In March of 1892, three Black grocery store owners in Memphis, Tennessee, were murdered by a mob of white men. Lynchings like these were happening all over the American South, often without any subsequent legal investigation or consequences for the murderers. But this time, a young journalist and friend of the victims set out to expose the truth about these killings. Her reports would shock the nation and launch her career as an investigative journalist, civic leader, and civil rights advocate. Her name was Ida B. Wells.
U martu 1892. godine, tri crnca, vlasnika prodavnice namirnica u Memfisu u Tenesiju, ubila je grupa belaca. Linčovanja poput ovog su se dešavala svuda po američkom jugu, često bez ikakve potonje pravne istrage i posledica po ubice. Ali ovoga puta, mlada novinarka i prijateljica žrtava rešila je da razotkrije istinu o ovim ubistvima. Njeni izveštaji će šokirati naciju i pokrenuti njenu karijeru istraživačkog novinara, građanskog lidera i zastupnika građanskih prava. Zvala se Ajda B. Vels.
Ida Bell Wells was born into slavery in Holly Springs, Mississippi on July 16, 1862, several months before the Emancipation Proclamation released her and her family. After losing both parents and a brother to yellow fever at the age of 16, she supported her five remaining siblings by working as a schoolteacher in Memphis, Tennessee.
Ajda Bel Vels je rođena u ropstvu u Holi Springsu u Misisipiju 16. jula 1862. godine, nekoliko meseci pre nego što je Proklamacija o emancipaciji oslobodila nju i njenu porodicu. Nakon gubitka oba roditelja i brata usled žute groznice u 16. godini, izdržavala je ostalih petoro braće i sestara tako što je radila kao učiteljica u Memfisu u Tenesiju.
During this time, she began working as a journalist. Writing under the pen name “Iola,” by the early 1890s she gained a reputation as a clear voice against racial injustice and become co-owner and editor of the Memphis Free Speech and Headlight newspaper. She had no shortage of material: in the decades following the Civil War, Southern whites attempted to reassert their power by committing crimes against Black people including suppressing their votes, vandalizing their businesses, and even murdering them.
U to vreme je počela da radi kao novinarka. Pisala je pod pseudonimom „Ajola“ i do početka 1890-ih je stekla reputaciju jasnog glasa protiv rasnih nepravdi i postala je suvlasnica i urednica novina „Sloboda govora i najvažnije vesti Memfisa“. Nije joj manjkalo materijala. Tokom decenija nakon građanskog rata, južnjački belci su pokušavali da ponovo uspostave moć vršenjem zločina nad crncima, što je podrazumevalo suzbijanje njihovih glasova, uništavanje njihovih poslova, pa čak i njihovo ubijanje.
After the murder of her friends, Wells launched an investigation into lynching. She analyzed specific cases through newspaper reports and police records, and interviewed people who had lost friends and family to lynch mobs. She risked her life to get this information. As a Black person investigating racially motivated murders, she enraged many of the same southern white men involved in lynchings.
Nakon ubistva svojih prijatelja, Vels je pokrenula istragu linčovanja. Analizirala je konkretne slučajeve kroz novinarske izveštaje i policijske zapise i intervjuisala ljude koji su izgubili prijatelje i porodicu zbog linča. Rizikovala je svoj život da bi dobila te informacije. Kao osoba crne rase koja istražuje rasno motivisana ubistva, razbesnela je mnogo tih istih južnjačkih belaca
Her bravery paid off. Most whites had claimed and subsequently reported that lynchings were responses to criminal acts by Black people. But that was not usually the case. Through her research, Wells showed that these murders were actually a deliberate, brutal tactic to control or punish black people who competed with whites. Her friends, for example, had been lynched when their grocery store became popular enough to divert business from a white competitor.
koji su bili uključeni u linčovanje. Njena hrabrost se isplatila. Većina belaca je tvrdila i naknadno prijavljivala da su linčovanja bila reakcije na krivična dela crnaca. Ali obično nije bilo tako. Kroz svoje istraživanje, Vels je pokazala da su ova ubistva zapravo bila namerna, brutalna taktika kontrole ili kažnjavanja crnaca koji su se nadmetali sa belcima. Njeni prijatelji su, na primer, bili linčovani kada je njihova prodavnica postala dovoljno popularna da preusmeri kupce belca-konkurenta.
Wells published her findings in 1892. In response, a white mob destroyed her newspaper presses. She was out of town when they struck, but they threatened to kill her if she ever returned to Memphis. So she traveled to New York, where that same year she re-published her research in a pamphlet titled Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases. In 1895, after settling in Chicago, she built on Southern Horrors in a longer piece called The Red Record. Her careful documentation of the horrors of lynching and impassioned public speeches drew international attention.
Vels je objavila svoje zaključke 1892. godine. Kao odgovor na to, grupa belaca je uništila njene novinske prese. Bila je van grada kad su napali, ali su zapretili da će je ubiti ako se ikada vrati u Memfis. Zato je otputovala u Njujork, gde je iste godine ponovo objavila svoje istraživanje u pamfletu pod naslovom „Južnjački užasi: zakon linčovanja u svim fazama“. Godine 1895, nakon što se nastanila u Čikagu, nadovezala se na „Južnjačke užase“ u dužem delu po imenu „Crveni zapis“. Njeno pažljivo dokumentovanje užasa linča i strastveni javni govori privukli su međunarodnu pažnju.
Wells used her newfound fame to amplify her message. She traveled to Europe, where she rallied European outrage against racial violence in the American South in hopes that the US government and public would follow their example. Back in the US, she didn’t hesitate to confront powerful organizations, fighting the segregationist policies of the YMCA and leading a delegation to the White House to protest discriminatory workplace practices.
Vels je iskoristila novostečenu slavu da bi naglasila svoju poruku. Putovala je u Evropu, gde je podigla užasnute ljude u Evropi protiv rasnog nasilja na američkom jugu u nadi da će američka vlada i javnost slediti primer. Po povratku u SAD, nije oklevala da se suprotstavi moćnim organizacijama - borila se protiv politike segregacije udruženja YMCA i predvodila je delegaciju do Bele kuće radi protesta protiv diskriminacije na radnom mestu.
She did all this while disenfranchised herself. Women didn’t win the right to vote until Wells was in her late 50s. And even then, the vote was primarily extended to white women only. Wells was a key player in the battle for voting inclusion, starting a Black women’s suffrage organization in Chicago. But in spite of her deep commitment to women’s rights, she clashed with white leaders of the movement. During a march for women’s suffrage in Washington D.C., she ignored the organizers’ attempt to placate Southern bigotry by placing Black women in the back, and marched up front alongside the white women.
Sve to je radila dok je i sama bila lišena prava. Žene su dobile pravo glasa tek kad je Vels bila u kasnim pedesetim. Pa čak i tada, glasanje je uglavnom prošireno samo na belkinje. Vels je bila ključni igrač u borbi za uključivanje u glasanje, pokrenuvši organizaciju za pravo glasa crnkinja u Čikagu. Ali, uprkos dubokoj posvećenosti ženskim pravima, sukobila se sa belačkim vođama pokreta. Tokom marša za pravo glasa žena u Vašingtonu, ignorisala je pokušaj organizatora da umiri južnjačku netrpeljivost postavljanjem crkinja pozadi, i marširala je napred zajedno sa belkinjama.
She also chafed with other civil rights leaders, who saw her as a dangerous radical. She insisted on airing, in full detail, the atrocities taking place in the South, while others thought doing so would be counterproductive to negotiations with white politicians. Although she participated in the founding of the NAACP, she was soon sidelined from the organization.
Iritirala je i druge lidere za građanska prava, koji su je smatrali opasnim radikalom. Insistirala je na detaljnom emitovanju strahota koje su se dešavale na Jugu, dok su drugi mislili da bi to bilo kontraproduktivno za pregovore sa belačkim političarima. Iako je učestvovala u osnivanju Nacionalnog udruženja za napredak obojenih, uskoro je gurnuta u stranu organizacije.
Wells’ unwillingness to compromise any aspect of her vision of justice shined a light on the weak points of the various rights movements, and ultimately made them stronger— but also made it difficult for her to find a place within them. She was ahead of her time, waging a tireless struggle for equality and justice decades before many had even begun to imagine it possible.
Svojom nespremnošću da pravi ustupke u pogledu bilo kog aspekta svoje vizije pravde dovela je do izražaja slabe tačke raznih pokreta za ostvarivanje prava i na kraju ih je ojačala, ali joj je to istovremeno otežalo da pronađe svoje mesto u njima. Bila je ispred svog vremena i vodila je neumornu borbu za jednakost i pravdu