A book I’m really looking forward to this year is a new biography of Ida B Wells, written by her great-granddaughter. I have it in pre-order. https://twitter.com/michelleduster/status/1335333855075643395

Right now, I’m reading @lesliedbrody’s excellent biography of Louise Fitzhugh, author of my favorite book from childhood, Harriet The Spy.

It’s called Sometimes You Have to Lie, and if you know HTS, you know how important that advice is.

Louise Fitzhugh grew up in a wealthy white family in Memphis in the 30s and 40s, with all that entailed.

Brody tells a story that gives context. Her grandfather was a prominent attorney, who was the protégé of the editor of a local paper, later a Senator, named Edward Carmack.

At the time Carmack was the editor of the Memphis Commercial Appeal, Ida B Wells was the editor and publisher of Free Speech, also based in Memphis.

In 1892, Wells condemned the lynching of three Black Memphis men. Carmack denounced her repeatedly in print.

“His columns inflamed the local mania for revenge. Wells was out of town when a white mob burned down the offices of her Free Speech newspaper.

“She moved her base of operations to Chicago, where she continued her work as a journalist, human rights activist, and advocate for universal suffrage.

“A bronze statue of Carmack has stood on the grounds of the Tennessee State Capitol since 1924, its presence part of a lingering dispute about memorials to Confederate officers and white supremacists of days gone by.”

A couple of years ago, I donated to a fundraiser to create a monument to Ida B Wells in Chicago.

There should also be one in Memphis, and every city. Not white supremacists like Edward Carmack.

Read both these biographies! Donate money to the Ida B Wells foundation! https://ibwfoundation.org  Happy new year!