Strategies Ida B. Wells Employed and the Concept of Self-Determination

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History Mid-Term
Question 1 (b)
Ida B. Wells was a well-known African-American journalist and civil rights believer who devoted her life to addressing the problems of anti-Black violence and Black oppression in the United States. The following are three strategies she employed. The first technique is Investigative Journalism; Wells wrote numerous articles and pamphlets exposing the brutal realities of lynching, a common form of anti-Black violence at the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries (Mia 3). She conducted her investigations into lynchings, gathering and publishing data on the number of victims, their ages and genders, and the reasons for their deaths. By exposing this wickedness and revealing the systemic racism that fuelled them, Wells hoped to raise public awareness and trigger action to end the practice of lynching.
The second is legal action; Wells used it to combat anti-Black violence and oppression. After three of her friends were lynched in Memphis, Tennessee, Wells wrote an editorial criticizing the lynching and urging Black people to leave the city. “Not until the Negro rises in his might and takes a hand resenting such cold-blooded murders,” Mia then wrote, “will a halt be called in wholesale lynching” (12). The white owners of the newspaper she worked for were outraged by her editorial and fired her. Wells then sued the newspaper and won, but her victory was short-lived as the decision was later overturned (White Backlash after Reconstruction 6). Despite this setback, Wells continued to use the legal system to challenge discriminatory laws and practices, hoping to secure greater legal protections for Black people.
The third strategy is organizing and activism. Wells was a strong advocate for the rights of Black women, who were often marginalized within the more significant civil rights movement. Wells helped found the National Association of Black Women, which aimed to address the social and economic issues facing Black women. Wells also worked with other civil rights activists, including Frederick Douglass, to organize boycotts and protests against discriminatory practices. For example, the eminent ex-slave leader Frederick Douglass saw the Kansas migration as “a premature, disheartening surrender” that would secure freedom and free institutions by migration rather than by protection, by flight rather than by right (Mia 13). By organizing and mobilizing black communities, Wells hoped to build a solid and united movement that could effectively challenge the systemic racism that pervaded American society.
Question 2 (b)
Non-white philosophers and activists such as Marcus Garvey and Ho Chi Minh engaged with the thought of self-determination as a means of asserting the right of colonized peoples to govern themselves and determine their destiny. The Vietnamese Communist leader believed that the Vietnamese people had the right to independence, and he invoked the principles of self-determination and national sovereignty to support this claim. For example, the Striving for Self-Determination article asserts that he proclaimed "Vietnam's independence in 1945 with the words of Thomas Jefferson: All men are created equal. They are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights. And among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" (7). Similarly, Marcus Garvey, head of the Universal Negro Improvement Association, voiced for Black self-determination and independence from white-dominated societies.
In light of what we now know about Woodrow Wilson's views and actions, it could be seen as hypocritical for Wilson and the US to promote self-rule in the wake of World War I. While Wilson championed the idea of self-governance in his Fourteen Points speech, he applied it selectively and inconsistently. For example, he supported the idea of self-determination for certain nations, but not for colonized people (Arthur et al. 1). Wilson also failed to address the racial discrimination and oppression faced by Black Americans in the United States.
The United States also supported European powers' continued colonization of African and Asian territories. Moreover, the United States was engaged in colonial expansion at the time, including not protecting black women from slave masters (Garvey 4). This contradiction between Wilson's rhetoric of self-rule and the reality of American domination and support for European imperialism suggests that his support for self-determination may have been more a matter of political expediency than a genuine commitment to decolonization and the rights of colonized people.
Question 3 (b)
Anti-Communist sentiment throughout the Cold War significantly affected left-wing political activism in the United States. The fear of Communist infiltration led to a climate of political repression and suppression of dissent, particularly on the left wing (World War II 12). Here are three US activists who were impacted by this event. One of the activists was Paul Robeson, a singer, actor, and civil rights activist whom the government targeted during the Red Scare of the 1950s (Creighton 128). Robeson was blocked and denied work in the entertainment industry due to his association with Communist groups and outspoken criticism of American racism and imperialism (Creighton 135). Robeson was subjected to harassment, surveillance, and attempts to revoke his passport. He was also called to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) and faced the threat of imprisonment for his political beliefs.
The second activist was Bayard Rustin, a prominent civil rights believer and Martin Luther King Jr's advisor. He was a socialist who believed in peaceful resistance to achieve social change. Rustin's political beliefs and past associations with Communist organizations made him a target of government surveillance and persecution during the McCarth...