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Civil Rights: Ida B. Wells-Barnett

Point Loma Nazarene University's Ryan Library created this web site and the library's display cases, Spring Semester 2017. Some links may be accessible only to members of the PLNU community.

Ida B. Wells-Barnett

Ida B. Wells

"Ida Wells Barnett...began writing because conditions in the black community of Memphis, Tennessee, in the 1880s needed a strong voice of protest."

Wade-Gayles, Gloria. “Black Women Journalists in the South, 1880-1905: An Approach to the Study of Black Women's History.” Callaloo, no. 11/13, 1981, pp. 138–152. www.jstor.org/stable/3043847.

Access the entire article by clicking on the above link and using your PLNU Network ID and Password.  This is the same way you access Canvas and campus Gmail.

What is she known for?

Ida B. Wells-Barnett  Journalist, Lecturer, Civil Rights activist, Anti-Lynching crusader, Feminist

In the 21st century a woman writing a reveling work on injustices is not unusual.  However, in 1895 a black female former slave wrote the pamphlet entitled A Red Record that brought the horrors of lynching to the nation's attention. That writer was Ida B. Wells-Barnett."That work refuted the myth that by killing African-American men, white men intended to shield white women against rape."  "Lecturing in Great Britain in 1893 and 1894, Wells-Barnett internationalized her anti-lynching campaign."  Reference Library of Black America, Page 412-413. Available in Ryan Library's reference section

Because of her fight for justice, Wells-Barnett's image was place on a U. S. postage stamp.

Learn more about Ida B. Wells-Barnett

Below is a representative list of electronic resources found in Ryan Library. Check with a librarian for additional resources. Access these videos and eBooks using your PLNU Network ID and Password.  This is the same way you access Canvas and campus Gmail.

Video 

Ida B. Wells: A Passion for Justice   54 minute award-winning biographical film 

Lynching 1:20 long clip.  (Contains graphic images)

eBook  

Black Woman Reformer: Ida B. Wells, Lynching, and Transatlantic Activism

Internet

What is lynching?  From PBS web site "American Experience."

Billy Holiday is known for her recoding of the song entitled “Strange Fruit.”  It is a song about lynching.