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A Mind of Her Own--Part 2

© Dorothy Hill

To tell Ida Wells that she could not do something was an invitation for her to do it or, at least, put up a good fight trying. She proved that when she took on the role of parent to her five orphaned younger brothers and sisters when she was only sixteen.

In 1884 she was given another opportunity to show the stuff she was made of. She was teaching in a rural school near Memphis, Tennessee. Every weekend she would make the trip to the city by train on the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad. She always sat in the ladies parlor car. Up until then, it had been an integrated car, but a new doctrine of "separate but equal" had come into existence.

In May of 1884 when Ida chose to sit in her usual spot on the train, she was asked to move to the smoker's car instead. Ida refused. When Ida would not peacefully move to the segregated car, she was physically moved kicking and screaming all the way. She even left her mark on the conductor's hand. Still refusing to ride in the smoker's car, Ida was thrown off the train.

Ida then filed a law suit against the railroad. Initially she won the case in the circuit court, but, when the case was appealed to the Tennessee State Supreme Court, the ruling was overturned.

Her anger at her treatment led to a new phase in her life. The young woman, born in the last years of slavery in Holly Springs, Mississippi, was now on her way to becoming internationally known as Ida B. Wells, the crusading journalist.

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