Women have always struggled to make a change without experiencing sexism. That was the case for both Ida B. Wells and Wangari Maathai. In addition, they were women of color and during their time had experienced backlash from many across the nation. Although both women were from different eras, they experience similar challenges that they had to overcome. Despite the negativity, these women gained supporters and made a big impact on the world. Never losing sight of their goals, they defeated social norms and took on roles in politics, law, and human rights.
Ida Bell Wells- Barnett was born a slave on July 16, 1862 in Holly Spring, Mississippi. She was the oldest daughter of James and Lizzie Wells, who were enslaved prior to the civil war. Her …show more content…
Three African-American men, Thomas Moss, Calvin McDowell and Will Stewart, had set up a grocery store named People’s grocery. Their new business drew customers away from a white-owned store in the neighborhood. Trying to eliminate competition, a group of angry white men attacked the People’s grocery. In defence, Moss and the others guarded their store and ended up shooting several of the white attackers. The three men were later arrested and brought to jail. Not having a chance to defend themselves in a court, a lynch-mob took them from their cells and murdered them. Wells wrote articles decrying the lynching of her friend, Moss, and the wrongful deaths of other African Americans. In response, a mob stomped the office of her newspaper and destroyed all of her equipments while she was away in Chicago. She received death threats telling her never to return to Memphis. Scared of her own life, she never returned to Memphis. She relocated to New York, then Chicago, married a prominent lawyer, Ferdinand L. Barnett, and traveled the nation and Great Britain exposing and denouncing the leaching in countless speeches. She also put her own life at risk by spending two months in the South, gathering information on other lynching incidents. Wells was a woman of courage who challenged racial, sexual, and social norms. She is known today …show more content…
She grew up on a farm in rural Kenya with her parents who worked as farmers. Maathai’s childhood and background greatly influenced her impact on the world, specifically with the Green Belt Movement. Her family’s farm, along with the entire area she called home, had plenty of fertile land. The fertility of the land supplied so many resources that hunger seemed to be non existent. Maathai had received a full elementary and secondary education in Kenya. She even had the opportunity to study biology in the United States and Germany, eventually becoming the first woman in East and Central Africa to earn a Doctorate degree. Thirty years later, Maathai returned to her home land, and witnessed many sick, weak, and malnourished people. The once fertile land had been destroyed by deforestation efforts and other human influences. She then became acquainted with Kenya’s environmental issues as the chairperson of the National Council of Women. While serving there, she mentioned the abuse of the ecosystem and how it should be preserved. She listened to the voices and stories of hundreds of rural and urban women who suffered malnourishment and poverty. The destruction of the fields and forests hit women in the community the hardest. This was particularly difficult for Maathai to ignore because she believed that women were closer to nature than men. Women were expected to take care of the household, and many of the resources needed
Ida Bell Wells- Barnett was born a slave on July 16, 1862 in Holly Spring, Mississippi. She was the oldest daughter of James and Lizzie Wells, who were enslaved prior to the civil war. Her …show more content…
Three African-American men, Thomas Moss, Calvin McDowell and Will Stewart, had set up a grocery store named People’s grocery. Their new business drew customers away from a white-owned store in the neighborhood. Trying to eliminate competition, a group of angry white men attacked the People’s grocery. In defence, Moss and the others guarded their store and ended up shooting several of the white attackers. The three men were later arrested and brought to jail. Not having a chance to defend themselves in a court, a lynch-mob took them from their cells and murdered them. Wells wrote articles decrying the lynching of her friend, Moss, and the wrongful deaths of other African Americans. In response, a mob stomped the office of her newspaper and destroyed all of her equipments while she was away in Chicago. She received death threats telling her never to return to Memphis. Scared of her own life, she never returned to Memphis. She relocated to New York, then Chicago, married a prominent lawyer, Ferdinand L. Barnett, and traveled the nation and Great Britain exposing and denouncing the leaching in countless speeches. She also put her own life at risk by spending two months in the South, gathering information on other lynching incidents. Wells was a woman of courage who challenged racial, sexual, and social norms. She is known today …show more content…
She grew up on a farm in rural Kenya with her parents who worked as farmers. Maathai’s childhood and background greatly influenced her impact on the world, specifically with the Green Belt Movement. Her family’s farm, along with the entire area she called home, had plenty of fertile land. The fertility of the land supplied so many resources that hunger seemed to be non existent. Maathai had received a full elementary and secondary education in Kenya. She even had the opportunity to study biology in the United States and Germany, eventually becoming the first woman in East and Central Africa to earn a Doctorate degree. Thirty years later, Maathai returned to her home land, and witnessed many sick, weak, and malnourished people. The once fertile land had been destroyed by deforestation efforts and other human influences. She then became acquainted with Kenya’s environmental issues as the chairperson of the National Council of Women. While serving there, she mentioned the abuse of the ecosystem and how it should be preserved. She listened to the voices and stories of hundreds of rural and urban women who suffered malnourishment and poverty. The destruction of the fields and forests hit women in the community the hardest. This was particularly difficult for Maathai to ignore because she believed that women were closer to nature than men. Women were expected to take care of the household, and many of the resources needed