Ida B. Wells and the Management of Violence

Ida B. Wells (1862-1931) was a considerable figure in her day. But she has not been accorded posthumous acclaim in parallel. This oversight is either just, or an unprecedented historical falsification -- enabled largely through unhappy, gendered misperception. African-American thought for long turne...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Critical review of international social and political philosophy 2004-01, Vol.7 (4), p.111-146
Main Author: King, Preston
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Intellectual History
Leadership
Racial Relations
Rights
Violence
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Ida B. Wells (1862-1931) was a considerable figure in her day. But she has not been accorded posthumous acclaim in parallel. This oversight is either just, or an unprecedented historical falsification -- enabled largely through unhappy, gendered misperception. African-American thought for long turned round dispute between accommodation (Washington) & protest (Du Bois) as forms of leadership. Yet this contrast may mislead. First, Washington was more white placeman than black leader. Second, Du Bois, more than anyone, helped diminish, even extinguish, the Wellsian intellectual legacy. If Wells's arguments (on violence) have critical significance, & Washington's are insubstantial & time-serving, then the important struggle within African-American leadership may come to be relocated within the protest tradition -- as between Du Bois (romantic Pan-Africanist) & Wells (universal defender of human rights), both recovered by the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s & 1970s, Wells possibly more fittingly. 30 References. Adapted from the source document.
ISSN:1369-8230
DOI:10.1080/1369823042000300060