Connections and Conversations. Formidable Women: Ida B. Wells-Barnett and Lucy Stone

Lucy Stone was one of 19th Century America’s most formidable women. While her society demanded women be domestic and dependent, she graduated from college, became a public lecturer, abolitionist, and suffragist. The New York Times sniffed that society might feel less admiration for women if more of them were like Lucy Stone. Others realized she opened the way for others to carry on the struggle for equality.

You can’t spell formidable without Ida B.  Journalist, suffragist, and civil rights agitator Ida B. Wells refused to conform to anyone’s notion of what a respectable, gracious woman should be.   She raised her voice whenever she saw injustice, standing up to allies and adversaries alike. “The way to right wrongs,” she declared, “is to shine the light of truth upon them.”

Presenters: Park Rangers Susan Philpott from the Belmont-Paul Women’s Equality National Monument in Washington, D.C. and Merrill Kohlhofer from the National Parks of Boston.