"THE LONG WITNESS"

 “THE LONG WITNESS”

This Sunday, July 16, marks the 161st anniversary of the birth of Ida B. Wells in Holly Springs, Mississippi.  For over 40 years, she was a primary witness about the continuing power of racism after the Civil War, against the enduring power of white supremacy, and a promoter of the equality and human rights of those classified as “Black” in American culture.  She was also a strong supporter of women’s rights, and often shad to fight to keep these two paths together, as both white women and Black men chafed at her emphasis on the need for walking both these paths.

Caroline, Susan, and I just returned from a tour of some of the human rights sites in central and upstate New York, and I thought of Ida Wells often on this trip.  We started with one of my bucket list items in Auburn, New York, touring Harriet Tubman’s home and hearing an excellent presentation on her by AME Zion pastor Paul Carter.  The next day we drove up to Rochester to see the home of Susan B. Anthony, the legendary leader of the drive for rights for women – this was one of the bucket list items for Caroline.  Rochester was also the adopted home of Frederick Douglass, and he and Anthony were friends.  There is a powerful sculpture of Douglass and Anthony at tea in a park near Anthony’s home.

On Monday, at Ed Loring’s suggestion, we went to Peterboro, a small hamlet known as the birthplace of abolition.  A former Presbyterian church there houses the National Abolition Hall of Fame, and the home of Gerritt Smith, who was a major financial supporter of the abolition movement and the movement for women’s rights.  We had excellent tours there, especially at the Gerritt Smith grounds, where Norm Dann, a major biographer of Smith, gave us a fine tour.  Next we took a break from the heavy history and toured the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, and our son David joined us for that – it was a bucket list item for him.  There’ll be more on that next week.

Next we went to Watervliet where we had a fine tour of the Shaker Heritage Society, which was founded in the 1700’s by Mother Ann Lee.  Lee believed that Jesus was the male face of God, and she was the female face of God.  She was one of the early feminists, and she believed that money and marriage were oppressive instruments which sought to crush women.  So, she decreed that the Shakers would be celibate to prevent women from being turned into sex objects, and she insisted that all money would be held in common so that women would not be dependent on men for economic survival.  We concluded our trip on the next day with a visit to John Brown’s farm in the Adirondack Mountains of New York, on land donated to him by Gerritt Smith – Smith was one of the “Secret Six” who financed Brown’s attempted takeover of Harper’s Ferry.  It was at this farm that Brown planned and carried out the Harper’s Ferry revolt in 1859.

Ida Wells knew most of these people, and she had relationships with Frederick Douglass, Susan B. Anthony and Harriet Tubman.  Wells helped to organize the National Association of Colored Women and was a central player in their first meeting in DC in 1896.  Also attending was Harriet Tubman at age 76, and Wells formally introduced Tubman at the meeting.  Wells had given birth to her first son, Charles Aked, earlier that year, and in a pioneering move, she brought him to the meeting with her.  Later in that meeting, Tubman lifted baby Charles up over her head for all to meet him and to name him the official “baby” of the meeting.  It was a profound moment, as the torch of witnessing for equality and justice was passed from Tubman to Wells and to all the other women who would fight for both equality for Black people and for civil rights for women.

Wells also had a friendship with Susan B. Anthony and stayed in her home several times in Rochester.  Their mutual friend, Frederick Douglass, had died in 1895, and a memorial service was held in Rochester for Douglass, and Anthony would speak at the service.  Anthony graciously invited Wells to stay in her home, and they continued their discussion about the intersection of rights for Black people and rights for women.  At one point, Anthony criticized Wells for getting married and having children, saying that women like Wells “had a special call for special work, that there was no one in the country better suited to do that work.”  Wells indicated in her autobiography “Crusade for Justice” that Anthony’s comments stung her, and that she felt that she had a “divided duty.”  Wells, however, decided to fully re-enter public life and do her “divided duty” as best she could.

Harriet Tubman died in 1912; Frederick Douglass in 1895; Susan B. Anthony in 1906; Ida Wells in 1931.  They were powerful witnesses who passed on their legacy to one another and to the next generations:  Mary McLeod Bethune, Zora Neale Hurston, Barbara Johns, Rosa Parks, Joann Robinson, Shirley Chisholm, Gloria Steinem, on down to Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors, and Opal Tometi, who founded  “Black Lives Matter.”  Let us raise a glass in honor of Ida B. Wells this week -and let us find our own places in this long and great parade of witnesses!