trustees here. marcia recruited me. i am on the programs committee. what i saw that professor boy, is, i said, oh said, we are going to get my smithies here. 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. they asked me to say a few words. i just would like to let you know that i want to estimate in in 1970's -- went to smith

the 1970's and we didn't 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. it is a really thick book, i don't know if you have seen it. but i was so glad. she is one of those sisters -- and that is the thin theme , she is oneterhood of those sisters who was the of hermous black woman time and yet we don't all about her. so i am so thrilled to see that we are able to present this program tonight. that is really all that i wanted to say. this place is about history, it is about stories, about the lives that were erased in

history, about overlooked people. that is why i am thrilled about the presentation. we are a tagteam. i would like to call my sister up. she has been on the board a very long time. [applause] >> we are like a tagteam. valerie? >> thank you. 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. everybody who knows me, knows that i love the brooklyn historical society. i have served on this board for 32 years. [applause] >> my babies were small. they went to packer. i had sheila and sarah as my mentors.

they introduced me to the society at that time and have been here ever since. today, i am so proud that we are doing this program on the heels of celebrating dr. martin , the major drummer in our civil rights movement. we bring you another model of a legend tonight, except she is a woman. ida b. wells. [laughter] [applause] i could not be more proud than to be part of the same sisterhood as our speaker, paula giddings. , she was aor, member of the delta sigma theta. would all the members of the

delta sigma theta stand? [applause] tonight, we celebrate you as well because when one of us is celebrated, we are all celebrated. and for those of you who do not know much about the delta sigma theta sorority, i just want you to know that a bit of history. because of this is the brooklyn historical society. delta sigma theta was established, and is obsession obsessionally known as dst. it was incorporated in 1913 and we are a sisterhood of more than 250,000 sorors, educated women all over the world. there are more than 975 chapters located in the u.s., england, japan, germany, virgin islands, bermuda, bahamas and the republic of korea. permanent members of dst include

but are not limited to the honorable shirley chisholm, aretha franklin, dorothy heights, sicily tyson, ly tyson lena , horne, nikki giovanni. these are just a few of the prominent members of delta sigma theta sorority. paula giddings is our speaker. she is the elizabeth woodson 1922 professor of studies at smith college and the author of "when and where i enter."

[applause] there is no need to going to all her background, because you have her book and you know more about her than i do, but i can say to you that i am most proud, that giddings was inducted into the american sciences. arts and [applause] so tonight, ladies and gentlemen, please help me welcome on behalf of the brooklyn historical society, our community partners, the delta sigma theta sorority sisterhood, r paulaelcome soro giddings to brooklyn and the brooklyn historical society. [applause]

welcome, my dear. [laughter] prof. giddings: i could feel it. [laughter] prof. giddings: thank you so much, valerie. for that wonderful introduction. thank you, marcia eli for inviting me to this auguste place. it is really appreciated. cookie lewis, great organizer that you are, i really appreciate you doing this and reaching out. look at this group. thank you so much. so good to know that there are some smith black alums in the house. in some smith new york alums the house, and deltas in the

house. [laughter] s in the house? ok. [laughter] [applause] welcome, one and all. [applause] ida b. wells. -- il talk about her -- about her, too not just tonight as a black woman journalist who launched the nation's first anti-lynching 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. but no people were more progressive in the classical sense of the word. people mobilizing to eliminate the problems caused by industrialization, urbanization and political corruption in this period. people who had a vision of a future society when these reforms were realized. no one was more progressive than african-americans. secondly, i want to talk about consequentialut stay in brooklyn. because i am in brooklyn. but seriously, it can't be overstated how important it is that wells came as an exile to the city first. 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. frederick douglass invited her to speak in washington, d.c. the only people in the audience were frederick and his family. so the support, which i will talk about in rockland, was really so significant -- in brooklyn, was really so significant. this means, of course, i am going to focus on these two things, it means that i will leave out more than half of her activist life in chicago beginning in 1895. but please feel free to ask me , or any in the q&a other questions about anything i mention here. even though i am preaching to the choir, i will begin by giving a very quick bullet point

biography just in case there are those whom and not have spent as much time with her as i have. i will do this very quickly and try not to be caught in the weeds, which i was due. let me go through quickly, a bullet point overview in chronological order. 1862 ida b. wells is born in holly springs, mississippi to enslaved parents, who like many extraordinary african-americans make a good transition to freedom. her father, james, was a skilled carpenter who would have his own business and family home. her mother, elizabeth, was known as a famous cook. educated at one of the many schools built for friedman by

the methodist-inspired friedman 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 18 78 when a yellow fever epidemic rages across the mississippi valley. her parents, james and elizabeth died within 24 hours of one another. aged 16 and then three and her sisters and two younger brothers, leaving them as orphans. ida's firste see act of defiance when she refuses the wishes of family friends who wanted to divide the children among them. instead she gets a teaching job so she can support the family herself.

in this chaotic, lawless and victorian environment of ravaged springs, this decision makes are vulnerable to vicious rumors about her wanting to be on her own to solicit the favors of white men. the charge, combined with the devastating death of her parents, would have an effect on her psyche and her activism. you can ask me more about that, i will not go into that in this talk. in 1880, she moved to memphis , whoher aunt, fanny wells had also been widowed by the yellow fever in memphis. 45,000 people fled memphis with the coming of the yellow fever and 5000 out of the remaining 20,000 in memphis perished. they were just wiped out. teacher at the memphis school system and became lyceum with a

publication that she would edit called "the evening star." in 1883, at the age of 21, she began her activist career in earnest when she refuses to give up her first-class seat on the ohio railway. wins in the the circuit court. the judge in the case deemed ida a woman of quote "ladylike comportment and a schoolteacher who had the right to sit in a first-class car." just a little, i can't help myself -- there is a transcript of this court case and it describes how ida comes to court. she is dressed as she always is, dressed to the nines with a hat, parasol, sitting there

very properly. the conductor, who tried to rip her out of the seat, trying to physically extricate her. in doing so, she bit him. [laughter] and in the court case, he says to the judge, she looks like a i bledow,, but i'm frelly! [laughter] newspaper tells her to read about her experience and there's a video beginning of her career as a journalist, a profession where she discovers ."e writes "the real me 1889, she is known nationally as a printer of the press. she buys a one third interest of a memphis is super called "free speech." 1892, after a friend of hers and two others are viciously tortured and lynched, she would

launch the nation's first anti-lynching campaign through editorials and investigative reporting, which she would call "the truth about lynching." which was said to be occurring because white men or raping south.omen across the i will talk more about that. moreover, in protest, wells calls for blacks to leave memphis in the wake of the lynching, and about 20% of them boycottthat led the company . she also is a trolley car boycott that leaves the company in the edge of bankruptcy. i will talk more about that. in that same year, after a particularly provocative editorial, the newspaper office speech"oyed, her "free partner run out of memphis, and she herself is threatened with lynching. she fled to brooklyn where she threw the black paper, "the new york age" published the first

study of lynching in its pages. in 1893, she protests the lack of representation at the columbia exposition of that year. later in 1894 she takes her campaign to the british isles, where she gained support from reformers, newspaper editors and argyll, and the archbishop of canterbury, among others. she returns in try after new york city, takes the campaign to california, and finally settles in chicago, where she marries a new partner ferdinand barnett and gave birth , to four children between 1896 and 1904. the latter was born when she was 42 years of age. that was a good marriage. in chicago wells, now wells barnett, establishes the city's

first black kindergarten. i think on a black women like lynching on monday and kindergarten on tuesday. [laughter] settlementshes a house and becomes an advocate for blacks prisoners. she actually saves the lives of a number of men bound for execution. she establishes both black and interracial women civic .rganizations she forms the first organization responsible for electing the first black alderman in chicago. she cofounded the naacp. the year before her death in 1931, she runs for a state senate seat as an independent. requested but at her sung andthe song be titled "i have done my work," very apropos. and if anybody could listen to

that, if you are not familiar with that, mahalia jackson does a version of it that will send chills down your spine. ok. big turning point, obviously, in wells' life occurs in march 1892 when in memphis, thomas moss, calvin mcdowell and henry stewart were lynched. was, a postal carrier who president of a co-op called "the people's grocery," where the other men also worked, was a close friend of wells. he met her and talk to her on wentostal route, when he past the new super office. they taught sunday school together. his wife was a good friend of hers, too, and was pregnant at the same 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 who was losing business to the grocery.k the bottom line is the provocation resulted in a scuffle near the grocery and there were lots of black arrests, shooting in self-defense by the black man of three white deputy sheriffs who had come to destroy the grocery. the men were imprisoned and on 1892, 75 masked man horseback including, was known, the criminal judge of shelby county, road to the shelby county jail, searched for the three men, took them by train to a vacant lot and tortured and lynched them. we know the gruesome details of the lynching because white newspapers were told about it in

advance. and dispatched reporters to write about it. mcdowell's fingers were shot off inch by inch and four holes shot into his face, large enough to insert a fist. his right eye was shot through. his brains out of the opening. stuart and moss were also shot through the face and neck in the same manner. a replication, it seems government of the injuries suffered by the three white deputy sheriffs. talk about an i-4 and i. eye.lk about an eye for an at first, wells was so devastated after hearing this news and surprised, that she could not write anything. she described a black community in shock. here isg to remember that it is not until 1886 that more blacks were lynched than

whites, and the rationalization of the practice that began in the revolutionary years, that is what old lynching is in the u.s., had not completely sunk in. moreover, this kind of thing was not supposed to happen in a sophisticated city like memphis, where blacks were succeeding according to the progressive ideas of the time, and certainly was not supposed to happen to a man like moss. progressive ideas in this period had a religious significance. it was believed that all the innovative and labor-saving technology, electricity, steam engine, the press, were part of god's design to propel society forward towards a perfect destiny of uplifting uplift and improvement. a destiny without corruption, or sin.e, want,

in this formulation, the pursuit of wealth was not only acceptable, but it was a religious calling. poverty was included with failure and sin, thus the undeserving poor in our culture. but blacks were certainly doing their part. years before in the election of 1880, 92% of black eligible voters voted in tennessee. 92%. they elected a republican governor and a number of legislators, including several black legislators who propose d and won in some instances, civil rights legislation. black students had higher attendance rates in the public schools than whites. those schools where wells was teaching were racially separate, but teachers, black and white, male and female, were paid on the same salary scale.

progressive city. important,as deemed including education for women. that particularly with black students, as one commentator said, like a whole race trying to go to school. black literacy had risen dramatically in these years, so much so that a number of blacks who could read in memphis and elsewhere provided a sufficient market for the first time, for black newspapers. like "the free speech." in this period, 200 black weeklies were published throughout the country. people commit a career out of journalism. this included women. women were involved even in typesetting as well as writing women's columns and progressive ,deas in the black community

that was also uplifting of women. we congratulate the country am on the progress and advancement of the colored people -- read the resolution of the colored press association in 1884 -- and it is with gratitude to god that we renew our pledge as journalists to support and sustain every institution of learning and industry that tends to enlighten and benefit our social, religious and material interests. progressive. blacks had also struck a blow with ida's victory with the railway, the chesapeake and ohio, which was writ large or in a time when railways were considered as an illustration put it out quote "the agent and symbol of america's republic civilization." in that case, she had been legally declared a lady, which bump, essential

to getting the protection and benefits of the law -- in that. . . , essential to getting the protection and benefits of the law. this was particularly pointed because black women suffered so many perceptions because of the history of slavery. this is why, when you look at history in this period, there are a number of cases of black women on the railways in the first class, and issues around the first-class ladies car. because when you have a ladies and you have a law as memphis does, of separate but equal, then equality depended on equal treatment of white women and black women. black women were suing for this constantly. african-americans, in just one

generation since slavery were doing their part in this religion of progress, and no one more so than thomas moss. newas a symbol of a self-progressive ideology. .e had been saving money even as a young teenager, he had an account in the freedman's bank. he was entrepreneurial. his job as a postal carrier required passing a federal exam, which he had done. people's grocery was co-owned, as a mentioned, 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. democrats were beginning to take over in the late 1880's and

early disenfranchisement began 1890's. in the late 1880's. wells herself was disappointed and wondered aloud about the law when she loses a court case on appeal, but for people who had been in slavery, or their parents, and or their parents had been enslaved and who were ,ow teachers and store owners and political officials, they were just that, struggles that would inevitably be overcome. ida's minister periodn this pa 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 chance in the struggle for manhood. -- inevitable. inevitable. get rid of ignorance, accumulate

wealth, inevitable first-class citizenship. but the moss murder was, as ida wrote in her autobiography, the community's first lesson in white supremacy. while searching for the right words for her editorial, she remembered something said in one of the papers. moss's last words, as he was facing death was tell my people to go west. there is no justice for them here. west was the oklahoma territories that were opening up in this period. and to wells' own astonishment, after reiterating his words and -- in an editorial, blacks start leaving immediately.

if you 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 the year, 20% of the black population leaves memphis, which is a large percentage of its workforce. and the city suffers mightily. people were without laborers. households were without maids. as ida notes, they were great consumers in terms of restaurants and stores. they also tended to buy on layaway. and now they were gone. soon after, ida leads a trolley car boycott in memphis. the trolley cars were owned by a northern firm. they had just recently been

electrified. part of the technology of the period. one day, representatives came to her newspaper office to ask her to persuade black riders to ride them again. they stopped writing the trolley cars and they did not understand, the representatives thought maybe blacks were afraid of electricity. to this wells asked them, were people riding the trolley cars before the moss murder? well, yes. stating the obvious, ida said that it was a protest, and until his killers were brought to justice, the cars were going to stay empty. ida went from church to church encouraging blacks to stay off the trolleys. and they did. white 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 in general 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. in response, memphis's leaders started to relent. they did not deliver the murderers, but there were apologies in newspapers. condemnations of lynching in general, and moss in particular, and compensation given to moss's widow, betty. she also understood the political power. she understood this before anyone else really does. the political power, newly available, in this modern industrial age. to northern capitals she wrote

and african-american labor, the south goes its rehabilitation. if labor is withdrawn, capital will not remain. the african-american is the backbone of the south, and judicial exercise of this power in lynching localities can many times affect a bloodless revolution. in a face of a time when people were afraid of mobs, wells starts calling for an inter-class, grassroots rebellion. the days when elites could successfully negotiate wealth was coming to an end. after the lynching, she became not just a writer of brilliant editorials but investigative -- but an investigative journalist. she goes to the sites of lynchings, she reports on other papers she pulls out statistics , to prove her point. in 1892, lynching had reached an

annual peak of 241. a conservative estimate is that 728 lynchings took place between 1882 and 1891. by 1927, after this period, the number would reach about 5000. in her investigations, wells find that there are consensual liasons between black men and white women. they were often called rape when discovered. furthermore, she finds it she writes in statistics, which is a new innovation at a time at well, use of statistics. not even a third of blacks were accused of rape, much less guilty of it. blacks were being lynched for talking back to white people. for petty crimes. or, like moss, because they

competed successfully with whites. this has tremendous implications for wells. implications that she is one of the first to understand. first, there is 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, disenfranchisement, and mass incarceration were increasing. this has helped me understand the contemporary situation, too. wells understood before many of

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 right itself, could not purify its moneymaking ways. in 1887, for example, there was a referendum lobbied hard by a black and white prohibitionists to keep the city of memphis dry. the referendum 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 said they voted against prohibition. which later analysis show this to be completely untrue. still, soon after that vote, disenfranchisement efforts began

in earnest in memphis. now as the white papers begin to point out across the country, blacks were an obstacle to god's plan of progress. the idea became a foundation of the emerging social sciences at the time. now giving racism an imprimataur of objective scientific observation. this was especially true in ivy league schools, which were largely financed by contemporaneous and former slave owners. no less a figure than daniel britain, a university of pennsylvania professor and one-time president of the international congress of anthropology and the american association for the advancement of science in 1897 that, "blacks

had regressed to being midway between the orangutan and the european whites." the correlation to this belief was that blacks were impelled to rape white women and raise his race to a higher level. wells' investigations that revealed the seductive sexuality of white women and the attractiveness and civility of their black lovers gave life to -- gave lie 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. her writings include violence towards women and girls. like the rape of a eight-year-old maggie reese by a white man who became a detective in memphis.

and a lynching of a 15-year-old mildred brown of purely circumstantial evidence for poisoning a white baby for the family she worked for. 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, wells not only accuses white men and women with all kinds of skulduggery, but said that all black women deserve protection. and that there was an important role of leadership among the laboring classes. finally, noting that the more the afro-american cringes and the more he is insulted and outraged and lynched, wells believed that "the lessons this teaches in

which every afro-american should 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] in may of 1892, wells wrote her famous editorial. eight negros were lynched since the last issue, three for killing a white man and five about raping white women. 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. from there she went to new york. she is met by the great editor thomas fortune, a transplanted brooklynite. she says, well, it has been a long time getting to new york. but 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 he said that. then she learns that all hell has broken out in memphis after that editorial. her newspaper had been destroyed. her business partner had been threatened with castration and forced to leave the city. a former co-owner of the paper was pistol whipped and forced to

sign a letter denouncing the editorial as a slander against white women. wells was threatened with lynching. there were folks posted at the railway station to intercept her. she was told a local black 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 wrote she owed it to herself and to my race to tell the whole truth now that i 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." the first study of the practice that includes all the elements. it marked the new thinking i was talking about in the new age of protest. 1000 copies of the addition were edition 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 won't go there right now -- were condemning her. many blacks, even moderates like her minister, were publicly critical of wells. they were forced to leave the city just because of her association with her. the same benjamin imes who was so hopeful, soon had a nervous

breakdown. wells was now planted in brooklyn. now i am going to talk a little bit about some descriptive elements about brooklyn. i loved researching brooklyn and understanding the context of where she came to. it 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. out of 795,000. 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 ida observed was that the south restricted blacks in

many personal rights, they were not excluded from working the many trades and vocations. where is by contrast, northern blacks may have had more individual rights, but were largely excluded from such work by labor unions and employers. one of the biggest issues in brooklyn at the time was that of, surprise surprise, housing. tell me about it. there were great fears on the part of whites that having blacks move into the neighborhoods, that the property values would decline. just before ida arrived, a new york times reporter investigated this issue and was startled to find that african-americans who lived in brownstones employed white servants and rode in carriages driven by a liveried coachman.

they took this accumulation of wealth stuff seriously. one can only imagine ida's emotional state while in the city. again, it is so important how this city embraced her. first of all, thomas fortune got her a place to live near he on gold he lived, street. known as the vinegar hill section of town. he lived there, and his lawyer lived there and co-publisher lived in that area. fortune would be a very good friend to her. of course his newspaper, the new york age, was the most important black newspaper in the country. and the most widely read. he was the most brilliant editor.

he had a difficult time later in his life. he becomes an alcoholic and had financial problems with the paper. but he is a man who was self-taught. still gets into howard law school. changes and becomes a journalist. and, publishes the great new york age. ida would also participate in lyceums in memphis. but the lyceums in brooklyn where something. there was the brooklyn literary union. these were all black. the concorde literary circle. the progressive union. and the star lyceum among others. educated african-americans like ida were familiar with shakespeare, dickens, alcott and the bronte sisters.

as a teacher in memphis, she was a member of the lyceum in that city. in this period, this is not literature for literature's sake. african-americans were promoting literature that was deemed as valuable for its power to redefine and enlighten the race. this is the period of the poetry novel of francis ellen harper and of frederick douglass. all of these forms were so well attended that the brooklyn daily eagle, a white newspaper, noted in 1892 that "no other group of people were fonder of literary pursuits than african-americans." ida herself was invited to speak on afro-american literature. to open the season on the concorde literary circle. in the concorde baptist church.

drew the largest audience that ever attended a literary meeting in that city. as the washington bee said, ida completely captivated the larger cultivated audience. she also in this period goes into a debate with a really wonderful figure, marise alliance. she was born of a prosperous free family in new york city. her 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 things being taken away. hundreds of black business and institutions were destroyed in that riot, at least one man was

lynched on clarkson street and torched while hanging from a tree. lyons' family moved to providence, rhode island where they will not admit her into the only high school, which is a white high school. so she sues and gets admission 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. ps-83, which was consolidated with all black ps-68 the education board's decision to consolidate rather than separate students was largely due to the effort of fortune's lawyer, who is a member of the brooklyn board and who had gotten support of the brooklyn literary union. in this debate, richa bests ida.

this is typical ida, reflecting a little bit on her personality, she goes to lyons and says teach me to debate. lyons tutors her. when ida leaves brooklyn, she will be on the speaking tour in england. this bodes well for her. i will tell you quickly about some other people she meets. this great moment in support of her. she meets people like new york's first black public school principal, sarah garnet, and widow of the abolitionist henry halleck garnet. she meets susan mckinney, in

graduate of new york medical 1870 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. matthews, a year older than ida, had more in common with her that some of the others. matthews 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. but she comes back and sues to get them back. and she regains possession of them. these are some kind of people. it is matthews' suggestion that to organize the testimonial for

ida, the 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 two separate entities at this time. very much on the mind of the two organizers was the issue of the less than cordial relations between black women in new york and those in brooklyn. [laughter] wells 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. as soon as black new yorkers "amassed a considerable fortune,

they moved across the east river into brooklyn," as the newspaper noted. lyons and matthews calculated rightly that 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 those who came. finally, a committee of 250 women were appointed from both places to organize a testimonial. october of 1892. picture this. you are in a place called lyric hall. the stage was emblazoned with gas jets that spelled 'iola'on the platform. her pen name was sewn into the silk badges worn by the ushers.

women came she called it a , brilliant gathering of women who attended, including philadelphia journalists, a very important figure in boston, and others. ida wells was overwhelmed by the scene. she, for the first time, she tears up when she recounts what had brought her there. but again she was so supportive. victoria matthews goes across the stage and gives her a handkerchief for her tears. ida was so mad at herself for crying. others told her it really moved the audience. the event raised more than $400 beyond expenses. that was sufficient enough to

publish the pamphlet, which was called "southern horrors." ida dedicated it to the women of new york and brooklyn. whose race, love and unselfish effort made possible publication. the importance of the support of brooklyn activists, men and especially women, cannot be overstated to ida's cause. they gave her campaign and her revolutionary ideas legitimacy. and 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. for when wells council blacks that wealth and social advancement were not agents of

change in themselves, she was laying the groundwork for process test -- protest movements in the post-victorian world, where progress was not inevitable without political protest and action. and where language, not natural law, defined the meaning of race. somebody must show that the african-american race is more sinned against than sinning. she had found the vehicle of her destiny. it seems to have fallen on me to do so. thank you very much. [applause]

>> we will open 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 was 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 thought of 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 alone, as a woman. she did have help -- when she sold subscriptions, her father had been a master mason. the black fraternal order in holly springs. the masons in mississippi valley, all throughout mississippi valley helped ida with the newspapers, and protected her. but this was a problem for her. because 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] she kept the diary, so we know

the information. she just put in an initial but i found out who they were. [laughter] prof. giddings: what she 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. manly to protect her. she felt sometime, she regressed sometimes into a childlike -- you know? this was part of her -- and this also translates into some of her politics. she says, when will you be men and stand up? she had trouble. that rumor in holly springs follows her for a lot of her life. she has to fight it. we will end 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 nasty minded -- that is my favorite. she was thinking about going to court. she asked a white judge about slander, etc. he says, i am kind of busy right now. this was the judge doing plessy ferguson. but he says, i have a lawyer you 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. this is brilliant, you are the ultimate teacher on ultimate subjects. i feel honored to be in the room. i am so happy that funding was finally raised for a monument for 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. secondly, she is, again, transgressive. she transgresses gender roles, ideas around class, all that, so people are upset about that. but, she is also, because of her 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. and part of that drive and energy that she is turning in a constructive way. she does not do it completely. she still has her moments. but, she is so 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. never recalled hearing about ida

in high school, early 1960's. my question is, given the hell and may havere, , is there aere monument in her honor now in memphis? as an 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 single day, did that museum embrace her 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 ida in memphis on beale street.

there is lots of talk. there is part called bedford forrest park. he was a horrible confederate soldier who just mowed down blacks. so they said -- 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. prof. giddings: 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. i did not realize it, i would 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. >> i think, 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.

i really, 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. >> i want to say, it is an honor 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 chose 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 callie house and the reparations movement. she was 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 martha garvey. i wonder what her relationship with her was like.

if you could speed a little bit about her relationship with mary church terrell. she helped find the naacp, but he -- she was ousted as well. prof. giddings: ok. [laughter] prof. giddings: umm. [laughter] prof. giddings: let me start with this first question. that is a wonderful scene of how ida forces herself because they , say black women cannot march in the front of the suffrage parade. she just hides until her 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. she is really -- because she mobilized women's vote in chicago. that is how she got that alderman elected. even though he never appreciated it. she mobilized white women as well. she worked with white suffragists as well. they lobbied together. so, she of course starts the suffrage club, which is the 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 is also asked to -- she and her husband were republicans before she becomes an independent. she goes around the state for 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. ida wells also talked about reparations because she lived in a time when 13 italians were lynched and families got reparations. the italian 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 church terrell had a hard time. she is from memphis. they meet at a mutual admiration

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

competitors around the national association of colored women. terrell becomes the first president. i hate to take it out of context because it is a long story. she feels that terrell tries to take too much power, and undermines the chicago people for the washington people. and terrell is a little more conservative. terrell sort of stays on the other side of the idea of progress. you know? ida has conflict with people with that conservative point of view. >> i think we have time for one more question. prof. giddings: she had a kidney -- issues with her kidneys. she was the type of person that,

when things happened to her, things would happen in her body. when she lost her settlement house, a couple of days later she goes into the hospital for a while and breaks down. 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 frederick douglass had almost a father/daughter relationship. he recognizes her. in fact, after that great testimonial in brooklyn, he hears of it, and 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. he is the leading race man of this period. even though he is aging in this period. he will die in 1895. he lends her money to go to england. he set her up 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] prof. giddings: so he says everything else. she is courageous, she is telling 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. she is very mournful when he dies. by the way, when he dies, it is really wells who should have been the new race.

that's how they had configured it, the race leader, she should have taken the mantle. as we know, it w.e.b. dubois and booker washington will duke it out for that. that is a whole nother story. thank you. [applause] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> you are watching american history tv. only on c-span3. 48 pack -- 48 hours of american history on c-span3. to keeps on our website up with the latest history news and for our schedule. >> next on "the presidency," harold holzer, an abraham lincoln scholar, gives an illustrated talk at the new york historical society about the

monuments created to the 16th president, and what they say about how we remember him. mr. holzer previously served as chair of the lincoln bicentennial foundation and as the author, co-author, or editor of over 50 lincoln books. this is an hour. louise: good evening, everyone. welcome to the new york historical society. given the weather, i am very glad to see such a full and enthusiastic crowd in our beautiful robert h. smith auditorium. for those of you who don't already know me, i am louise mirrer, president of new york historical. tonight's program, it's the clinton lecture at new york historical. i would like to thank our great trustee and benefactor for