With men off to fight and die, women in America took to the workforce to both support their men and Uncle Sam's war effort. Because women could now be seen as part of the war, no part of society was safe from war. The idea of total war began to emerge: this was the concept that civilians could be attacked like any other soldiery in the war. In a way, the disasters of world war were simply the expression on a macro level of what was happening in the U.S. On a micro level. Ida B. Wells helped illustrate the senseless violence occurring in the U.S. against Negroes when she wrote "Lynch Law" in 1893 at just 31 years of age. "Lynch Law" described the violent prejudice being visited on Southern blacks. As she writes, the Negro as a person has been "murdered by masked mobs for trying to vote," as well as for numerous other reasons supported by false charges (Wells, 1893). Wells gathered evidence of these crimes against blacks in order to support her claims. She gave speeches to draw attention to the violent racism she saw being leveled at defenseless blacks. In this sense, she was a forerunner to such Civil Rights leaders as Martin Luther King, Jr. And Malcolm X who used their voices to raise awareness about inequality in America.

In fact, Wells led an anti-lynching campaign that even received attention from the international community. Her work in the States and in Britain inspired the British Women's Temperance Association to pass "a relatively strong resolution against lynching, one that had been adopted by a number of unions in the States" (Giddings, 2008, p. 332). The resolution perfectly expressed what Wells herself had crusaded to effect on the behalf of the Negro race: "We are opposed to lynching as a method of punishment no matter what the crime and irrespective of the race by which the crime is committed" (Giddings, p. 332). With support from overseas, Wells was able to make headway in America against the segregationist element that sought to undermine the rights of blacks.

In this manner, Wells...

She united her efforts to those of all famous black Americans who spoke out against oppression and organized to help protect the lives of Negroes through committees like the NAACP. Without women like Ida B. Wells leading the charge against injustice, it may be argued that the Civil Rights movement would have been less powerful a force in the 20th century and that forced segregation would have continued to be the rule.
Before beginning this research project, I knew very little of Ida B. Wells, having only heard of her name once or twice in the past. After reading of her convictions and her passionate spirit in confronting those who protested against her research, writings, speeches, arguments and anti-lynching crusades, it appeared to me that she possessed a powerful and important voice in American history. She was a kind of combination of Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King, W.E.B. DuBois, and Malcolm X all rolled into one: She refused to be ruled by men of injustice and she refused to back down from a fight. She was an acclaimed speaker, an advocate of social reform, and the embodiment of the true sort of Emancipation that Lincoln began but that the establishment failed to carry through on. The work of true Emancipation in the Progressive Era was left up to people like Ida B. Wells.

Reference List

Fridan, D. (2000). Ida B. Wells: Mother of the Civil Rights Movement. NY: Houghton

Mifflin.

Friedman, L.J., McGarvie, M.D. (2003). Charity, Philanthropy, and Civility in American History. UK: Cambridge University Press.

Giddings, P.J. (2008). Ida: A Sword Among Lions. NY: HarperCollins.

Jones, E.M. (2000). Libido Dominandi: Sexual Liberation and Political Control.

South Bend, in: St. Augustine's Press.

Wells, I.B. (1893). "Lynch Law." History is a Weapon. Retrieved from http://www.historyisaweapon.com/defcon1/wellslynchlaw.html