We won against Ida’s Legacy!
By Michelle Duster
“There are no words that my brother Dan Duster and I can use to express the deep gratitude that we have for the hard work, diligence, and dedication that Rochelle Claerbaut and Jeffrey Norberg put into this long fight for us. Three generations of our family have worked for over 80 years to protect, preserve, and promote the legacy of our ancestor, Ida B. Wells.
Almost two decades after Wells’ daughter (our grandmother), Alfreda Duster, edited and got CRUSADE FOR JUSTICE: THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF IDA B WELLS published in 1970, our father, Donald L. Duster, and his siblings started the Ida B. Wells Memorial Foundation in 1988, and my brothers and I have managed it for over a decade.
We have always wanted to educate and inspire the public about the important work of our ancestors through scholarships and public history projects (such as markers, monuments, street names, statues, etc). We have consulted with Mattel on the Ida B. Wells doll as well as the United States Mint on the Ida B. Wells quarter. We want people to know about her and appreciate when people are respectful of our family.
Ida B. Wells spent her life fighting for freedom, justice, and equality. She exposed the realities of lynching, fought for voting rights, and equal opportunity in education and housing. She was undaunted in the face of danger and used her voice to challenge the United States to treat all of its citizens fairly. Although she died in 1931, her legacy has lived on for almost a century.”