From Ida B. Wells-Barnett to Claudette Colvin to Breonna Taylor: Black Woman Activism and Why It Matters
Black women have a long history of political activism in the United States. Sometimes, their stories are not as well-known as others, but their activism has been pivotal to the conscience of America and moving the country toward a more perfect version of itself.
Have you ever read a newspaper article by Ida B. Wells-Barnett? Have you ever read from her book, A Red Record? If you have not, then you must!
From her scholarly pen is an urgency surrounding the lynching of Black men in America. Every word, every comma, every period, every statistic. She writes in Lynch Law, “Not only are two hundred men and women put to death annually, on the average, in this country by mobs, but these lives are taken with the greatest publicity. In many instances the leading citizens aid and abet by their presence when they do not participate, and the leading journals inflame the public mind to the lynching point with scare-head articles and offers of rewards.” Her writing so effective, that the federal government took notice, and for the first time, attempted to pass anti-lynching legislation (though it failed).
Writing slightly before Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Maria W. Stewart became the first woman to earn a living as a political essayist. Period.
As an abolitionist, political commentator, journalist, and feminist, she became the first woman in America to speak before a “scandalous” audience. At the time, a “scandalous” audience meant one composed of men and women. Oddly, women did not have the right to vote, but Stewart spoke on political issues of her day. Since African Americans did not have the right to vote post-Emancipation, she asked if they were no better off politically than when they were enslaved. Though not as well-known as Wells-Barnett, Stewart left behind a literary legacy through her published speeches that have been collected and continue to be read and analyzed.
Though most of us are taught the story of Rosa Parks, a seamstress who refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery, Alabama bus, few of us ever learn of Claudette Colvin, the African American teenager who challenged the bus driver and the law of segregation in the transportation system nine months before the Rosa Parks incident. It was Colvin and other plaintiffs who challenged the law in court.
Rosa Parks was picked by the Black community to restage the event for public relations purposes. First of all, Parks was an adult with experience in the movement. She was the secretary of the NAACP, she had a lighter skin color, and had the kind of hair texture that was associated with the Black middle class. Parks fit the profile that the African American community thought would better represent them on the national and international (we often forget that the Civil Rights Movement is part of the Cold War Era) stage.
Colvin’s story was all but forgotten until recently.
And though the story of the Civil Rights Movement is mainly told pictorially through clean cut Black men in suits, women like Diane Nash, did the bridge work, organizing many of the events.
A woman, Prathia Hall, was the inspiration behind Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream,” speech.
Where are the movies and films commemorating the works of these women? They are deserving. Where is the monument to the phenomenon that was and is Mrs. Fannie Lou Hamer?
Unfortunately, a young, Black woman was martyred in the Black Lives Matter Movement. Breonna Taylor was literally at home minding her business when her life was taken by police carelessness. Even though she is no longer with us, I consider her an activist in death. She and George Floyd were killed in the most heinous of fashions and they are equally deserving of martyr status. It is my sincerest of hope that when historians tell the story, that Floyd is not lionized at the expense of Taylor as is so often the case.
I write these things not to be divisive in any way and not to downplay the sacrifices that Black men have made, either. But for far too long, the sacrifices that Black women have made for our country have been either undiscussed or forgotten altogether. And to me, that’s tragic. Both men and women have contributed to our well-being and we need to acknowledge that.
Right now, Diane Nash is still with us. Why not honor her in some way?
This is from my African American Studies binder and my observation of the news.
