Image courtesy of the Mississippi Writers Guild
In the February issue of Ebony (featuring President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama on the cover), there is an article about the efforts of Michelle Duster to inform children about her great grandmother, the late Ida B. Wells. Wells was a journalist, newspaper editor, anti-lynching crusader, suffragist, women’s rights advocate and speaker.
“My goal is to help today’s journalists have easier access to Ida’s actual writing as well as to hear the voice of her family. Her writing style is quite different than that of our present-day journalists,” Duster told me via e-mail. ”It’s interesting to read.”
The book, “Ida In Her Own Words: The timeless writings of Ida B. Wells from 1893,” is the first in a series that she’s working on.
“My goal is to make Ida’s writings accessible and available for today’s audience. She was such an amazing writer, and reading her work truly gives one an insight into the concerns of African Americans at the turn of the 20th century,” Duster said about Wells, who also helped organize the National Association of Colored Women (known today as the National Association of Colored Women Clubs, Inc.) and the NAACP. “I personally think it’s important for as many people as possible to not only know the history of this country – (we’ve overcome so much violence and injustice) – but also see that a woman fought against an entire country’s barbarism and lawlessness.”
Duster also would like to create products and services that “bring attention to the contributions women have made and are making to this country.”
“In addition, I want to help girls feel they have role models of fascinating, multi-dimensional women, who have a wide variety of looks,” Duster said. “Also, I want to help provide women with products and services that meet their needs and reflect who they are in real life, not an unhealthy, unattainable standard of beauty.”
Other ways Duster is keeping her ancestor’s legacy alive is via the Ida B. Wells Scholarship at her alma mater Rust College in Holly Springs, MS. Three college students will be the first recipients this summer. To contribute, visit www.idabwellsproducts.com or send a check to:
The Ida B. Wells Memorial Foundation
P. O. Box 19579
Chicago, IL 60619-5079
All contributions are tax deductible.
Duster is also working on the Ida B. Wells Commemorative Art Committee in Chicago. It is comprised of “people from different organizations in the city working together to create a substantial piece of public art work in honor of Ida. All of our hopes are that the piece will ultimately be a tourist attraction in Bronzeville (Chicago’s Harlem),” Duster said.
To read excerpts and to get purchasing information, visit http://www.mldwrites.com. Also, an article about Ida B. Wells in Quill, a Society of Professional Journalists’ magazine.
