50 signatures reached
To: NYC Parks
Get Ida B. Wells a Statue
I want them to honor Ida B. Wells by placing a statue of her in Central Park.
Why is this important?
Recently there has been a statue built of Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Sojourner Truth in Central Park. I love the theme of showing strong historic women, but Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Stanton though well known suffragists were blatantly racist.
Both women only advocated for white women’s right to vote even going so far as to say that black men did not deserve the right to vote because white women didn’t have it. However, Ida B. Wells was also a suffragist and so much more.
America rarely teaches about the BIPOC history of our country. Ida B. Wells was a Black suffragist as well as one of the founders of the NAACP, an organization that is still around today. The NAACP has continuously fought for the equal rights of African Americans both politically and socially for over 100 years. Wells was also an anti-lynching campaigner and cited it as America’s national crime. A statue of her would help educate people on her contribution to history and end the stigma that only white history and the white experience matters and is correct. Which is something that we need to see more of in light of the BLM movement.
Both women only advocated for white women’s right to vote even going so far as to say that black men did not deserve the right to vote because white women didn’t have it. However, Ida B. Wells was also a suffragist and so much more.
America rarely teaches about the BIPOC history of our country. Ida B. Wells was a Black suffragist as well as one of the founders of the NAACP, an organization that is still around today. The NAACP has continuously fought for the equal rights of African Americans both politically and socially for over 100 years. Wells was also an anti-lynching campaigner and cited it as America’s national crime. A statue of her would help educate people on her contribution to history and end the stigma that only white history and the white experience matters and is correct. Which is something that we need to see more of in light of the BLM movement.