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.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order that will provide support for Historically Black Colleges and Universities and establish a White House Initiative on HBCUs to “deliver high-quality education to a growing number of students.”
According to the White House, the Initiative will help develop private-sector partnerships, institutional development and workforce preparation in technology, health care, manufacturing and finance.
The president and CEO of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, Dr. Harry L. Williams said, “Today’s executive order serves as strong reaffirmation of President Trump’s support of investment of historically Black colleges and universities. This executive order should serve as a call-to-action for corporations, foundations, members of Congress and state lawmakers to redouble their efforts to support HBCUs and their students. TMCF looks forward to continued engagement with the administration and Congress to deliver results for HBCUs and the students they serve via appropriations and other legislative actions.”
On the same day, Trump signed another executive order that removes safeguards for African American schoolchildren by eliminating an Obama-era initiative to protect Black schoolchildren from excessive disciplinary action.
During the Obama administration, the first Black president’s administration created guidelines that sought to prevent school discipline from having a disproportionate effect on minority students. Trump revoked the civil rights initiative during his first term and Biden did not formally restore it.
At his signing today, Trump said his decision was especially important to the current Education Secretary Linda McMahon, who held the signed order.
“Under the Biden-Harris Administration, schools were forced to consider equity and inclusion when imposing discipline,” McMahon said in a statement. “Their policies placed racial equity quotas over student safety – encouraging schools to turn a blind eye to poor or violent behavior in the name of inclusion.”
She added, “Disciplinary decisions should be based solely on students’ behavior and actions.
Studies show that Black students are punished more often than their white counterparts.
The Congressional Black Caucus started the 119th Congress with its largest membership. There were 62 members sworn in today.
“On behalf of the entire Congressional Black Caucus, congratulations to the members of the Executive Committee of the 119th Congress. 53 years after our Caucus’ founding, our work to improve the lives and conditions of Black people in America is more important than ever before,” said CBC President Steven Horsford.
Photo Credit: Ron Busby, U.S. Black Chambers Inc.
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