Light of Truth Ida B. Wells National Monument

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Light of Truth Ida B. Wells National Monument
Ida B. Wells National Monument.jpg
Light of Truth Ida B. Wells National Monument
Artist Richard Hunt
Completion date2021
MediumGranite and bronze sculpture
Location Bronzeville, Chicago, U.S.
Coordinates 41°49′35.9″N87°36′36.5″W / 41.826639°N 87.610139°W / 41.826639; -87.610139

The Light of Truth: Ida B. Wells National Monument is a bronze and marble public sculpture by artist Richard Hunt. Located in the Bronzeville neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago, the sculpture takes its name from a quote by civil rights activist and investigative journalist Ida B. Wells-Barnett (1862-1931): "The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them". It was unveiled in 2021 by the Ida B. Wells Commemorative Art Committee. [1]

Contents

Description

The Ida B. Wells National Monument is made of granite and bronze and is located in a plaza at 37th Street and South Langley Avenue, on the former site of the Ida B. Wells Homes housing complex and just blocks away from where Wells-Barnett lived. Hunt's abstract art centerpiece is 35 feet (11 m) high, weighs 14,000 pounds (6.3 long tons; 7.0 short tons) [2] and features two etched images of Wells-Barnett as well as some of her famous quotes. One inscription reads: "What is or should be a woman? ... A strong bright presence, thoroughly imbued with a sense of her mission on earth and a desire to fill it."

The monument honors the intrepid, prolific and now iconic Black journalist and publisher Ida B. Wells-Barnett who lived in Chicago with her husband and children. Throughout her life, Wells-Barnett worked fiercely and tirelessly to advance civil rights for Black Americans; [3] to seek justice for Black men who had been lynched by racist white mobs and authority figures in the South; and she relentlessly pushed for women's right to vote. Wells-Barnett started several organizations to help African-Americans gain economic and political power in Chicago and across the country.

Background and history

The national monument was the culmination of more than a decade of crusading and fundraising by the Committee which included Michelle Duster and Daniel Duster, who are the great-grandchildren of Ida B. Wells-Barnett. In addition, dozens of residents who lived in the public housing complex that carried Wells' name pitched in to draw attention to the effort and committed their resources to getting the monument built. Residents who knew of Wells-Barnett's work creating the first kindergarten for Black children and helping to get the first Black alderman, Oscar DePriest, elected to the Chicago City Council chipped in donations to help pay for a monument that properly recognized the leaders' many contributions to humanity. [4]

The effort on Twitter by Michelle Duster to create support for the monument gained new momentum in 2018 when the activist, educator, author, prison abolitionist and determined patroness Mariame Kaba [5] and Pulitzer-prize winner, MacArthur Foundation Genius Awardee, writer, speaker and journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones [6] began advocating for the projects' completion. [7] After a social media push by Kaba and Hannah-Jones, a total of over 4,300 people donated money to get the monument built. The fundraising push coincided with Wells-Barnett's July 16 birthday.

That same summer, Chicago City Council voted to change the major downtown Congress Parkway to Ida B. Wells Drive [8] in Chicago. In 2020, she was posthumously awarded a Pulitzer prize Special Citation for her journalism work that chronicled lynching. [9]

The Light of Truth Ida B. Wells National Monument is the first of such large scale to honor a Black woman leader in Chicago. The other two monuments honoring Black women in Chicago are: the bust of the University of Chicago scholar Georgiana Rose Simpson, [10] which was unveiled in 2017; and the statue of poet Gwendolyn Brooks, [11] which was unveiled in 2018.

At the unveiling ceremony revealing the work, Michelle Duster said, "Ida represented the community, and it means a lot to have the community embrace this." [12]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ida B. Wells</span> American journalist and civil rights activist (1862–1931)

Ida Bell Wells-Barnett was an American investigative journalist, educator, and early leader in the civil rights movement. She was one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Wells dedicated her career to combating prejudice and violence, and advocating for African-American equality—especially that of women.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gwendolyn Brooks</span> American writer (1917–2000)

Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks was an American poet, author, and teacher. Her work often dealt with the personal celebrations and struggles of ordinary people in her community. She won the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry on May 1, 1950, for Annie Allen, making her the first African American to receive a Pulitzer Prize.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Douglas, Chicago</span> Community area in Illinois, United States

Douglas, on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois, is one of Chicago's 77 community areas. The neighborhood is named for Stephen A. Douglas, Illinois politician and Abraham Lincoln's political foe, whose estate included a tract of land given to the federal government. This tract later was developed for use as the Civil War Union training and prison camp, Camp Douglas, located in what is now the eastern portion of the Douglas neighborhood. Douglas gave that part of his estate at Cottage Grove and 35th to the Old University of Chicago. The Chicago 2016 Olympic bid planned for the Olympic Village to be constructed on a 37-acre (15 ha) truck parking lot, south of McCormick Place, that is mostly in the Douglas community area and partly in the Near South Side.

Duster or dusters may refer to:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alpha Suffrage Club</span> Black female suffrage club in Chicago, Illinois, US

The Alpha Suffrage Club was the first and most important black female suffrage club in Chicago and one of the most important in Illinois. It was founded on January 30, 1913, by Ida B. Wells with the help of her white colleagues Belle Squire and Virginia Brooks. The Club aimed to give a voice to African American women who had been excluded from national suffrage organizations such as the National American Women Suffrage Association (NAWSA). Its stated purpose was to inform black women of their civic responsibility and to organize them to help elect candidates who would best serve the interests of African Americans in Chicago.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">People's Grocery lynchings</span> 1892 lynchings in Memphis, Tennessee

The People's Grocery lynchings of 1892 occurred on March 9, 1892, in Memphis, Tennessee, when black grocery owner Thomas Moss and two of his workers, Will Stewart and Calvin McDowell, were lynched by a white mob while in police custody. The lynchings occurred in the aftermath of a fight between whites and blacks and two subsequent shooting altercations in which two white police officers were wounded.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chicago Housing Authority</span> Municipal corporation that oversees public housing in Chicago, Illinois, United States

The Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) is a municipal corporation that oversees public housing within the city of Chicago. The agency's Board of Commissioners is appointed by the city's mayor, and has a budget independent from that of the city of Chicago. CHA is the largest rental landlord in Chicago, with more than 50,000 households. CHA owns over 21,000 apartments. It also oversees the administration of 37,000 Section 8 vouchers. The current acting CEO of the Chicago Housing Authority is Tracey Scott.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ida B. Wells-Barnett House</span> Historic house in Illinois, United States

The Ida B. Wells-Barnett House was the residence of civil rights advocate Ida B. Wells (1862–1931) and her husband Ferdinand Lee Barnett from 1919 to 1930. It is located at 3624 S. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive in the Bronzeville section of the Douglas community area on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois. It was designated a Chicago Landmark on October 2, 1995. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places and as a National Historic Landmark on May 30, 1974.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">South Side Community Art Center</span>

The South Side Community Art Center is a community art center in Chicago that opened in 1940 with support from the Works Progress Administration's Federal Art Project in Illinois. Opened in Bronzeville in an 1893 mansion, it became the first black art museum in the United States and has been an important center for the development Chicago's African American artists. Of more than 100 community art centers established by the WPA, this is the only one that remains open.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ida B. Wells Homes</span> Former public housing development in Chicago, Illinois, United States

The Ida B. Wells Homes, which also comprised the Clarence Darrow Homes and Madden Park Homes, was a Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) public housing project located in the heart of the Bronzeville neighborhood on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois. It was bordered by 35th Street to the north, Pershing Road to the south, Cottage Grove Avenue to the east, and Martin Luther King Drive to the west. The Ida B. Wells Homes consisted of rowhouses, mid-rises, and high-rise apartment buildings, first constructed 1939 to 1941 to house African American tenants. They were closed and demolished beginning in 2002 and ending in 2011.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Barack Obama Presidential Center</span> Planned library in Chicago, Illinois

The Barack Obama Presidential Center is a planned museum, library and education project in Chicago to commemorate the presidency of Barack Obama, the 44th president of the United States. The center will also include community and conference facilities and will house the nonprofit Obama Foundation. Construction on the 19.3 acre campus is expected to top out in April 2024, and the center to open in the first half of 2026.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nikole Hannah-Jones</span> American journalist (born 1976)

Nikole Sheri Hannah-Jones is an American investigative journalist, known for her coverage of civil rights in the United States. She joined The New York Times as a staff writer in April 2015, was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in 2017, and won the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary in 2020 for her work on The 1619 Project. Hannah-Jones is the inaugural Knight Chair in Race and Journalism at the Howard University School of Communications, where she also founded the Center for Journalism and Democracy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bolling–Gatewood House</span> Historic house in Mississippi, United States

The Bolling–Gatewood House is a historic cottage in Holly Springs, Mississippi, USA. It is home to the Ida B. Wells-Barnett Museum, named for former slave, journalist, and suffragist Ida B. Wells.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alfred S. Barnett</span> American journalist

Alfred S. Barnett was an American journalist and civil rights activist in Omaha, Nebraska, Des Moines, Iowa, and Chicago, Illinois. In Des Moines, Barnett created and ran the newspaper, The Weekly Avalanche from 1891 to 1894. Before moving to Des Moines, he contributed to his brother, Ferdinand L. Barnett's Omaha paper, The Progress. He worked for civil rights also a member and an officer of numerous civil rights organizations, including the Nebraska branch of the National Afro-American League and the Afro-American Protective Association of Iowa. Barnett was described as a "pleasing speaker".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ferdinand Lee Barnett (Chicago)</span> American journalist, lawyer, and civil rights activist (1852–1936)

Ferdinand Lee Barnett was an American journalist, lawyer, and civil rights activist in Chicago, beginning in the late Reconstruction era.

The Barack Obama Foundation is a Chicago-based nonprofit organization founded in 2014. It oversees the creation of the Barack Obama Presidential Center, runs the My Brother's Keeper Alliance, and operates a scholarship program through the University of Chicago's Harris School of Public Policy.

Mariame Kaba is an American activist, grassroots organizer, and educator who advocates for the abolition of the prison industrial complex, including all police. She is the author of We Do This 'Til We Free Us (2021). The Mariame Kaba Papers are held by the Chicago Public Library Special Collections.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alfreda Duster</span>

Alfreda M. Duster was an American social worker and civic leader in Chicago. She is best known as the youngest daughter of civil rights activist Ida B. Wells and as the editor of her mother's posthumously published autobiography, Crusade for Justice: The Autobiography of Ida B. Wells (1970).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saint Suttle</span> African-American composer, songwriter, and entertainer

Saint Suttle, was an American composer and performer. Suttle was well known as a cakewalk artist and vaudeville performer in Chicago. An African American, he was a pioneering performer in early film of the late 19th-century.

Michelle Duster is an American author and public historian. She is known for her work to preserve the legacy of her great-grandmother, Ida B. Wells.

References

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  2. "Reclaiming Monuments: The Light of Truth Memorializes Ida B. Wells' Activism in Chicago | Newcity Art". 2021-10-08. Archived from the original on 2022-02-23. Retrieved 2022-02-23.
  3. "Ida B. Wells-Barnett Becomes First Black Woman to Be Honored in Chicago With a Monument". The Root. 2 July 2021. Archived from the original on 2022-02-23. Retrieved 2022-02-23.
  4. Bowean, Lolly (21 April 2018). "For family of Ida B. Wells-Barnett, hopes that renewed interest translates into a monument". chicagotribune.com. Archived from the original on 2022-02-23. Retrieved 2022-02-23.
  5. "Opinion | Why I'm Raising Money To Build An Ida B. Wells Monument". HuffPost. 2018-05-02. Archived from the original on 2022-02-23. Retrieved 2022-02-23.
  6. "Nikole Hannah-Jones On Ida B. Wells". WBEZ Chicago. 2018-07-18. Archived from the original on 2022-02-23. Retrieved 2022-02-23.
  7. Mohan, Pavithra (August 8, 2018). "How these women raised $42K in a day for an Ida B. Wells monument". FastCompany.com.
  8. Mitchell, Mary (2019-02-11). "Ida B. Wells finally gets a top honor with street name". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on 2022-02-23. Retrieved 2022-02-23.
  9. "Perspective | Ida B. Wells won the Pulitzer. Here's why that matters". Washington Post. ISSN   0190-8286. Archived from the original on 2021-07-18. Retrieved 2022-02-23.
  10. Bowean, Lolly (27 November 2017). "U. of C. statue gives black scholar her place in history". chicagotribune.com. Archived from the original on 2018-09-04. Retrieved 2022-02-23.
  11. Bowean, Lolly (6 June 2018). "On Gwendolyn Brooks' birthday, a statue of the powerful poet will be unveiled on the South Side". chicagotribune.com. Archived from the original on 2022-02-23. Retrieved 2022-02-23.
  12. "Ida B. Wells 'Light of Truth' Monument Unveiled In Bronzeville: 'This Happened Because We Were Determined To Make It Happen'". Block Club Chicago. 2021-06-30. Archived from the original on 2022-02-23. Retrieved 2022-02-23.