Newspaper Article, 1913
(Courtesy of Illinois Digital Newspaper Collections)
Advocating For Equal Rights: Ida B. Wells' Responsibility to Expose Injustice
Women's Suffrage Movement
Ida B. Wells fought for women's suffrage because she believed women had both the right to vote and the responsibility to demand equality and justice.
In 1913, Wells co-founded the Alpha Suffrage Club in Chicago. The group's goal was to get Black women involved in the fight for equal voting rights and elect Chicago's first black councilman.
At the time, the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) was the biggest women's suffrage organization and excluded black women.
"When I saw that we were likely to have a restricted suffrage, and the white women of the organization were working like beavers to bring it about, I made another effort to get our women interested."
~Ida B. Wells, Crusade for Justice, 1970
Wells traveled to Washington D.C. to march in a suffrage parade organized by NAWSA. Before the parade began, many southern white suffragists dropped out, stating that they would not march alongside Black women. Wells was asked to march in the back of the parade, separate from the group that she founded. She took on the responsibility of going against NAWSA's orders and joined the march with her delegation, demonstrating her right to protest alongside her peers.
"I shall not march with the colored women. Either I go with you or not at all. I am not taking this stand because I personally wish for recognition. I am doing it for the future benefit of my whole race."
~Ida B. Wells, the Chicago Tribune, 1913
“When I was asked to come down here, I was asked to march with the other women of our state, and I intend to do so or not take part in the parade at all.”
~Ida B. Wells, The Chicago Tribune, 1913
Ida B. Wells marching alongside white women in 1913.
(Courtesy of the Chicago Tribune)