I must admit that until a few years ago, the only thing I knew about the name Ida B. Wells is that it was a really horrible Chicago Public Housing project with lots of crime and broken families. Turns out, Ida B. Wells was one really remarkable person, who overcame her race and sex to accomplish much in her time.
From the Nov. 9th Chicago Tribune "Supporters propose monument to Ida B. Wells" by Ron Grossman.
The housing project has since been knocked down, but now there is a group that wants a monument to the woman who fought for racial justice and women's rights.
Seventy years before the more famous Rosa Parks refused to give up her bus seat in a segregated Montgomer, Alabama, Wells was dragged off a train for declining segregated seating on The Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad.
She is honored at the civil rights museum in Memphis, but now there is nothing in her adopted home town of Chicago to honor her.
The effort for a memorial began while her namesake housing project was being taken down, but wasn't making any progress until they made contact with Michelle Duster, a great-granddaughter, who has published books on Wells.
More to Come On Ida B. Wells' Life. --Cooter
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