The Suffragist That Couldn't Be Silenced | Ida B. Wells

[00:00:00]What does a spine of steel look like?

[00:00:04]This woman knows.

[00:00:06]The year is 1892.

[00:00:08]A Tennessee mob has burnt down the office of a local newspaper, the Memphis Free Speech, for publishing an anti-lynching [music] editorial.

[00:00:18]The author and editor?

[00:00:19]A brave woman who wouldn't let the end of the Memphis [music] Free Speech be the end of free speech itself.

[00:00:26]This is Ida B. Wells, America's badass, gun-toting journalist and suffragette.

[00:00:37]The destruction of the Memphis Free Speech did nothing to stop her.

[00:00:42]As an investigative journalist who pioneered several techniques still used by reporters today, Wells [music] traveled across the South exposing the horrors of black lynchings to the public.

[00:00:55]It became the nation's first anti-lynching campaign. [music] Wherever she went, she was met with threats, opposition, and censorship.

[00:01:05]But Ida never shied away from a fight.

[00:01:08]The threats against her and her journalism only made her stronger. Truth is mighty and will prevail.

[00:01:17]And anti-lynching advocacy was not the only cause near to her heart. A proud suffragette, Wells [music] spent 20 years ensuring that women had the right to vote. Her goal? To make black women a force in American politics.

[00:01:34]This led her all the way to the gates of the White House.

[00:01:37]But she almost didn't get there.

[00:01:41]Arriving in Washington D.C. on the eve of Woodrow Wilson's inauguration, Wells and other black suffragettes were told they [music] were to stand at the back of the march for women's equality. The suffragette movement was to be, quote, all white.

[00:01:57]When the women began marching, Wells was nowhere to be seen until she appeared out of the crowd and calmly took her place at the front of her delegation, defiant and proud. Two white suffragists stood on either side to protect her. Other black women did the same.

[00:02:17]Instead of being silenced and pushed to the back, Wells stood up for the right to vote and the freedom to speak and write.

[00:02:26]In time, the 19th Amendment was ratified, granting women the right to vote. State and federal anti-lynching [music] laws were passed, all thanks to this badass American who helped America live up to its principles.