People are wondering if the great great relatives of famed Negro publisher Ida B. Wells has forgotten parts of her history. At a recent statute unveiling of the civil rights icon, barely a word was mentioned about the fact that she created two Black newspapers and was married to a newspaper publisher on the city’s South Side.
Instead, Wells’ relatives seem fixed on her work in “women’s suffrage” and don’t want to bring up how their great, great, great was almost lynched for calling out the lynching of Negroes back in the day. We also hearing they are suing anybody who is using her famous name. With white “intellectual property” lawyers running around and raking up the new Black Lives Matter rewards, we hear families of famous Afro-Americans have signed on and are now putting famous names on lock. Most cite the move of the King family in Atlanta and the Shabazz family in New York who stopped people from profiting off the names and likeness of Rev. King and Rev. Malcolm X. Any day now we expect a long-lost DuSable relative will pop up and start profiting from all of the attention to the founder of Chicago.
Hands down, Ida B. Wells was a reporter, publisher, activist and ass kicker. She also didn’t seem to take too kindly to Black classism and elitism that was taking over by the time she died. That’s why in 2021 at the unveiling of her statute, true Wells fans were miffed to see a VIP section and very little community people involved.
-Ima-
