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“Ida B. Wells” Transcript
Frederick Douglass, Rosa Parks, Dr. Martin Luther King. All three were champions of civil
rights and racial justice.
But there’s another name that should ring just as loudly as these famous figures; another name
that should roll off the tongue of every student in this country: Ida B. Wells.
When she refused and stayed in her seat, she was dragged away and forcibly removed from the
train. Seventy years before Rosa Parks ignited the civil rights movement by refusing to give up
her bus seat, Wells stood up for equality—also by staying seated.
Ida B. Wells also had the courage to speak up—to speak up for her friends and for justice. With
powerful pen and soaring voice, she denounced the injustices of segregation.
To champion the right of women to vote, she helped create the first suffrage organization for
African-American women. To unite African-American women in common purpose, she helped
create the National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs. To advance civil rights for all
African Americans, she helped create an organization I’m sure you’ve heard of—the NAACP.
Just as Dr. Martin Luther King created civil rights organizations that would continue long after
his death, Wells brought people together for lasting change.
Ida B. Wells—I hope it’s a name you will remember alongside Frederick Douglass, Rosa Parks,
and Martin Luther King. For her courage to stand up for equality, for her courage to speak up for
justice, for her courage to stay up for all of us, Wells deserves recognition and respect.
As she stares at us out of the past, her undaunting gaze serves as a reminder that the quest for
justice cannot be abandoned.
Thank you.
