Dark History - 69: The Princess of the Press vs. The Media, Mobs, and the Man

Episode Date: January 11, 2023

Welcome to the Dark History podcast. Have you ever been made to seem like the bad guy? Have you ever had everyone turn against you when you were just trying to do something good? Well, what about, have you ever had people hate you so much for trying to do the right thing that they blow up your office and you have to flee your home? No? Well, all of this and more happened to one Ida B. Wells. In today’s episode, we go over the life and legacy of Ida B. Wells and how she changed history in so many ways. Episode Advertisers Include: Apostrophe, Squarespace, and ZipRecruiter. Learn more during the podcast about special offers!

Hi friends, I hope you're having a wonderful day today. My name is Bailey Sarian and I'd like to welcome you to my study. Or maybe just my podcast. Dark history. Ah yes. This is a chance to tell the story like it is and to share the history of stuff we would never think about. Or maybe we just don't know. You know, that's the goal here, just to learn something new, yeah? So all you have to do is sit back, relax, and just let me talk

away about everything I learned, that hot juicy history, goss. Okay? So I was doing some light reading over the weekend, the subject, tenements in New York City. Now, if you don't know, yeah, I know, look it. I have been reading a lot lately, but let me tell you about tenements. Tenements are essentially apartments and condos where many families lived together in the early 1900s in America. As you can imagine, the living conditions were tough. I'm talking shared bathrooms, shared rooms, people of all ages sleeping in one bedroom. It wasn't the best, but people they made it work as best as they could. And this subject led me to a topic we've actually discussed a bit on the show before. Muck Rakers. Now, I don't think I've

ever said that word on the show, but I'm gonna tell you, a muck raker is defined as any group of American writers identified with pre-World War I reform and expose a writing. These were the journalists who were just calling everyone out. Okay, that's what they were. The elite were unhappy with them because they wanted to keep doing whatever they wanted behind closed doors. So they didn't like these journalists. They essentially said that they were making a living

raking muck or a talking crap. Hence the name muck raker. And I am all about what they were exposing. I mean, they were coming after corrupt businesses and such. So I had to know who these people were. Who were these famous muck-rakers throughout history. Near the top of the list was one name,

Ida B. Wells. Now, this was the first time I've heard Ida B. Wells, but I was like, who is Ida B. Wells? Cause I really didn't know anything about her. So I got to googling, you know, and my god. Did she revolutionize journalism? And the more I read, the more I was just shocked that I didn't know her name.

Well, I knew her name, but I didn't know like who she was and everything she did. And if I didn't know, I'm sure there's someone out there who also doesn't know anything about her either. So let's talk about her. Let's jump into it now, great. Ida Bell Wells, or as we know her, Ida B Wells, was born in Holly Springs, Mississippi, in July of 1862.

Now, this was a six months before the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect, so both of Aida's parents, James and Elizabeth, were still enslaved when she was born. Aida's dad had been trained as a carpenter, and once the family was free, he was able to get a job and support his family. I mean, this was huge. That stability meant that Aida and her siblings could go to school and be the first generation in her family to get an education. Aida's mother actually attended school right alongside her daughter.

I mean, since she hadn't been allowed to learn to read or write when she was enslaved, so she got to go to James. Ida's father served on the school board. He was active in local politics. And he told Ida that education was the most valuable tool you could have. And this really speaks to the value Ida's family had placed on education, especially her father James. But Ida's childhood took a dark turn when she was 16. Ida was suffering with a bad cold, so she went to stay with her grandparents while she recovered.

That's when the family got some very terrible news. Both of Ida's parents and her baby brother had suddenly died from yellow fever. Yellow fever epidemics were hitting parts of the United States hard at this time. It's like a disease that was spread by mosquitoes and its symptoms were fever, nausea, deliriousness, and could even lead to just organ failure. Ida was obviously devastated. I mean, she had five siblings that were still alive, and desperately she wanted to go home and take care of them. Her grandmother really tried to discourage this because her immune system was weak and

she was definitely at risk of getting yellow fever herself. But I didn't care, she just wanted to be with her family. So she took the train home to Holly Springs and nursed her six sister and younger brother back to health. Ido is now the head of the family household now that her parents were gone and she took this new role very seriously. She knew she needed to start earning money to support them. So she decided to pursue teaching. In order to get a job at a school, I would have to pass an exam to become a full-time teacher.

So she dug in, studied, passed it, and got a job teaching just six miles away. So with the help of her grandmother, not only did she keep up with her own education, but she also taught at the school five days a week. And then on top of that, she was also in charge of the family, meaning like cooking, cleaning, etc., etc. I mean, Aida was over here just blessed and asked.

Once her brothers were old enough to work, they too got jobs, which gave Ada and her sisters the opportunity to move to Memphis in 1880. So at this time Ida is now 18 years old, and she's still teaching and taking part in college activities at Fisk University in Nashville, and Lemoine Owen College in Memphis. At this time, segregation was not yet the law of the land, but that doesn't mean things were just fine and tandy, oh, nay nay. And then something big happens in 1883, and the US Supreme Court overturns the Civil Rights Act of 1875, which essentially means people of color were no longer protected in public places like schools, churches, cemeteries, theaters. So now it was up to the individual businesses to decide who's in and who's out, who can come to their places, who could not. Like it was

up to the business. So one day I decided to go to Woodstock, Tennessee, and she buys herself a first-class ticket for the train. Now this train had a first class colored car and a first class ladies car. And in the colored train, people, including whites, could get away with all kinds of stuff. Like, you could smoke and you can drink and just be sloppy. So, Aida shows up with her first class ticket in the ladies car. And she sits where she always sits. She's ready for her journey. And she always took this train. So like, it was, it was simple. But Ida is aware of the situation that some people are going to be smoking and drinking in that car. And usually it's a recipe for disaster, sloppy drunks. Yeah. Now I'm not going back there. So Ida refuses to move, but the conductor is not having it. Okay, he pulls the united airlines on her

and starts grabbing Ida, trying to physically drag her to the other train car. So she fights back and she ends up biting that conductor. Two more passengers join the conductor and trying to force Ida out of her seat. And in the struggle, her dress was ripped and her sleeve was almost torn off. It was really aggressive, and Ida's ultimately removed from first class, but she's going

to get her revenge on that conductor goddamnit. Ida knew that even though the law wasn't on her side, what happened on that train was not legal. After a few weeks go by, with the help of a lawyer. She goes after the railroad company. Aida actually goes on to win the case in a local circuit court and was to be awarded $500 in damages, which is like 15 grand today. So, Hell yeah, win.

I don't think it's about the money though. It's about winning and showing the man what's up. Aida wrote about her train experience and lawsuit for the African-American press and became a regular writer for a few different newspapers across the South. By 1889, she was making a name for herself in journalism because of how outspoken she was.

She was really shining a lot on what was really happening to the Black community. I mean, all the newspapers were owned by white men, so you can imagine that maybe news papers were very one-sided. This was the first time someone was coming out and speaking for the other side. That same year, she was elected as the secretary of the Afro-American Press Association. Now this was a huge accomplishment, especially for a woman.

But of course, the haters always find a way to reign on someone's parade. And they sure did. Her male co-worker started to tease her by calling her Princess of the Press, trying to make fun of her. But Aida just owned it. She's like, hell yeah, I'm Princess of the Press, what do you do about it? Hmm. Now Aida wasn't just riding whatever came across her desk. Oh, no, no. Ever since her incident on the train, Aida was committed to exposing the injustice of segregation and racial violence that was casually happening all over the country. So, she starts writing for

controversial newspapers. Quotes around controversial because they really weren't, but like, at the time they were considered controversial. One of the newspapers she's writing for was called Free Speech and Headlight. That challenge store may be told the truth about the stories that were showing up in the White Press. Aida was on such a role that she became editor of the paper that same year and was starting to get more and more attention for her stories. But this notoriety has some repercussions.

In 1891, Aida wrote a story about how the Memphis Board of Education wasn't handing out resources equally between white and colored schools. It was an important expose because no one else was saying it. She was saying what no one else wanted to say, which was the truth. But once the school system found out that Aida was the one who had written this article, they ended up firing her from her job as a teacher. But if he thought this was going to stop her from calling out inequality, I mean,

hello, you're dead wrong. In fact, she seems to be someone you just can't silence because the more you try to silence her, the louder she gets. To our story, Aida had grown up hearing the words KKK whispered by her parents, and she had learned from an early age to like fear those words and what they actually stood for, but as the country became more and more divided in racial tensions escalated, violence against black Americans started to skyrocket. Especially lynchings.

And after the cold-blooded murder of her friend in Memphis, Tennessee, her next fight became personal for Ida. I'm talking about the People's Grocery Store lynching. In Memphis, Tennessee, there's an area of town called the Curve. And this is what was known as a mixed or diverse neighborhood. There were only white-owned grocery stores in the curve, and the biggest one was owned by a guy named William Berrett. But William gets a little competition when Thomas Moss, a man who was beloved by the community, opens up the first black-owned grocery store. Now, it doesn't take long for Thomas' store to pop off, all the way off. And that William guy was pissed. I mean, who was this new guy taking all of his customers?

So William goes to authorities and puts in complaints against the people's grocery over and over again to get the store shut down. But it wasn't working. One day outside of the people's grocery, two kids were playing marbles. And the boy who happened to kick ass at marbles and when was black, the loser was a white kid and when he goes crying to his dad because he's a loser, none of them took it well.

So the boy's father goes up to the other kid and just starts beating him up. Yeah. Okay, there's people inside of the people's grocery store place and some of the employees inside inside of the People's Grocery store place, and some of the employees inside realize what's happening, and nobody's like stepping in to stop what's going on, and come to this innocent boys' defense. No, they're just watching. So they started a whole house fight, and everyone then started getting involved.

Fist were flying, and then William, the owner of the White Grocery store, saw an opportunity, he was like, oh yeah, hell yeah. So he jumps in and involves himself in the fight. He, William, then got hit in the head. And with this new injury went running to police crying. Because now he had physical proof that people's grocery store is like bad for the community. Look, they're violent. They hit me in the head. Do you see this? Look at my hat.

Like he's just, you know, using it to his advantage. So he's telling police, they're so full of hate over there and anger. I'm so scared. After the marble incident on March 3, 1892, William, a police officer, and a group of men enter people's grocery armed with guns. They essentially say, hand over the employee who started that fight or else or else. We don't know what else but or else. But everyone at the people's grocery knew that if they handed him over, it was a guaranteed death sentence. Black people from the curved community were hurt, white people from the nearby community were hurt, and an officer was hurt. It was just all a mess.

Everyone was hurt. Even though William and the others left the store that day, everyone knew it wasn't over. They're gonna come back. Thomas and employees from people's grocery tried to get protection from local police because they're scared. But the police told them, sorry no, you're actually outside of sitting limits so we can't help. So sorry about that. So this is when they realize, you know, we're going to have to like protect ourselves. And they were able to for a while, but William and a mob of angry protesters were already planting their nasty seeds just going around telling lies about what happened over at the curve and just getting everyone ramped up. He was also telling everyone that, you know, over there, they're

planting to come after the white community. And just straight up fear mongering. And it worked. So the police decided to step in and back up William's story, supporting him where they could. A couple days later, around 10 p.m., a group of deputies purposely dressed in street clothes, you know, looking on normal and shit, trying to hide their identities surrounded people's grocery. The whole store, and just ambushed it. They were coming in from all sides armed with guns, kind of like a SWAT team, it was just

intense. Thomas and the other employees were again, just told that they had to protect themselves, did just that. They grabbed their guns and shot back was a shootout. In the end, a lot of people were hurt, but specifically, two officers were in real bad shape. When the media got word of this, who do you think they're gonna blame? Newspapers published articles saying the attack was proof that Williams was right, and there was a plot against white people.

And on top of that, this attack was indeed planned. Because out of everything we've learned here on Dark History, fear causes people to react, does it not? So people at home were raiding this article, and they were getting really scared. So not only are these men angry, but they see this as a green light to get rid of two today's episode. So a mob of about 100 men stormed the town and it essentially started a witch hunt. These random dudes breaking into homes violently drag innocent people out of their beds, arresting

them, harassing them, all with the help from police. Many were hurt and about 40 innocent black people, including Thomas Moss were thrown in jail. For what you ask? Nah, I don't fucking know. The armed mobs were angry because the court wasn't going to give them the death sentence. So, the people were like, we should just take things into our own hands. On March 9th, 1892, that armed mob stormed the prison and held up the guards at gunpoint so they could get in. They forced Thomas and two other people from people's grocery, from their prison cells, threw them in a railway car and drove them to a railroad yard that was far, far away. At the railroad yard, they held each man at gunpoint and asked if they had any last words. Thomas said, tell my people to go west. There is no justice for them here.

It was reported that they were shot so many times they were barely recognizable. When news of their lynching broke the next day, there was so much gruesome detail in the article. People knew that reporters must have been called ahead of time to be like, get the juicy details, I guess. In the end, no one faced criminal charges for the murders of Thomas, Calvin, and Will. The people's grocery was looted and trashed by the white locals and then sold to William

at a fraction of the price. Congratulations, William. We hope you're fucking happy. So going back to Ida, when she learned of the lynchings, something in her changed. And it wasn't just because her friend Thomas was murdered. She knew the only people who really knew what was happening during these mob attacks and murders were the black people who had to endure it.

So after the people's grocery lynchings, she decided to become an investigative journalist across the South. She would actually go to the scene and review the witnesses who were not being talked to. And she wrote about lynchings in such a vivid, unapologetic way that it opened a lot of people's eyes to what was really going on. In 1889, Ida was invited to work at a paper called

Free Speech and Headlight. Now, Ida was open to this opportunity, but she didn't want to have to answer to anyone. So she said, sure, I'll take that job with one condition. She wanted to also be a co-owner. At this point, Aida was known for being insanely persuasive, so the other owners of the paper agreed to the deal. So Aida became the newspaper's head of editorial.

This meant that all the reporting in the paper was done in her voice. And she got to say what was printed and what wasn't. And with the backing of a whole last newspaper, she really made her voice count. One major thing she focused on at the paper was the belief that black men who were lynched got what they, quote unquote, deserved. They were called menaces to society. But what Ida found out was that it was, it was just bullshit. She had the receipts. And they showed that most lynching victims were killed

for minor offenses like public intoxication. Or most of the time, there was no crime at all. She wrote quote, this is what opened my eyes to what lynching really was an excuse to get rid of black people who were acquiring wealth and property, and thus keep the race terrorized." End quote. What she was doing was essentially destroying the mainstream media's narrative. That same year of Thomas's death, Ida started publishing her investigations on many different charges of lynching, especially on black men who were charged after being convicted of raping a white woman. Her investigations found that one, raping white women was used as an

excuse to lynch black men. Her investigations revealed that only one-third of victims were even accused of rape, much less guilty of it. And two, where there were relationships between black and white women, she discovered that many of the victims of lynching were actually just having consensual sex with the accusers. Lynchings were the way the town covered up an interracial relationship. This was something that was shocking to Ida's readers, the numbers. Because up until then, nobody was gathering the data on what was like really happening. Nobody really took the time to actually maybe, I don't know, break it down for people. But item made sure she was putting

faces, names and stories to the things that she was saying. She would go straight to the scenes where black people had been hung, shot, beaten, burned alive, drowned or mutilated. I mean, she reported on more than 700 lynchings. She traveled alone to investigate these lynchings, and whenever she published something, the threats would pour in. But it wasn't until May of 1892 that a call to action was published. One writer essentially told people,

if you find the person behind these lynching investigations, grab them, stab them, and burn them. So what did I do when this article came out? Well, she went, she got herself a pistol, and she just kept going. Fuck yeah, Ida. But the more and more she reported on, the more she would become a target.

Certain people were getting sick of this woman calling out their shit. So a group of people decided to send Ida a message. On May 27, 1892, a violent mob in Tennessee broke into the office of Ida's newspaper. They totally trashed the place, they ripped it apart, searching for Ida and just destroying all her work. They wanted to end these articles once and for all. Luckily, Ida was out of town, or who knows what they would have done to her. I mean, I'm sure we could gasp, but like, think God she wasn't there.

But when Aida got word of this, she was devastated. The mob burned down her printing press and completely destroyed the offices. No one knew when or if they would be able to print a story again. And to make matters worse, this mob sent her a very clear message that said, if she ever stepped foot in the city of Memphis again, they would find her and they would kill her. Now that she is officially public enemy number one in Memphis, Ida decides it's probably best to just stay up north. Good call girl.

In 1893, she moved to Chicago. But just because she was getting death threats, do you think Ida lived the rest of her life quietly? Ah, hell no. She once said, quote, one had better die-fighting injustice than die like a dog or rat in a trap. And, quote, snaps, that's a bit yeah. Even though she lived in Chicago, she continued reporting about lynchings and murders not only in the south but the north as well. With her old newspaper office destroyed and out of reach, Ida launches a new project. She starts publishing her research in a series of pamphlets. The first one was called Southern Horrors.

Lynch law in all its faces. Among other major reports, one huge thing Ida reported on here is that lynchings didn't just happen to black men. Black women were targeted in murder too. I mean, this was huge, because again, at the time, almost no one was reporting on the horrors that black women had lived through or were living through. But once Ida shined a light on their stories, it entered the national conversation. Around this same time, Ida took her anti-lynching teachings on the road and spoke all across the United States. She held lectures, talked to people in cities who had power, businesses, wealthy people,

local governments, she even encouraged black people in the southern states to stop shopping at businesses who didn't support this anti-linching movement. This was huge because it hit rich people right in their pocketbook. It also reminded everyone that black people have power in the economy too. Reached searchers say that Aida had a unique ability to capture the attention of audiences, and she developed a reputation as a very talented speaker. When Ida returned to Chicago after her lecture tour, the city was buzzing with activity. There was lots of movement in shaken because the 1893 world's Colombian exposition was

getting ready to make its big debut. Now this was a massive fair meant to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus showing up in the new world. I roll! More than 27 million people from all over the world came to Chicago just for this exposition. Countries had exhibits, poets performed, and inventors showed off new creations that were going to change the world. Sounds amazing, right? I'm like, how come we don't have one now? I wish we did. But it wasn't amazing for everyone. It's where I'm going with this. Sorry. A bunch of buildings were built specifically for the fair. They were like very impressive. First of all,

they were dazzling, and they were bright white. This gave the fair its very own nickname. The white city. So creative, huh? The white city. Wow, really blew us away with that one. And go figure, black Americans were essentially shut out of the white city. Who would have thought? Geez.

They had no say in how the event was put together, and white organizers kept them out of any positions of authority. They were really only allowed to be low-level workers or performers, and a ban made sure that no-black exhibits were found in high-traffic areas of the park. Instead they were only allowed on the midway, which is like way off in the side, in the back of the fair. People of color were portrayed at the fair as exotic and barbaric, but of course, the fair organizers

were more than happy to accept money from black pain customers. Mm-hmm, of course they are. So when I had a learn what was going on, she was pissed. For an event that is supposed to celebrate the founding of the country and the nation's Greatness how dare they not even highlight the contributions of black Americans they were among the earliest settlers and their labor built the country and a ton of its wealth I To believe that leaving black Americans out of the fair said to the world that America views them as undervalued.

And she felt this was not only wrong and damaging, but it was total bullshit. So she decided to do something about it. Ida approached one of the most influential men alive with a plan. His name is one you might know. Frederick Douglass. Thankfully a lot of history classes do talk about this American icon, but in case maybe you just don't know, Frederick was born into slavery, taught himself to read and write, escape slavery when he was about 20 years old, and would on to become a brilliant writer, speaker, activist, abolitionist, and thinker. Easily one of the best Americans of all time, Hall of Fame. I could go on and on about Frederick, but this is Ida's story. So Ida goes to Frederick and says that the visitors to the fair are going to be wondering like where Americans of color are. And if they aren't wondering about it,

they should be. After all, there are 8 million black Americans in the country, and they made up one-tenth of the nation. Ida says it's on them to let people know what's happening here. She explains that she wants to put together thousands of pamphlets and just put them like all over the place, cover the whole event with pamphlets, getting the information directly into the people's hands. And Douglas, he must have been thrilled about this idea because he not only supported it, he agreed to help raise money for the project. Aida, along with Frederick and a couple of other activist pals, put together a pamphlet with the title that didn't leave any room for confusion.

It was called The Reason Why the Color of America is Not in the World's Columbian Exposition. Yes, it was a long title, but look, it got the point across. They went ahead and printed over 10,000 of these. And once they had them in hand, Ida and others descended onto the fair and pounded the pavement, bringing awareness to the whitewashing

happening in the white city. In the pamphlet, Ida and Frederick said that the organizers left black Americans out of the fair to shame them. The only reason they would allow them into the exposition was to show them as like a side show. This pamphlet forced people to confront a harsh reality exactly when they didn't want to while they were eating at the fair, eating a brownie for the first time and like trying to have a nice afternoon or something. But that was the point to weigh people up to the reality that black Americans and their culture

was being hidden in some corner of the park. And all this caught the attention of some powerful people. I'd have received supportive responses from representatives from some of the nation's present at the fair, including England, Germany, France, Russia, and India. And I don't know if we can call this karma, but it kind of feels like it is. A few months after the fair closed, a major fire broke out and destroyed most of the white city. Ah yes, America. Land of the free and home of the fooder. The smartest way to high. The year now was 1895. And now having spent so much time living in Chicago and touring the city, Ida came to a realization.

She saw that even though she had been bangin' the drum, bringin' awareness to all the lynchings in the South, Americans, especially people in the North, were just ignoring the lynching problem or simply just didn't know about it. Either way, that had to change. So, Aida went back to work doing research, gathering her receipts. Once she was done collecting her data, Aida published a groundbreaking booklet

called The Red Record. In it, Aida included graphic details about lynchings throughout the South where people were killed, how they were killed, what their bodies looked like. I mean, it was very graphic and it was a lot. And to make her research airtight, all of these accounts were taken from articles written by white reporters, white newspapers, white news media.

So now the red record was 100 pages long and 14 of them were just straight up hard statistics that nobody could deny. But Ida knew that numbers can be, come across very impersonal, reducing black lives to just a number when it get white Americans' intention. She needed to tell the victim's story. She needed to show that these were human beings with families, spouses, friends, they had lives, and they were just being wiped out. And one of the crazy things I discovered

is that attacks and lynchings actually peaked after slavery had ended and continued to remain high through the early 1900s. And the conclusion she came to is that there weren't as many attacks during slavery because the enslaved were conserved property and white owners didn't want to destroy their property. They lose money. But after Black Americans were freed, their lives had no value in the eyes of many people. And because of the way I'd elayed all of this information out, Black and white

audiences were absolutely horrified, captivated, and could no longer ignore what the hell was going on around here. So after all of her work, Ida became one of the first prominent black women journalists in United States. And not only that, she helped create the genre of data reporting, which is using stats to tell story long before it was even a thing. Snaps. Fuck yeah. which is using stats to tell story long before it was even a thing. Snaps. Fuck yeah. But after all of that did much change. Of course not.

And that's best shown by the lynching a phrasier baker, a black postmaster and his baby daughter. In 1897, this man was appointed to run the post office in Lake City, South Carolina, and his home was doubling as the post office itself. Now this was a bit deal for him and his family. It meant a great federal job was stability, but certain people in town didn't like that phrasier was succeeding. So they started a campaign to force him out of the job. When that didn't work, they resorted to brutal violence. People are so lame. Oh my god. I hate people. Sorry. On February 21st, 1898, Frazier, his wife and their six kids woke up at 1 a.m. to find their house on fire. It was total chaos. Total chaos as the parents gathered the kids and headed for the front door. Fraser's son was the first to get to get there to the door. And as

he opened the front door, gunfire came from the street pointed directly at the family. He was a trap, a white mob outside of their home set the fire to force the family outside where they were waiting for them guns in hand Fraser pulled his son back into safety and was trying to figure out like what to do But the fire was growing hotter and the smoke was filling their lungs So Fraser turned to his wife and said might as well die running as standing still Fraser stood defiantly ready to protect his family and went for the door. But before he could even open it, a bullet came through the wood and killed his two-year-old daughter. Can't even imagine what Fraser was feeling.

With the house burning behind them and a white mob with guns in front of them, Fraser flung the door open and just took his chances. He barely made it a few steps before he too was killed by gunshots. Fraser's wife and five other kids were able to make it to safety after hiding out at the neighbor's house. So when I'd heard about this, she was enraged and took her theory directly to the man in charge. The president of the United States, William McKinley. I know, aside, I know, I know, I know. I didn't even know William McKinley was a president.

Like, when did we have a president McKinley right over my head? The reason she went to the president is because Frazier was a postmaster. And if you don't know, that's a federal position, okay? And his house was the postmaster. And if you don't know, that's a federal position, okay? And his house was the post office. So technically, this was an attack on federal property. So Ida argued that not only was this blatant murder, but this attack was also a federal crime. So with the support of eight

congressmen from Illinois, Ida presented a petition directly to the president at the White House. In this petition, she demanded that something be done about lynchings. She said, quote, nowhere in the civilized world, except for the United States of America, do men possessing all civil and political power go out in bands of 50 to 5,000 to hunt down, shoot, hang or burn to death,

a single individual unarmed and absolutely powerless. She comes through. She goes hard. Ida, Ida, it's Ida for president. Oh, wait, she's dead. Sorry, this is 1800s. Never mind. And on top of all of this,

she tells the president that there should be an investigation. I mean, the killers should be held accountable. Hello, and the Frazier family should be compensated for their loss. Well, this president McKinley, I know, who is he? I don't know. He forwarded Ida's petition to the Department of Justice, which kicked off a formal investigation. Thirteen white men were charged with, among other things, murder, civil rights violations, and destruction of mail. Many were excited to see this outcome.

That is until a mistrial was declared. Ugh. So no one went to jail for this. Yeah, I know. It was like almost there, you know, just so close. Ugh! To make matters worse, the Fraser family never saw a dime from the government. And despite Ida pushing hard his hell for it, this President McKinley, again, he must not done anything good,

and he also wouldn't support a national anti-lynching law, so he definitely sucked ass. Even though this law didn't go forward, the fact that Ida was making noise at the White House to the President of the United States, she was no longer just a small town journalist. She had national influence, and she used that influence to push forward women's right to vote. But yet again, another big problem. Within this movement, there were a whole lot of white women calling for the right to vote in America. You know? But here's the thing. Within that movement, there was also a lot of racism.

White women's rights activists, they wanted the help of black women in marches and getting the word out and like, we should vote. But these white women, they didn't think like that they should be able to vote. You know, we just need you to help support us, but I don't think you should vote. And this all came to a head during one

of the biggest and most influential suffrage marches in history. So, Ida was busy. Ida was putting in work. I just love her. On the morning of March 5th, 1913, the woman's suffrage march on Washington took off. It was bigger than anyone anticipated. I'm laughing because it sounds like it's going to be this huge march, right? And it was 5 than anyone anticipated. I'm laughing because it sounds like it's gonna be this huge march, right? And it was 5,000 women.

But you gotta remember, this is 1913. 5,000 women marching? That was a lot to them. They were like, wow, I've never seen so many women together, you know, but Ida was nowhere to be found. So then this parade is fully taking off. The women are marching. Ida, who was like secretly waiting in the crowd, she slipped to the front

right next to the suffragist leaders. Now this was a bold move because black women were not allowed to be standing in the front with the white women. And she knew that her presence in the front of that march would send a message to America. That black woman were to be included in this fight. Ida's photo at the front of the march was published in newspapers all across the country. This was fantastic.

Ida spent the rest of her life working as an activist, crusader, organizer, lecturer, investigative journalist, writer, educator, mother, and wife. She founded the first black kindergarten in Chicago. She was one of the founders of the N. double ACP, and she was working on an autobiography, and she was also running for public office. She was aiming to be elected to the Illinois Senate, but she was never able to win that election because she died of kidney disease on March 25, 1931. Now even though there are dozens of journalism awards given each year in her name, she never received the biggest one herself.

It took 89 years after her death to award Ida with the Pulitzer. It's sad that this was awarded to her after her death, but I think it was also great that people were reminded of her courage and reporting on the vicious violence happening in America during the era of lynching. I mean, a lot of the time people think after enslaved people were quote unquote freed, they were all good until Jim Crow laws are civil rights. But I'd lived during a time of that great area. I mean, she went out of her way to make sure people who were discriminated against or lynched made it

into history books. She made sure their lives mattered. She did what a lot of people wanted to, and she told their stories. She passed on the baton to others to get important equality lost past, but what was crazy for me to learn was that I wasn't until last year, 2022, that it became illegal to lynch someone in America. I think from Ida, we can learn to stand up for what you believe in and to never give up and to just keep going forward and don't let anybody. If you're doing something bold and brave, you're going to piss people off along the way. And it could get really scary, but Aida is just this,

I don't know, man, warrior, strong woman who just did not want to give up. And that is so beautiful. And like she really fought for the people. I mean, fucking love her. No, I just like, I feel so, so, so, I feel so well, no, no, no, no, no, look if you want to learn more because there's always more I said just taking a look at the website for the i2b Wells Museum

Which is in her hometown of Holly Springs, Mississippi and the museum itself is located in the house where Ida was born There's a link on their website to support the museum if you're looking for a great cost to donate to. I'll throw a link in the show notes. Also be sure to check out a biography about Aida called Aida, a sword among lions, written by Apollo Giddings, our expert for this episode. Well everyone, thank you so much for hanging out with me today and learning something new, maybe? Remember, don't be afraid to ask questions and stand up for what you believe in. And also, get the whole story because you deserve that. Now, I'd love to hear your guys' reactions to this story.

So make sure to use the hashtag dark history over on social media so I can follow along and join me over on my YouTube, where you can watch these episodes on Thursday after the podcast airs. And while you're there, don't forget to check out my murder mystery and makeup. I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day. You make a choice. Please be safe out there. And I'll be talking to you next week. Goodbye.

Dark History is an audio boom original. This podcast is executive produced by Bailey Sarian, Junior McNeely from Three Arts, Kevin Grush, and Claire Turner from Maiden Network. Writers, Katie Burris, Allison Filoboz, Joey Skuluso, and me, Bailey Sarian. Shot and edited by Tafad Sua, Nimmerundway, and Hannah Bacher.

Research provided by the Dark History Researcher team, a special thank you to our expert Paula Giddings, and I'm your host, Bailey Sharian. See you later. you