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"They Say": Ida B. Wells and the Reconstruction of Race
In 'They Say,' James West Davidson recounts the first thirty years in the passionate life of Ida B. Wells--as well as the story of the great struggle over the meaning of race in post-emancipation America. Davidson captures the breathtaking and often chaotic changes that swept the South as Wells grew up in Holly Springs, the spread of education among free blacks, the rise of political activism, and the bitter struggles for equality in the face of entrenched social custom.
When Wells came of age she moved to bustling Memphis, where her quest for personal fulfillment was thwarted as whites increasingly used race as a barrier to separate blacks from mainstream America. Davidson traces the crosscurrents of these cultural conflicts through Wells's forceful personality, intertwining her struggle to define herself with her early courageous, and often audacious, behavior. When a conductor threw her off a train for refusing to sit in the segregated car, she sued the railroad--and won. When she protested conditions in segregated Memphis schools, she was fired--and took up journalism. And in 1892, when an explosive lynching rocked Memphis, Wells embarked fully on the career for which she is now remembered, as outspoken anti-lynching writer and lecturer.
Period photographs from postcards, newspapers, and Wells's own diary further engage readers in this dynamic story. Richly researched and deftly written, the book offers a gripping portrait of the young Ida B. Wells, who directly encountered and influenced the evolving significance of race in America.
When Wells came of age she moved to bustling Memphis, where her quest for personal fulfillment was thwarted as whites increasingly used race as a barrier to separate blacks from mainstream America. Davidson traces the crosscurrents of these cultural conflicts through Wells's forceful personality, intertwining her struggle to define herself with her early courageous, and often audacious, behavior. When a conductor threw her off a train for refusing to sit in the segregated car, she sued the railroad--and won. When she protested conditions in segregated Memphis schools, she was fired--and took up journalism. And in 1892, when an explosive lynching rocked Memphis, Wells embarked fully on the career for which she is now remembered, as outspoken anti-lynching writer and lecturer.
Period photographs from postcards, newspapers, and Wells's own diary further engage readers in this dynamic story. Richly researched and deftly written, the book offers a gripping portrait of the young Ida B. Wells, who directly encountered and influenced the evolving significance of race in America.
258 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2006
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About the author
James West Davidson
164 books25 followersJames West Davidson is a historian, writer, and wilderness paddler. He received his Ph.D. in American history from Yale University and writes full time. He is also co-editor, with Michael Stoff, of New Narratives in American History, a series published by Oxford University Press, as well as the coauthor of textbooks in American history. These include "Experience History," "After the Fact: The Art of Historical Detection," and "US: A Narrative History" for the college level and "The American Nation" for the middle grades.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
January 11, 2019
The book starts out talking about the process of this dude taking a picture of a bunch of people out on a bridge, setting the scene, giving us some historical context about photography and its popularization, and how postcards came to be so pervasive. Then he tells us this dude is taking this picture because it will be sold on a postcard, and given what I know of American history, I should've known what was coming, but I didn't: I flipped the page and turned the book on its side to see the picture in full. The people on the bridge were all as he described them, different ages and social classes, but most everyone smiling and having a good time. But then I saw the rest of the picture, and I swear to god my heart stopped. The postcard was of a lynching. Two bodies hung from the bridge, a black man and a black woman. What a shocking and effective way to start a book, especially one about Ida B. Wells, who spent her life fighting against that very thing.
Davidson uses the first 30 years of Wells's life as a skeleton to explore the issues of black reinvention and construction of identity in the face of freedom and the end of Reconstruction, the brief period of rights they enjoyed before the white governments "redeemed" themselves by disenfranchising black voters, and it's really interesting. Freedmen and freedwomen had to decide how they were going to treat white people in public, how they would go about getting what they deserved from people unwilling to give it to them. And then there's Ida, trying to figure out how a single, virtuous black woman could guard her reputation and still stand up for herself. It's a really interesting book, half biography, half social and cultural history.
Davidson uses the first 30 years of Wells's life as a skeleton to explore the issues of black reinvention and construction of identity in the face of freedom and the end of Reconstruction, the brief period of rights they enjoyed before the white governments "redeemed" themselves by disenfranchising black voters, and it's really interesting. Freedmen and freedwomen had to decide how they were going to treat white people in public, how they would go about getting what they deserved from people unwilling to give it to them. And then there's Ida, trying to figure out how a single, virtuous black woman could guard her reputation and still stand up for herself. It's a really interesting book, half biography, half social and cultural history.
April 24, 2020
Ida B. Wells-Barnett has been whitewashed by history. All too often, she is remembered as a women's rights activist. Yet, she was an investigative journalist, anti-lynching activist, and civil rights activist. Decades before Rosa Parks, Wells-Barnett won lawsuits regarding transportation seating. Her divergence from Susan B. Anthony on the question of race is completely ignored. Anthony, like Catharine E. Beecher and others, bowed to the doctrine of "expediency," a logical if erroneous doctrine of prioritizing one goal at the expense of another. For Anthony, expediency meant seeking women's suffrage at the expense of racial justice.* Wells-Barnett deserves to be remembered as the radical she was, not the suffragette we feel safe remembering today.
I'd recommend Davidson's book to those who want to explore the Reconstruction South. 'They Say' is a short read, but packed full of information about the era, not just about Wells-Barnett's life (it is not a biography). Highly recommended for its excellent use of newspapers.
*Though Frederick Douglass was a lifelong supporter of women's suffrage, largely because white women had been active in abolition, Anthony distanced him from the movement when they went to the South. She feared he would bring up the "race question," not because he would actually bring it up, but because his presence as a black man would raise the "question." Anthony also refused to support black women in forming branches of the suffrage association. Wells-Barnett answered her on this: "'And do you think I was wrong in so doing?' [Anthony] asked. I answered uncompromisingly yes, for I feel that although she may have made gains for suffrage, she had also confirmed white women in their attitude of segregation." [Wells-Barnett, Crusade for Justice: The Autobiography of Ida B. Wells, ed. Alfreda M. Duster (Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press, 1970), 230.] Anthony was humble enough to not fall out with Wells-Barnett over this issue, though it appears to have strained their relationship.
I'd recommend Davidson's book to those who want to explore the Reconstruction South. 'They Say' is a short read, but packed full of information about the era, not just about Wells-Barnett's life (it is not a biography). Highly recommended for its excellent use of newspapers.
*Though Frederick Douglass was a lifelong supporter of women's suffrage, largely because white women had been active in abolition, Anthony distanced him from the movement when they went to the South. She feared he would bring up the "race question," not because he would actually bring it up, but because his presence as a black man would raise the "question." Anthony also refused to support black women in forming branches of the suffrage association. Wells-Barnett answered her on this: "'And do you think I was wrong in so doing?' [Anthony] asked. I answered uncompromisingly yes, for I feel that although she may have made gains for suffrage, she had also confirmed white women in their attitude of segregation." [Wells-Barnett, Crusade for Justice: The Autobiography of Ida B. Wells, ed. Alfreda M. Duster (Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press, 1970), 230.] Anthony was humble enough to not fall out with Wells-Barnett over this issue, though it appears to have strained their relationship.
October 12, 2018
An enjoyable book that explores Ida B. Wells life while showing us to all the social and political issues happening at the time; however, I wish it focused more on her and what happened after she reached her thirties. It still is a great book that gives a lot of background information on racism and lynching during the nineteenth century, but like stated in the afterword, it's principal focus is the reconstruction of race rather than Ida B. Wells life.
October 28, 2010
A thought-provoking, concise introduction to one of the most important women in American history.
November 12, 2012
Great analysis of how Ida B. Wells should be remembered.
March 23, 2018
Every home should have a text that unveils Ida. B. Wells
Her power and determination is symbolic of our ancestors will to right human wrongs
Her power and determination is symbolic of our ancestors will to right human wrongs
February 17, 2021
I highly recommend THEY SAY to everyone; teachers, students, parents, graduates, and anyone who knows anything about Memphis History.
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April 2, 2022i had to read this for my history class.
July 25, 2022
Very deep. Very good. Very needed.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews