“Valiant Women of the Vote: Refusing to Be Silenced” is 2021’s Women’s History Month theme decided by the National Women’s History Alliance. July 13, 1884, was the year that started a revolution: Elizabeth Cady Stanton invited four women to tea, this was the beginning of the Women’s suffrage movement. Women across the United States banned together for a unified cause, having the right to vote.
With the 19th amendment, women were given the technical right to vote, this did not mean that women of color were done. They had to fight and go through the hoops of our government for years to come, but without women of color the movement would have nowhere near the impact. One woman in particular fiercely stood up for what she believed in as well as took care of those around her. Ida B. Wells, born in July of 1862 put a stamp of women’s history that cannot be forgotten.
Wells had many accomplishments. She was one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and was also the co-founder of the Alpha Suffrage Club, which focused on educating young black women. A journalist, Wells told the truths of the horrors of lynching and quickly became one of the most prominent anti-lynching activists in the nation. She was later able to become the owner of two newspapers The Memphis Free Speech and Headlight and Free Speech. Being as involved with politics in time she became a die-hard suffragette. Putting everything on the line for what she believed in, she published articles under an alias to keep her identity hidden. Wells was able to continuously fight for what she believed in, in every aspect, not focusing on one thing but on many. She took part in many aspects of the women’s suffrage movement and when joining the National Woman’s Suffrage march, well-known Alice Paul instructed her to go to the end of the march (to walk in the back). Famously, Wells said “Either I go with you or not at all”, she then went on to say “I am not taking this stand because I personally wish for recognition. I am doing it for the future benefit of my whole race.”
