Black History
Anti-Lynching Activist and Journalist, Ida B. Wells, Receives Posthumous Pulitzer Citation
One of the nation’s most well-known investigative reporters survived a yellow fever outbreak in 1878 that killed her parents and a sibling and forced her to become head of the household and the caretaker of the surviving brothers and sisters. Ida B. Wells was 16 years-old and already showing the steely determination she would later display as a journalist who wrote about lynchings in the South, an accomplishment that recently earned her a 2020 Special Citation from the Pulitzer Prize Board 89 years after her death.
“Ironically, the very first time the Prizes were presented was June 1917 – less than a year before the 1918 outbreak of the Spanish Flu pandemic,” remarked Pulitzer Prize Administrator Dana Canedy during last week’s presentations. “During this season of unprecedented uncertainty, one thing we know for sure is that journalism never stops. And much like our courageous first responders and front-line healthcare workers, journalists are running toward the fire.”
Investigating America’s Lynchings
Ida B. Wells, who was born six months before the President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, eventually lost her job as an educator in Memphis where she and her siblings moved to live with an aunt. She had been vocal in her criticism of the conditions of the Blacks-only schools. No longer a teacher, Wells focused more on her anti-lynching writings after a friend and his business partners were lynched by a white mob incensed that two white men aligned with a grocery store owner who envied the black men’s successfully competing enterprise were killed during a shootout at the store.
As she traveled throughout the South investigating lynchings, Wells became a target. Her newspaper office was destroyed while she was away in New York City. Wells decided to stay in the North after being told she would be killed if she returned to Memphis. In 1893 she published A Red Record, a personal look at the stain of lynchings on American history.
Two years later, Wells married Ferdinand Barnett and the couple had four children. Wells remained an impactful voice for Blacks and women. She protested in Washington, D.C., and pressed then-President William McKinley for reforms. She formed the National Association of Colored Women in 1896 and is considered a founding member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
Ida B. Wells died in Chicago at age 68 from kidney disease.
In Arkansas a formerly all-Black school, Ouachita County Training School, has launched a national fundraising effort to restore the campus following its designation as a site on the National Register of Historic Places. One of the first corporate donations to OCTS, located in Bearden, Arkansas, came from the Katherine Anthony Foundation.
Anthony’s nephew, Steve, and CEO of Anthony Timberlands, presented a $10,000 check to the historic committee.
“We are happy to support the work of the Greater Bradley District Association and the Ouachita County Training School committee in their efforts to maintain the infrastructure and grounds of the training school, which is such an important part of the Bearden community,” Anthony said.
The National Park Service listed OCTS on the prestigious register in 2023.
“Since we received the news, we have been excited and motivated to raise the fund necessary to preserve this part of our history!” Virginia Ashley, committee president said. “We recognize the pivotal role OCTS played in educating several generations of young people who started right here and went on to contribute greatly to the Black middle class and the world.”
The gift of education
For education advocates, December holds a special place in American history. During the Christmas Season in 1952, the Supreme Court first heard arguments to eliminate segregation in the nation’s public schools. But, it took two more years before the Court issued its landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education, declaring segregation unconstitutional.
During the 1950s, OCTS educated Black students in the small southern town south of Little Rock, which became known internationally for The Little Rock Nine and their efforts to integrate Central High School. In Bearden, several Rosenwald Schools had consolidated to create the larger OCTS campus that educated students from the first through the 12th grades.
“I have such wonderful memories of my days as a student at OCTS,” recalled Pearlie Newton, a retired educator and executive director of the OCTS historic committee. “My dad helped pour concrete at the campus, my husband and I met there and it was in one of the classrooms that my goal to become an educator took shape.”
Despite the Supreme Court’s 1954 decision eliminating “separate but equal” schools, OCTS remained segregated until 1971 when it merged with the white school district in the area. An association of Black Baptist churches known as the Greater Bradley District Association purchased the campus for use as its headquarters.
Pastor and Association Moderator, Verna Thompson, said, “We are excited about the renovation and look forward to holding our church services and meetings in a modernized facility that holds so much historic significance.”
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