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To Keep the Waters Troubled: The Life of Ida B. Wells
by Linda O. McMurry
Product Group: Book
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (2000-12-14)
ISBN: 0195139275
EAN: 9780195139273
Dewy Decimal #: 973
Paperback: 416 pages
SKU: T081822-5483
Condition: Very Good
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Editorial Reviews
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Product Description
In the generation that followed Frederick Douglass, no African American was more prominent, or more outspoken, than Ida B. Wells. Seriously considered as a rival to W.E.B. Du Bois and Booker T. Washington for race leadership, Wells' career began amidst controversy when she sued a Tennessee railroad company for ousting her from a first class car, a legal battle which launched her lifelong commitment to journalism and activism. In the 1890s, Wells focused her eloquence on the horrors of lynching, exposing it as a widespread form of racial terrorism. Backing strong words with strong actions, she lectured in the States and abroad, arranged legal representation for black prisoners, hired investigators, founded anti-lynching leagues, sought recourse from Congress, and more. Wells was an equally forceful advocate for women's rights, but parted ways with feminist allies who would subordinate racial justice to their cause. Using diary entries, letters, and published writings, McMurry illuminates Wells's fiery personality, and the uncompromising approach that sometimes lost her friendships even as it won great victories. To Keep the Waters Troubled is an unforgettable account of a remarkable woman and the and the times she helped to change.
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Amazon.com Review
When Frederick Douglass died in 1895, writes Linda O. McMurry, Ida B. Wells "was his logical heir apparent; they had collaborated closely on several projects. She was better known than W.E.B. DuBois and more ideologically compatible with Douglass than Booker T. Washington"--but it was considered too belittling to black "manhood" to have a woman leading African American politics. Wells first rose to prominence when she wrote about her lawsuit against a railroad company that had kicked her out of a first-class seat. Throughout the 1890s, she crusaded vigorously against the rise of lynching as a tactic used by whites to intimidate the newly freed black populace. She also worked closely with the suffragist movement, but broke with white feminists who preferred to downplay or ignore ethnic dimensions to social justice. The woman who emerges from McMurry's intricately detailed biography, drawn extensively from Wells's own writings, is a fierce social advocate who easily serves as a role model for modern activists.
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Customer Reviews
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A Deft Rendering of The Most Impressive Woman in History...
Rating  (5)
Date: 2004-07-15
1 out of 1 customers found this reveiw helpful
And one of the ten most impressive people I've ever read about, period. I can't say too much about how awed I am of the life of Ida B. Wells. Had I been her contemporary I would have worn out my knees trying to propose to her until she married me. McMurry's book shows how this woman has been short changed by history due to her uncompromising belief in African American equal rights and self-respect. She and people like another African American who doesn't get his due, Monroe Trotter, have been marginalized merely because in their day they demanded the same degree of self-respect and political and educational rights that Caucasians of every stripe took for granted. They were considered "radical" and "militant" for not compromising the way virtually all other African American leaders did during their era. Their marginalization goes a long way in explaining why the African American persona has never featured the degree of chutzpah and daring it has needed for us to advance farther than we have. Instead, all of us have been too heavily influenced by leaders promoted over Wells-Barnett and Trotter, who instilled caution within us as a people, virtually as second nature. Not even W.E.B. Du Bois conducted himself with the degree of pride and fortitude that people like Wells-Barnett and Trotter did. McMurry's book deserves a place on all reading lists in American history classes so that everyone can truly understand the troubling forces that made this country what it is today, and the manner in which people like Wells-Barnett were purposely silenced as part of a plan to keep African Americans oppressed.
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This book deftly describes a great woman in difficult times.
Rating (5)
Date: 1999-07-12
7 out of 7 customers found this reveiw helpful
This book is interesting and easy to read, but hard to take. Ida B. Wells-Barnett was a complex person: incredibly smart, brave and strong, but at the same time, prickly and ultra sensative.The book also puts America's current racial and gender problems into perspective, showing us that we haven't come very far from the late 19th century's attitudes toward and treatment of African-Americans and women. This book is a must-read for anyone who cares about a great American or wants to face and learn more about America's shameful history. That said, the author's style makes it easy to read. Amazingly enough for a scholarly biography, I would often find myself reading late into the night because I couldn't put it down.
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A worthy treatise about a magnificent American
Rating (5)
Date: 1999-06-29
6 out of 6 customers found this reveiw helpful
McMurray's biography of Ida B. Wells-Barnett is a rare triumph. Wells-Barnett was a courageous American whose valor is depicted in full color. All too frequently, when there is a discussion of the impact of race, there is a mistaken assumption that black males comprise the affected population. Similarly, when gender is raised as an issue, the false assumption is that white women are the only ones to be affected. Wells-Barnett was an American woman of African descent who fought the societally-mandated strictures of race and sex until her death. I am emboldened by her deeds since too many of the same strictures still exist. I applaud McMurray for her scholarship in this biography's portrayal of the life of Wells-Barnett. This book is definitely recommended.
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An excellent history not only of Wells, but of the times.
Rating (5)
Date: 1999-05-16
5 out of 5 customers found this reveiw helpful
I came away from this book with new respect for Wells, and her courage. I was overwhelmed with sadness after reading some of the details of the lynchings and the effect on the survivors. The book contains an excellent analysis of the real reason for many lynchings:economic competition.
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