Introduction:

kkkkThey toiled in a sea of cotton under the blazing sweltering sun. Sweat trickled down their furrowed brows, their shoulders ached and burned with a fiery weariness, their hands and feet were blistered, their spirits worn out by the work at hand, and they were tired of all the pain they were forced to endure.

kkjkHow long would they be captivated by the hands of those who treated them cruelly, as if they were animals instead of people?

khkWhen would they ever see their families again?

lhlWhen would the suffering, the humiliation, the injustice, when would it all end?

hllNow and then they would pause, wipe their faces, and gaze up at the sky, their hardships forgotten for a few moments. With the radiant sun as an inspiration, they would survey the wide, gleaming limitless sky and dream... They dreamed of a brighter day. A day when they would be free from the chains of bondage and prejudice; when they would have rights beyond imagination, and when justice would be served for the wrongs against their people.

hghThey were the people of a dream...

mmIt was July 16, 1862, during the second year of the Civil War. The United States was at odds, involved in a fierce internal military struggle over the rights of states to hold slaves. Slavery was widespread in the South where hundreds of African Americans worked on plantations for white masters. During this time of intense turmoil and during the times to come, many African Americans and whites questioned the issue of slavery and the downgrading of blacks.

llmWere blacks not human men and women just as whites were?

llmDid the Declaration of Independence not say "We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal..."?

mllWho has the right to declare that blacks are inferior to whites and did not apply to all the rights of Americans?

mllWho has the right to enslave another man or even take the life of another man, black or white?

kkWho would stand up for the African Americans and battle the injustices that they faced?

mmCould anything anyone did make a difference?

mh On this day, in the Southern town of Holly Springs, Mississippi, a seed to the growth of many of these questions and their answers was spouted. This was the day Ida Bell Wells was born into slavery to two proud, strong, and determined parents. Ida B. Wells would blossom to become a brazen and strong-willed character who would face obstacles with unwavering courage and combat tribulations with a passionate spirit. She would rise up against the inequity and unjust treatment in her society, and she would become one of the most influential individuals of her time. Not only would she bring rights and dignity to her people, she would also pave the way in a path almost no one else in her time had dared to venture. She, an African American woman, in a period where both women as whole were considered inferior and were given restricted roles, and blacks were virtually disregarded, she would wake up the world to the wrongs and the violence that had been ignored for so long.

mmThe power of this courageous woman was established far before she was even born; it began in the roots of her parents and their trials that taught her to stand up for what she believed and to hold on to and follow her dreams in order to make them a reality.

 

>>The Roots of a Dream