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A review by megatsunami
Ida: A Sword Among Lions by Paula J. Giddings
Really interesting subject but the level of detail was too much for me as a general reader. It was hard to get through the whole book. I did appreciate learning about the infighting and drama that Ida Wells had to deal with. Her strong personality and passion for justice came through loud and clear. Also, many of the internal conflicts among people working for progressive goals sounded extremely familiar. On the one hand, it's kind of depressing to think that we are going through the same drama now as 100 years ago; on the other hand, it makes me feel like maybe we are accomplishing something, just as Ida Wells was.
Check out this quote from Frances Willard of the WCTU - it sounds just like some of the white liberal racism of today:
"[Ida] is a bright woman and I have nothing against her except that my study of her character and work leads me to feel that she has not the balance and steadiness that are requisite in a successful reformer. I do not mention this as her fault but her misfortune... I have always treated colored people just as I treated white in every respect, and it is, I think, a downright injustice that I have been made by good Frederick Douglass, by percussive Miss Wells and some others to appear as the enemy of a race that I love and on whose behalf I would do anything that seems to me to be helpful and practicable." (p. 337-8)
Check out this quote from Frances Willard of the WCTU - it sounds just like some of the white liberal racism of today:
"[Ida] is a bright woman and I have nothing against her except that my study of her character and work leads me to feel that she has not the balance and steadiness that are requisite in a successful reformer. I do not mention this as her fault but her misfortune... I have always treated colored people just as I treated white in every respect, and it is, I think, a downright injustice that I have been made by good Frederick Douglass, by percussive Miss Wells and some others to appear as the enemy of a race that I love and on whose behalf I would do anything that seems to me to be helpful and practicable." (p. 337-8)