Ida B. Wells was a legendary Black American female journalist. Wells has been given a gift of sorts more than 80 years after her death that more or less solidifies her legacy.
Supporters have raised $300,000 to build a monument for Wells. Final pledges rolled on Wells’ birthday on July 16th. Wells was born in 1862. The monument is set to go up sometime in 2019 in Chicago.
According to The Washington Post, the campaign was headed by the great grand-daughter, Michelle Duster. It was a 10 year crowdfunding effort. Duster hopes to bring the deeds of Wells’ lives back into the eyes of the public.
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Back when Wells was alive, she was one of the most prominent Black American women in America. New York Times Reporter Nikole Hannah Jones believes that her name has been largely lost amongst history. Jones posts as Ida Bae Wells on Twitter to commemorate her memory.
I have some BIG, BIG news. You guys gave more than $40,000 dollars for the Ida B. Wells monument yesterday and THE MONUMENT IS NOW FULLY FUNDED. This was the last big we needed to end @MichelleDuster and her family's 10-year effort to pay for this project. I want to cry.
— Ida Bae Wells (@nhannahjones) July 17, 2018
As a reporter, Wells took on the causes of racial injustice and women’s suffrage. She helped lay the groundwork for the 1960s civil rights movement. She persisted despite death threats, the sacking of Memphis newspaper, and constant public criticism.
The monument will be sculpted in bronze and granite by artist Richard Hunt. It will have biographical information and quotes from Wells.
The monument will be located in Bronzeville. Bronzeville was the core of Chicago’s black community during the Great Migration. Duster is a writer and lecturer at Columbia College in Ohio. According to Duster, there are fewer than 20 monuments dedicated to black women and hundreds of monuments dedicated to the confederacy across the nation.
The Washington Post reported that Duster said “I hope this is the start of African American women being recognized, we need to tell the story of our country.
