Ida B. the Queen
The Extraordinary Life and Legacy of Ida B. Wells
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- $29.99
Publisher Description
Journalist. Suffragist. Antilynching crusader. In 1862, Ida B. Wells was born enslaved in Holly Springs, Mississippi. In 2020, she won a Pulitzer Prize.
Ida B. Wells committed herself to the needs of those who did not have power. In the eyes of the FBI, this made her a “dangerous negro agitator.” In the annals of history, it makes her an icon.
Ida B. the Queen tells the awe-inspiring story of an pioneering woman who was often overlooked and underestimated—a woman who refused to exit a train car meant for white passengers; a woman brought to light the horrors of lynching in America; a woman who cofounded the NAACP. Written by Wells’s great-granddaughter Michelle Duster, this “warm remembrance of a civil rights icon” (Kirkus Reviews) is a unique visual celebration of Wells’s life, and of the Black experience.
A century after her death, Wells’s genius is being celebrated in popular culture by politicians, through song, public artwork, and landmarks. Like her contemporaries Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony, Wells left an indelible mark on history—one that can still be felt today. As America confronts the unfinished business of systemic racism, Ida B. the Queen pays tribute to a transformational leader and reminds us of the power we all hold to smash the status quo.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Duster (co-editor, Michelle Obama's Impact on African American Women and Girls) delivers a vibrant and accessible portrait of her great-grandmother Ida B. Wells (1862 1931). Born into slavery in Mississippi and orphaned at age 16, Wells raised her five siblings with the help of her grandmother and found work as a teacher and newspaper reporter in Memphis, Tenn. After three grocery store owners she knew were killed by a white mob, Wells pioneered aspects of investigative journalism in articles and pamphlets documenting lynchings and other forms of violence against Black people. She eventually settled in Chicago, where she cofounded Illinois's first all-Black suffrage club. (When organizers of a suffrage march in Washington, D.C., asked Black participants to walk in the back of the parade, Wells famously refused to follow orders.) Duster also details Wells's frustrations with the NAACP, which she cofounded in 1909; notes that the FBI maintained files on Wells and other civil rights leaders; and draws parallels between her great-grandmother's "legacy of speaking truth to power" and the Black Lives Matter movement. Enriched by family history, striking illustrations, and deep knowledge of the ongoing fight for racial justice, this is a worthy introduction to Wells's life and legacy.
