[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 494 Agreed to Senate (ATS)]

111th CONGRESS
  2d Session
S. RES. 494

Honoring Ida B. Wells for her activism in the civil rights and women's 
 rights movements and for her influential and inspirational leadership.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             April 20, 2010

   Ms. Landrieu (for herself and Mr. Wicker) submitted the following 
             resolution; which was considered and agreed to

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Honoring Ida B. Wells for her activism in the civil rights and women's 
 rights movements and for her influential and inspirational leadership.

Whereas, Ida B. Wells was born on July 16 1862, and died March 25, 1931;
Whereas in 1884, Ida B. Wells refused to give up her seat on a Chesapeake and 
        Ohio Railroad Company train because of her skin color;
Whereas in 1889, Ida B. Wells became co-owner and editor of Free Speech and 
        Headlight, an anti-segregationist newspaper based in Memphis, Tennessee 
        that published articles about racial injustice;
Whereas Ida B. Wells conducted investigative journalism about the practice of 
        lynching, printing many articles in an effort to combat this practice;
Whereas Ida B. Wells worked with Frederick Douglass and other Black leaders in 
        organizing a boycott of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in 
        Chicago;
Whereas in 1893, Ida B. Wells began working with the Chicago Conservator, the 
        oldest African-American newspaper in the city;
Whereas Ida B. Wells formed the Women's Era Club, the first civic organization 
        for African-American women which later became the Ida B. Wells Club in 
        honor of its founder;
Whereas Ida B. Wells traveled throughout the British Isles and the United States 
        teaching and giving speeches to bring awareness to the lynching problems 
        in America,
Whereas Ida B. Wells settled in Chicago and worked to improve conditions for the 
        rapidly growing African-American population there;
Whereas on February 1, 1990, the United States Postal Service issued a 25-cent 
        postage stamp in honor of Ida B. Wells: Now therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) commends the life of Ida B. Wells and her success as an 
        African-American activist and business woman;
            (2) recognizes the many efforts Ida B. Wells made in 
        advancing the interests of African-Americans in the fight for 
        equality; and
            (3) requests the Secretary of the Senate to transmit an 
        enrolled copy of this resolution for appropriate display in the 
        hearing room of the Senate Committee on Small Business and 
        Entrepreneurship.
                                 <all>