Paper Example on Ida Wells Jr and Martin Luther: Fight for Justice

Introduction

Wells was one of the activists and feminist who achieved international fame by doing activism and being a journalist. She fought against mob violence that was happening in the states in the 1920s. Ida depicted outstanding leadership qualities that every leader today should have in the fight for social justice and equality. Her achievements are still last up to date. Martin Luther King junior became a civil rights movement leader later in the 20th century after Ida Wells. They both adopted similar ways and sometimes contradicting ways and issues to address in the fight for equal rights and justice.

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Concerns Addressed by Martin Luther and Wells

These two people have gained their fame by doing what they like that is activism and writings and other times speeches. One of the similar concern both King and Wells addressed was justice for African Americans. Wells in her book was concerned about how her friends were lynched by a mob of white people on accusations of rape. King in his letter says he is in Birmingham because injustice is there. He was fighting for justice for black people. However, their writings were different from each other. Both were concerned with the white supremacy and negative view of the black community in America. King in his letter was concerned about government policies regarding black people. For example in his letter explaining why they were not happy, he says that they had been promised that racial signs would be removed from stores (King Jr 176). Wells, on the other hand, was concerned with the treatment of black people by white people on issues that sometimes were not a matter of policy. For example, mob lynching was not a policy issue rather it was an issue that was illegally allowed to happen. However, some of their concerns were different. Martin was concerned with religion and relation between God and human being unlike Well who was majorly concerned with instances that happened to her friend and her things that its injustice. She used to take several controversial stands among the American citizens who were opposing the authority concerning many issues over the American history (Brown 125).

King and Wells Strategies

Wells strategy in fighting for the blacks was purely on her writings of articles and newspaper editorials and books in general. She believed this would get to the masses and they would learn from her teachings. For example, when she wrote the book Southern horrors and other writings the anti-lynching campaign of Ida B. Wells, it was meant to encourage the black people against the whites (Brown 130). Kings, on the other hand, encouraged peaceful protests and used peaceful language in his writings for example letter from Birmingham jail was very peaceful in nature. He encouraged negotiations in the fight for justice (King Jr 176). For example, he explains that nonviolent direct action was as a result of lack of negotiation. However, they had a similar strategy. Both kings and wells worked hard to educate the masses through writings and speeches on the fight for their equal position in the society. Kings in his letter from Birmingham jail he states that freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor. Wells on her part encourages blacks to be active and militant enough in fighting for justice. They both encourage the black community to be active. But regarding writing, they were different, Luther majored on theology other than fiction, unlike Ida who was writing according to injustice instance happening in Mississippi sometimes affecting people close to her (King Jr 178).

Kings and Wells View About the Role of Americans

Martin Luther King argued that all Americans should observe and follow the law equally. He was concerned by the priests who urged King and his followers to stop direct action and follow the law that encourages negotiation. He felt the same priests were not concerned about others in leadership that did not follow the law that discouraged segregation of schools (King Jr 178). Wells, on the other hand, encouraged black people to be extra militant in the fight against oppression. She felt there was no room for negotiations a lot of injustice had been done (Brown 125). However, both in their speeches and writings agreed that everyone should be fighting for justice and discourage injustice. For example, King in his letter from Birmingham jail observes that it is morally wrong for the white moderate Christian to encourage status quo while injustice is happening in Birmingham. Wells felt that the blacks who were doing well economically were not doing enough to help the poor blacks who suffered more injustice. She also encouraged people in England to help raise their voice against mob lynching when she visited the country (Fleming et al.113).

Earlier Generations and the Civil Rights Movements

It is fair to state that the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s owed debts to the ideas and efforts of earlier generations and ideological pioneers. Its impact, which went much farther than those that came before, stemmed from the changes to American society and politics that the Great Depression and World War II set in motion. The feminist Ida fought for gender balance, an idea that developed states are putting into consideration in the late 19th century and early 20th century (Red Road, 13). Wells was an ultimate investigative journalist who could identify a mistake, fetch data, enlighten it and report the finding to the readers. A lot of black people learned about the injustices that were happening from her (Brown 130). This is even before King was born. King was strong and brave enough to fight for the change of injustice that they believe were happing in America as a result of the work done by pioneers who came before him like Wells who encouraged black people to be conscious of their country and equal rights (Fleming et al.105).

Conclusion

Courage is the driving force of change in any civilized society. During the naive years of the United States, black Americans were used as a slave with limited human rights. USA government tended eating its people. As a result of these actions, several activists emerged to fight for the right of oppressed who included Wells and Kings.

Works Cited

Brown, Mary Jane. Eradicating this Evil: Women in the American Anti-Lynching Movement, 1892-1940. Routledge, (2017):122-130.

Fleming, Crystal M., and Aldon Morris. "Theorizing ethnic and racial movements in the global age: Lessons from the Civil Rights Movement." Sociology of Race and Ethnicity 1.1 (2015): 105-126.

King Jr, Martin Luther. "from Letter from Birmingham Jail." Liberating Faith: Religious voices for justice, peace, & ecological wisdom (2012): 176-196.