Uncompromising, fighting and writing for justice is the testimony to the rich legacy of Ida B. Wells (July 25, 1862-March 25, 1931).  Her fearless voice, advocacy and investigative journalism is the link to the modern Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.  She used her pen as her weapon for justice that inspired hundreds of journalists, especially women around the world.  For journalists, Meredith Broussard and Karen Turner, Wells challenged them to think differently.  “She was an inspiration … her tenacity and passion reminds me of what my purpose is in life,” said Turner.  “She was an audacious and passionate social activist and anti-lynching advocate,” said Broussard. “I loved her because she stood up for what she believed in to remove the evil of lynching.”

Moderated by Kammika Williams-Witherspoon, co-organizer of “Chat” and Associate Professor of Theater, Broussard and Turner were presenters in the Chat in the Stacks program – “Ida B. Wells and the Continuing Legacy of African American Women in Journalism” on March 28, 2013.  The dialogue addressed issues such as the state of journalism, the Black press and representations of African Americans and the lack thereof in journalism at large.  At the center of the conversation was integrity and quality at risk on the Internet because of “cheaper new journalists creating communities,” said Broussard.  Turner suggests that “seasoned journalists are at risk…and cheaper college grads are not asking the right questions.” Her advice to young journalists is to “identify your passion and go for it; sacrifice can change lives; benefit and impact may be realized now or in next generation.”  Ida B. Wells’ life and legacy emphasizes the importance of this.

The Chat in the Stacks series is co-presented by the Faculty Senate Committee on the Status of Faculty of Color, and is part of the Libraries’ ongoing programming series, Beyond the Page: Exploring the Cultural, Historical, and Scholarly Record at Temple University Libraries

Photographer unknown, circa 1863, carte-de-visite and manuscript page (University of North Carolina Library, Chapel Hill, Manigault Papers, no. 484, vol. 4)

As part of its commemoration of the 150^th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, the Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection presented an Author’s Talk and Book Signing with renowned photographic historian Dr. Deborah Willis and historian of slavery Dr. Barbara Krauthamer on February 8, 2013 in Mitten Hall, Great Court.  Their book features 150 rare photographs (some of which are housed in the Blockson Collection) pertaining to the experiences of enslaved and freed black men, women and children from the antebellum, Civil War and post-Civil War eras.  Speaking to the group, Willis and Krauthamer were able to engage a packed audience of over 200 in a discourse that was a kinetic one, moving through the history, hopes and possibilities of a people seeking to achieve their fullest humanity during one of the most transformative years in our nation’s history.

Krauthamer and Willis became interested in this book project when they discovered a photograph of a woman named “Dolly.” Her picture was pasted onto a $50 Reward notice created after she ran away from an Augusta, Georgia plantation in 1863.  “We both thought that was a story that needed to be explored,” Willis said. “These images allow us to connect to people whose lives would be lost [to us otherwise]” said Krauthamer.  Their book asks: “What did [Dolly] envision when she planned her escape? What did she see around her when she stepped outside her master’s yard and closed the gate behind her? When we look at her picture we see her life in slavery, but we also recognize that the picture is a testament to her liberation.”

The brilliance of their work simply asks the viewer to look at these African Americans as agents in their emancipation.  In the end, Willis hopes their readers will find “a much more nuanced story about slavery. Not just the top down, but the fact that Black people were actively involved in obtaining their freedom,” she said. “That’s what I want people to walk away with, because I didn’t know it when I was in high school.”  “What we wanted to show through the book was African American’s dignity and sense of their own strengths and potential to shape the future and that they were intellectually and philosophically engaged in the major political and social issues of the day.”  “When we look at these photographs, we see full human-beings,” Willis said.  “They were creating their own biographies through these images.”

“Envisioning Emancipation: Black Americans and the End of Slavery” is published by Temple University Press; I encourage you to read it.

www.temple.edu/tempress.

In commemoration of the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the Charles L. Blockson Afro-American Collection, Temple University Libraries exhibited images from its signature collection, John W. Mosley Photograph Collection, at Girard College for the Martin Luther King Day of Service on January 21, 2013. The civil rights photos by the internationally and nationally known Philadelphia photographer document the interconnections between Dr. King, Cecil B. Moore, the Freedom Fighters and other Philadelphians who were active participants in the movement to expose and eliminate the wrongs of segregation and inequality in Philadelphia and throughout the nation during the 1960s.

Many of Mosley’s Girard College protest images along with a treasure trove of archival materials from Temple University Libraries’ Urban Archives are featured on the Temple University Libraries’ website Civil Rights in a Northern City: Philadelphia. This primary source collection of photographs, newspaper clippings, oral histories, videos of Dr. King and more powerfully reveals the campaigns fought by African Americans and their supporters at the 10-foot Girard College wall because of an 1831 segregation clause in the will of its founder, Stephan Girard, that the school was created to offer free education to white, male orphans only. Girard believed that a quality education would be marred severely if the sons of enslaved Africans were allowed to study next to the sons of whites. As a result, civil rights organizations prepared to challenge the school’s philosophy. In his speech on August 2, 1965, Dr. King stated that “on the one hand I am delighted to see so many of you here … on the other hand, it is a sad experience to stand at this wall in the 20th century in Philadelphia, the cradle of liberty, and know that it is a barrier to God’s Negro children.”

To learn more about Black activism and civil rights protests launched in North Philadelphia, including the Columbia Avenue riots, visit northerncity.library.temple.edu.