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How Did Ida B Wells Influence Social Work

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Introduction
"I’d rather go down in history as one lone Negro who dared to tell the government that it had done a dastardly thing than to save my skin by taking back what I said" (Wells-Barnett, 1970).

Ida B. Wells was an early African-American civil rights advocate and a radical in every sense of the word. Her international campaign against lynching in the American South unabashedly challenged American ideals of race, gender, and justice. While Wells did not personally identify as a social worker, her activism fully promoted the social work values of social welfare, public participation, and social and political action (National Association of Social Workers, 1999). Ida B. Wells’ radical anti-lynching crusade was an integral force in the fight against lynching and social injustice in post-Civil War American society.
Description
Born into slavery in 1892, Ida B. Wells came from humble Mississippi beginnings. After emancipation, her father became involved in politics while her religious mother encouraged hard work and an education. Her parents were taken by yellow fever in 1878, and Wells took on the role of caring for her younger siblings at age 16. She even gained employment as a schoolteacher by fooling the officials into believing that she was old enough for …show more content…

Wells has earned her spot in history as one of the greatest advocates in the anti-lynching crusade and American history. She fearlessly stood against white supremacy and the public to expose lynching culture for what it really was: horrific, unjust, and oppressive. She tirelessly refuted the widely accepted public notion that lynching was a response to crime, and instead exposed the racist foundation on which lynching was built. She used all the skills in her repertoire to educate and call her communities to action against this national crime. She embodies the very spirit of a social worker’s fight for social justice, and will be one of my role models as I begin to form my professional

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