Ida B. Wells, a history lesson

A year and a half ago, our youngest son and his wife gave birth to a baby girl, whom they named Ida. When we asked where her name came from, they told us she was named after Ida B. Wells. It was the first time I heard Well’s name.

Last week Wells was awarded a Pulitizer for her reporting on the lynching of black people, beginning in the 1890’s. She was one of the most important figures in passing lynch laws, probably the most important.

In her time black men and women were lynched by powerful white men and women including police and business and political leaders. Not just in the south. They were tortured, mutilated while still alive, hung, burned and shot, and their fingers and internal organs were sold as souvenirs. Among other things that I never imagined.

The majority of them were accused of raping white women. Ida investigated these atrocities on the spot and documented that the pretext for the lynchings was not true. She also argued that their rights as Americans to a fair trial was violated, and that the practice encouraged breaking the law by the people who controlled the law and its application themselves, who thought they were above it.

Three months ago a man was lynched in Georgia: two white men shot him as he was jogging through the neighborhood because “he looked like a robber.” That is, he was black. Last week, the two were arrested and an investigation begun. We have come a little way and important way since Well’s time. We will watch the investigation in the coming days to see whether these men innocent, guilty, or still above the law.

In another example of progress, we have just begun to prosecute the powerful white men who have been abusing women forever. They are being given trials, as they should be. They are not above the law.

Please join me in celebrating the life of Ida B. Wells and the life of my granddaughter who will grow up in a country the elder Ida helped to make better.

NANCY GERTH

Sagle