On this special episode and addition of The Parley in All Blue, Mark is joined by author and professor Michelle Duster, the great granddaughter of the late, great Mrs. Ida B Wells-Barnett. Yes, the one and only Ida B Wells-Barnett, the civil rights leader, author, one of the founders of the NAACP, and Pulitzer Prize recipient. Michelle has written, edited, or contributed to over 16 books; she's also a public historian, speaker, and champion on racial and gender equity. This discussion goes deep into the life of Ida B Wells-Barnett and her impact not only on black history but American history.
On this special episode and addition of The Parley in All Blue, Mark is joined by author and professor Michelle Duster, the great granddaughter of the late, great Mrs. Ida B Wells-Barnett. Yes, the one and only Ida B Wells-Barnett, the civil rights leader, author, one of the founders of the NAACP, and Pulitzer Prize recipient. Michelle has written, edited, or contributed to over 16 books; she's also a public historian, speaker, and champion on racial and gender equity. This discussion goes deep into the life of Ida B Wells-Barnett and her impact not only on black history but American history.
Ida was born in 1862 in HollySprings, Mississippi. During the civil war, her parents were enslaved, so the laws at the time meant that Ida would be born into slavery. When the slavery ended in 1865 and slavery became outlawed she was among the first generations of formerly enslaved people to have the opportunity to be educated. She was the oldest of eight children to James and Elizabeth Wells. Her father was a Carpenter and her mother was a cook. Ida and her mother both attended school together. Literacy was banned during slavery so Elizabeth joined Ida in school in order to learn and become as educated as possible. In 1878 at the age of only 16, both of her parents died within a day of each other and one of Ida's siblings died at the same time. That loss of family motivated Ida to keep her family together and raise the rest of her siblings. Reconstruction was a period in America from 1865 to 1877. In 1881 the state of Tennessee started creating "Jim Crow" laws which included separation of public transportation by race. Ida became a co-owner of a newspaper in 1889. In 1891 Ida lost her job for writing about the inequalities in the public schools. After The People's Grocery company lynching, Ida started writing in the newspaper telling black people to boycott the Memphis street cars, white owned business and to relocate from Memphis to Oklahoma. There was a mass exodus because of it. She was invited by Fredrick Douglas to go to Chicago to work on a pamphlet that would be produced at the World's Fair. Ida started the very first kindergarten in Chicago
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LinkedIn: @michelle-duster
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