Addie Salvador

What could be worth the risk of someone hating you so much that they set your home on fire? For the suffragettes, it was the right to vote. They sacrificed their safety for my Mema, Mama, sister, and I to have the opportunity to vote in every election. Suffragettes fought tirelessly, but after years of protests and rallies, there was still work to be done. In 2003, while working for ThisWeek newspaper, owned by the Columbus Dispatch, my mother, Kim, had a first hand encounter with the lingering sexism in America.

She was a talented staff photographer who worked with that newspaper for six years, along with experience from other papers. When the Head Photographer left, she was offered his job. The position was divided, one person would work mornings, they kept up on deadlines, handled reporters, and contacted people about story ideas, and one would work nights. The night shift supervised the freelance photographers. Kim’s friend, Tom, wanted the night shift so she offered to take the morning. Everything was almost decided when the Managing Editor told her she’d be getting a fifty cent raise, but she already heard that Tom was getting three dollars. “I laughed at first because I thought it was a joke,” my mom said. The editor explained, “Tom is a man, and the breadwinner. He is responsible for providing for his family.” This logic did not make sense because Tom did not have any children, and his wife was a nurse. My mom had two kids in daycare and was relying on the large raise to pay the bills. When she pointed this out, he tried to justify the unequal pay by saying Tom would have to work every night, but it was a well-known fact that the day shift was more work. She refused the position saying, “I won’t take on the extra responsibility and stress for fifty cents. Let Tom do both.”

Women will forever be indebted to the suffragettes who won our right to vote, but we must also be thankful to women, like my mother, who stood up against their employers when they offered them unequal pay. Today, women and men are treated more equally than ever, and, we owe it all those who did not stop at the right to vote, but carried out the legacy of the women’s rights activists of the 1800s.

Many years ago, on July 16,1862 to be exact, the legend of a woman, Ida Bell Wells, was born. She began her life as a slave during the Civil War in Holly Springs, Mississippi, as the eldest of eight siblings. She was educated in a freedmen's school named Shaw University. Tragically, when Wells was sixteen, both her mother and father along with three of her siblings died from the yellow fever. This left Ida as the head of her family and the guardian of her four siblings. She jumped into this new challenge head on by pretending to be eighteen and getting a teaching position. In 1880 she continued her career by moving to Memphis, Tennessee as a teacher, summer-school college student, and editor for many Memphis African-American newspapers such as The Evening Star. Her works were published around the country. Along with being an outspoken activist, Wells was a loving mother of four and a devoted wife.

Wells lived from 1862-1931 before the Civil Rights Era. Slavery was still legal for the first three years of her life until the end of the Civil War in 1865. She was the first generation of free African-Americans in America, which means racism was still at its worst during her life. The horrid treatment of the newly freed slaves is what inspired her to start speaking out. At this time the Ku Klux Klan was raging in the south, committing gruesome acts such as the torturing and murdering of African-Americans, known as lynching. She was one of the earliest Civil Rights activists. She was writing controversial articles before the Plessy vs. Ferguson court case, which was when the Supreme Court ruled that “separate but equal” was constitutional in 1896. In other words the justices stated segregation is not something that should be fought against. She came before Martin Luther King’s “I have a Dream” speech in 1962, when Dr. King gave arguably one of the most powerful speeches in history on the steps of the Lincoln memorial in D.C.. In his speech he says, “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter ” (King). Wells would have agreed since she continued to fight using her words until the end of her life. Ida also bravely held her ground before Rosa parks refused to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Ida B. Wells was a pioneer of African-American rights, fearlessly leading the way for those who came after her.

Wells did countless things to advance the liberties and eliminate the unfair treatment of her people during her lifetime. She began her protest in the papers. She pushed African-Americans to peacefully protest by boycotting streetcars and businesses. What brought her into the spotlight was when she refused to move from a ladies train car to the colored or smoking car. It took three men to remove her. She sued the train company and won in a circuit court, but the State Supreme Court overturned the decision. Ida toured Europe and persuaded them to make an Anti-Lynching Committee filled with esteemed members of the British government that threatened a boycott on American cotton if they didn’t stop the racial violence. She was also a part of a group that met with President McKinley discussing the necessity of government action in the South. All these actions were very risky for Wells. She almost paid the price when a mob attacked the newspaper office she owned, The Free Speech. Fortunately she was out of town, and she would go on to write, “I had already determined to sell my life as dearly as possible if attacked....If I could take one lyncher with me, this would even up the score a little bit” (Smithsonian), when discussing how she wouldn’t go down without a fight. The wit and determination Ida B. Wells demonstrated in every aspect of her life should inspire all people, men and women, to stick to their beliefs and fight for what is right. She was a truly influential woman, and deserves more credit for all of the advancements she made in Civil Rights.

My mother’s rejection of the promotion and Ida B. Wells’ tirelessly written articles were not sacrifices they made in vain. Thanks to their work and others like them, women are getting closer and closer to the equal opportunity we deserve, in both elections and the workplace. They fought hard to give us a voice and we have used it well. The 116th Congress has more women representation than ever before, “A record 102 women will serve in the incoming House of Representatives, comprising 23.4% of the chamber’s voting members” (Desilver). Although men still have a hold of the majority of the House of Representatives, this number is much closer to the ideal 50 percent than the one percent in the 1920s. We are responsible for these amazing changes in our government because we are lucky enough to have the right to vote. This right did not come easily, as I have found out, so it is imperative that every citizen takes advantage of this gift.

Along with more representation in our government, the wage gap, displayed in my mother’s story, has decreased as well. In 1998, twenty years ago, women were earning 73 cents for every dollar men earned. Now, the ratio has increased to 80:100 cents which may not seem like a lot, but from 1960 to 1980 the number stayed at a steady 60 cents over the twenty years. We were able to make some advancements for ourselves and we will continue to do so until gender is not a factor in salary at all.

I have learned that it took a lot of work to get us where we are. Using the voice given to us by the women’s rights activists of the past, we have been able to make much needed changes in our society. It is up to us to keep the momentum and make these suffragettes proud.