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Hass Communication CALIF'ORJ.\JIA STATE Ln'i'IVERSITY, NORTHRIDGE THE CRUSADDJG,, PEN 01~ IDA B. HELLS"-BAPJmTT A tl1esis S1Jbmitted :lr1 partial satisfaction. of the requirements for the degree of Haster tJf Arts in Hass Communication by Carol Elizabc!tt Andreo:·JS ,.,...------·- January, 197S The thesis of Carol Elizabeth AndrevJS is approved: California State University, Northridge September, 1977 i:l. ACKNOl\fLEDGEHENTS Thanks to Dr. H:i.chael Emery, Dr. Tom Reilly~ Oscar Sims of UCLA) and Charlotte Oyer and the inter-library loan staff for their assistance. Special thanks to Professor C. Boyd 3ames for the extra help he gave; to Ethel for introducing me to Ida B. ·Hells-Barnett; to Linda for her advice; to Hom for her encouragement; cmd to Bill for his adv:i.ce, his encouragement and his patir'"ncP. Special~ special thanks to vaphne and Kim for all the typing, xeroxing, etc. :lii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKN0\0'LEDGEHENTS • . iii ABSTRACT . v Chapter I: Introduction and Review of the Literature 1 Chapter II: Black History and the Black Press Chapter III: Ida B. \'!ells-Barnett --- Early Years 52 Chapter IV: Free -"~-p_c::_e.ch and the Anti--Lynching Crusades 64 Chapter V: Ida B. Hells--Barnett During the Years 1895 - 1931 • • • . • • . 99 Chapter VI: Conclusion--Ida B. Wells-Barnett's Influence • 126 BIBLIOGRAPHY . • • 155 APPENDIX .•• . 168 I ' ABSTRACT THE CRUSADING PEN OF IDA B. HELLS-BARNETT by Carol Elizabeth AndreHs Haster of Arts in Hass Communications January, 1978 Black women have played a part in the black press since its inception in 1827. Some black ~vomen journalists in the nineteenth century \vere particularly outstanding figures and included :Ln this group ~vas Ida B. Hells-Barnett. Ida B. Hells-Barnett, who lived from 1862 to 19 31, '"as often called ';Princess of the Black Press" and her voice was the strongest among journalists in the movement to stop lynchings. She wrote for numerous publications and she edited and ovmed two newspapers, the Hemphis yre~.-~'P.~!_€~ch and the Chicago Con­ Sf:.rvator. This thesis deals ,.;r:tth Hells-Barnett's various accomplishments and her activities ;:;re correlated Hith various people and events in American history. The hi~; tory of the black press is discussed and the early years in He1ls-Barne.tt 7 s life are examined in an effort to deter­ mine the people/evcnts/c.ircumstances that most influenced her. Because her greatest ~vork Has in her fight to end lync:hings in the United States, Hells-Barnett's anti.:.lynching arttcles are dis­ cussed. From 1895 until her death in 1931 '.Jells-Barnett became in- valved in mumerous civic activit:i.es. Though, her concerns during these years ~vere basically the same (an end to lynchings and the elevation of black people), she broadened her activities to include club ,.,ork, poli­ tics and the women's movement. Finally, an attempt is made to 1neasure Hells-Barnett's influ­ ence. Letters, biographies, autobiographies, books on the black press, ne\vspaper nnd magazine articles written by Hells-Barnett's contempora­ ries and various contemporary articles, as well as blacl<: history books ,,rere examined to determine her influence. vi CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Gerda Lerner, author of Bl~~~_J~-~~n i_!l___ ~\~?:_i_t:_('!_~!!:l__~~-ica, has said that '' ... it is necessary to recognize that there is a female aspect to all history, tha.t \vomen were there . • . ,l It \vas with this statement in m:lnd that the \vriter undertook the study of black \vomen in journalism history. Nany journalism history books have ignored the existence of 2 black journalists, and \vhen a special section on the black press is included in general journalism history books, black female Journalists are generally ignored. Horeover, books on black history and the black press, v7ith a few exceptionB, also have tended to ignore black vmmen journalists.3 This is unfortunate, especially when one realizes that several black women \vrote before the Civil Har and that black women have continued to play an important role in the development of black journalism. In 1746, i.n a ballad entitled "Bars Fight,"4 Lucy Terry re- created an Indian massacre which occurred in Deersfield, Hassachusetts, during King George's Har. "Rars Fight" has been hailed by one his­ torian as "the best and most colored version [of the warl extant."5 The first blade \voman newspaper editor was Hary Ann Shadd Cary. She edited an abolitionist weekly, ].'he Provincial Fr~-~~~· from 1854 to 1856. In a representative sample of her work she encouraged black 1 2 6 people to "do more and talk less."· Hmv-ever, the -vwrk of these women and other black women journalists has been given little attention by his tod.ans. As Roland E. Holseley has \•Jri t ten, " . • . The \<!Omen edi-- tors and ,.,riters of the nineteenth century have been ignored, as jourrtalists? by almost all 'tvho have \vritten on black journalists .. '.1 7 B.~-~_!E:_ 1\me.r:!.:_~, wrote that by 1890 there \vere one hundred and thirty­ four black journalists in America. 8 Many of these were ,.,omen. Hhy are black \vomen journalists --· particularly those \vho wrote in the nine- teenth century --- ignored by almost all who have written about black journalists? One author has explained: Black women have been doubly victimized by scholarly neglect and racist assumptions. Belonging as they do to t\,7 0 groups \vh:i.ch hmre traditionally been treated as inferiors by American society -- Blacks and \vomen they have been doubly invisible. Their records lie buried, unread, infrequently noticed and even more seldom interpreted.9 The author's purpose in doing this study w·as to take one black l.Jornan journalist in history, Ida B. Hells-Barnett, point out her con- tributions, and make some judgment as to ~vhere she fits in in American history. Hells-Barnett, 1:<rho has been called 11Princess of the Black Press," "1as a black journalist -v;hose career spanned the years 1881~ to 1931. She believed that "there is no agency so potent as the press in reaching and elevating a people. "10 Sh·e owned, in partnership 1:vith tw·o men, the Hemphis Free Speech and she used this newspaper as a medium through wh:lch she could fight black oppression. This study \vill shmv that Hells-Barnett 1 s activities and ac- complishments v1ere tied in 1vith important people and events in American history~ Letters, black history books and books on the black press -;.yere examined to determine \vhat other people thought about Hells-Rm:-- nett. Important to this study \vas Hells·-Rarnett 1 s autobiography; how- ever, it lvas used sparingly since autobiographies are too often given to praise and subjectivity. Hells-Barnett is best kno\vn for the anti-lynching crusades that she led in the late nineteenth and early t1ventieth centuries. 'T"e 11 .s-1',arnett ' s \vas t h e f.1rst c ff ect1ve. campa1.gn. aga:tnst. 1ync h. J.ng ll an d in a one-woman crusade, she \vrote numerous articles against the crime. In addition, she detailed the horrors of lynching in a pamphlet called A._!t~.i__~ecord, the first serious statistical treatment of lynching . 12 Through continuous agitation, \-Jells-Barnett brought the facts about lynching to Europeans and Americans and as a res·ult of her lee- tures and articles, anti-lynching leagues tvere formed in Great Britain and in the United States. Some historians have credited Hells-Barnett tvith dec.reasing the number of lynchings in the United States after 13 1894. She was perhaps the only journalist to ask President :t-IcKinley to enact federal legislation for the suppression of lynching. 14 Hm.;r- ever, her efforts were stymied by the federal government's refusal to interfere in ,,,hat was termed a "state matter." Several historians have pictur.ed Ida B. Hells-Barnett as a fiery, fearless, resolute woman who walked the streets of Nemphis tvith 15 two guns strapped to her waist and she repeatedly urged Blacks to arm themselves. 16 In addition, editors and authors from the 1880s to the 4 present have agnin and again characterized- Hells--Barnett as militant, couragt~ous, d{-_> termined, impassioned, outspoken and aggressive. An editorial in the New York .!:~ described her as "eloquent, logical and dead in earnest."17 Roland E. Holseley has Hritten that she is pos- sibly t:he one black ~;-roman journalist of the nineteenth century still remembered in the tHentieth century. 18 The fo11mv-ing are typical comments ~v-ritten about ~.Jells-Bar- nett by her contemporaries. Of ~\fells--Barnett's skill as a journalist, T. 11wmas Fortune, editor of the Ne"t'l york Ag~, a successful black news- paper begun in 1887, wrote: She has become famous as one , • • who handles a goose­ quill with diamond point as easily as any man in the newspaper ~v-ork. If lola [Hells-Barnett's pen name] was a man, she would be a humming independent in politics. She has plenty of nerve and is as sharp as a·steel trap.l9 Lucy H. Smith, another journalist of the period, said of Hells-- Barnett: "Ida B. Hells has been called the 'Princess of the Black 20 Press,' and she has \vell earned the title. " Hhat distinguished Hells-Barnett from other black women journalists? Hells-Barnett \vas a black militant espousing black pride, unity and power long before it became fashionable in the 1960s. She was distrustful of w'hites and ~v-arned Blacks to be~'lare ~v-hen dealing \vith them. Hells-Barnett once said to the black members of the NAACP: "They are betraying us again -- these white friends of ours.
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