The Memphis years of Ida B. Wells’ push for equality and justice
In her pursuit for racial justice, Ida B. Wells came to Memphis and during her time, became a educator, journalist and civil rights activist.
Ida B. Wells arrived in Memphis, Tennessee in 1882.
10 years later as she departs, Wells is recognized as a respected teacher, nationally and internationally known journalist, civil right activist and a leader of the anti-lynching movement. Her climb toward justice was through her determination, unprecedented strength and humility.
This article provides highlights of that evolution that lead to her influence as she exits Memphis.
Fannie Wells, Ida’s aunt lived at 62 Georgia Street, located in South Memphis in the 10th Ward. The community was over 50% Black. Nearly 3,000 exslaves had come to Memphis in 1862. They were employed through the contraband camps. These men served as spies to guide Union soldiers during the Civil War.
Others assisted in constructing Ft. Pickering, laborers loaded and unloaded boats on the levee. Fannie Wells immediate neighborhood was likely many freedmen who remained and were employed in unskilled, semiskilled, or service occupations.
Evolution of Ida B. Wells
Wells began teaching at Woodstock school, about 10 miles from Memphis. While Wells’ young sisters were cared for by her Aunt Fannie, Wells traveled daily by trolley to teach. She made her way to Beale and River Street, the heart of the Black commercial district with its boarding places, barbershops, saloons, undertaking parlors.
The home of Zion Hall, a public meetings place for the masses. Old Fellows Hall, owned by a Black fraternal group and the newspaper offices of the Living Way, a Baptist weekly founded in 1874.
In 1875 a federal civil rights bill gave Black people the right to sue in state courts if they were discriminated against because of race in public accommodations. As Wells rode the train she was often forced into the smoking car though her purchased ticket was for the first class lady’s car.
With the rise of Jim Crow laws, this set the stage for the 1883 lawsuit of Wells vs. Chesapeake and Ohio Railway line. Wells arrives on September 15, 1885 boarding at the Poplar Street Depot Northbound Covington Train. She purchased a seat in the First Class Ladies Car.
After taking her seat she was asked to go to the Colored Car. Wells’ refused and left the train.
Wells won her lawsuit based on: 1 The colored car fell below the standards of a first class car.
2 No strict separation existed. 3 Wells, with ladylike appearance and deportment and a school teacher, would be expected to object to traveling with rough or boisterous men. This was a victory for the race.
With the establishment of The Memphis Lyceum in 1880 by Black teachers, provisions for a forum for debates, readings, musical selections and recitations, was created. Wells’ performances lead to recognition and her appointment as editor of the Evening Star. She began publishing in both the Star and the Living Way.
Well’s articles were reprinted in more than 200 Black weekly papers throughout the United States. Her pen name was “Iola.” Wells became an owner of the Memphis Free Speech. In 2020 she was presented posthumously the Pulitzer Prize with a headline reading “The only thing she really had was the truth.”
In 1892, three Black men Thomas Moss, Calvin Mcdowell and Henry Stewart opened the People’s Grocery Company.
After continual disagreement by a white store owner across the street from People’s, On March 9, Moss and his associates fought off several white vandals attacking their store. One of the whites was killed. The three black men were arrested but murdered when taken from their cell by a white mob.
In response, Wells wrote a seven column article published on the front page of the newspaper The New York Age. Similar horrors of lynching and atrocities throughout the South were also reported.
While attending the African Methodist Episcopal General Conference in Philadelphia, a white mob at the urging of a prominent newspaper, destroyed the offices of the Free Speech.
Free speech would not be achieved in the South. Wells was persuaded to stay away for her own safety.
Wells’ influence and work continued as she moved on to New York, traveled abroad and finally made her home in Chicago continuing her pursuit of equality and justice.
Dr. Gemma Beckley is a retired Trustee Distinguished Professor and Chair of Social Work Department , Rust College, Holly Springs, Mississippi.