I am very excited to be able to
welcome to the program today,
speaker, professor and
author of IDA B The Queen.
Michelle Duster,
welcome to The Damage Report.
>> Thanks for having me, John.
>> Glad to have you here.
So we can show everyone the book
which came out just last week.
And I would love to hear more about
the life of her,
your own familial connection.
So tell me about the process of
launching into the writing of
this book.
>> Right. So my book,
IDA B The Queen is about the life
and legacy of my great-grandmother,
Ida B Wells.
She was a journalist and
civil rights activist, or software.
She was one of the founders of
the NAACP, the National Association
of Colored Women's Clubs,
the Negro Fellowship League.
Her resume is awe-inspiring.
I mean, on top of all of that
she was a wife and mother.
>> Yeah, her life was absolutely
fascinating.
She did amazing, courageous work at
constant threat to her own life.
And obviously there have been books
written about her.
She, [INAUDIBLE],
I'm not telling you,
I'm telling you.
She worked on her own
autobiography.
She's been immortalized in film and
all of that.
But you obviously have
a connection being
that you are descended from her.
How does that affect the writing of
a book about her?
>> Well, in writing Ida B The
Queen, I mean, I could reflect on
my own experience growing up in
the family where I knew my whole
life that I was related to her.
But I also wanted to help people
understand how to work in
legacy of my great grandmother,
is still makes a difference today.
Some of the work that she was
doing, still continuing with
several movements and activists,
and politicians until this day.
>> Yeah, exactly.
Obviously, there have been changes,
it is perhaps somewhat depressing
to reflect on some of the same
struggles going on.
Hypothetically, what do you
think she would think of
the current state of things, and
what's still being fought over?
>> Well, hypothetically,
I think my great grandmother that I
wrote about in Ida B The Queen,
would have a mixed feelings about
what's happening today.
I'm sure she will be thrilled to
see Kamala Harris inaugurated and,
well, elected and inaugurated into
vice presidential position.
To see the 117th Congress with so
many women elected.
But then at the same time, we're
still dealing with some racial and
social problems that needs to
be solved.
>> Definitely.
When you were doing,
as you mentioned, you grew up
knowing that you're related to her.
Obviously, you must have done a lot
of research for
the writing for this.
What were you most surprised
by in your research into her life?
>> When I was researching for
Ida B The Queen,
what I was most surprised about,
I shouldn't have been surprised but
I still was,
that she was surveilled by the FBI.
She was controversial during
her time, and to see in black and
white imprint that she was
considered dangerous to the point
where she needed to be watched by
the United States government.
That was a little surprising,
it sort of reiterated to me how
powerful she really was.
>> Yeah, I guess, considering that
many of the the prominent
African-American activists and
pastors, and political leaders,
who were investigated.
I guess on some level,
perhaps that's surprising.
But she was doing journalistic work
on lynchings and
trying to like pursue justice.
The idea that she would be
considered some sort of
threat individually,
seems like very perverse,
looking back on that time, and
all that she tried to accomplish.
That she was fighting for
women's right to vote.
What is so inherently
dangerous about that?
>> Well, my great grandmother,
Ida B Wells, and I wrote about this
in Ida B The Queen.
The reason that the Secret Service,
she called them Secret Service,
they're FBI agents, came to her
place of work was because she was
protesting the United States
government from killing their own
soldiers during World War II,
during World War I.
So they considered her to be
criticizing the government
during the war, and that's why they
considered her to be dangerous.
>> Wow.
Well, obviously, anyone reading
the book is going to learn
a lot about her and as you said,
much of her work and her legacy is
still very applicable today.
If there was one lesson that
a modern population,
perhaps who isn't taught as much in
school about her as they perhaps,
should be.
What lesson would you want people
to draw from her life experience?
>> One lesson that I would like
people to know that I wrote about
in Ida B The Queen is how one
person can make a difference.
And they can use journalism as
a form of activism.
They can use truth telling and
challenge the power structure.
They can organize, and
there are a myriad of ways that
he used to affect change, and
make a difference when it comes to
laws and policies.
>> Exactly, so much so
that very justifiably, people
should be learning about her life.
Getting on towards a century later.
The book is Ida B The Queen,
the extraordinary life and
legacy of Ida B Wells.
Michelle Duster, thank you so
much for revealing the history of
your family and for
joining us on the show today.
Thank you.
>> Thank you, John.
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