A few weeks ago, we looked into Black History Month and we asked… why do we need a designated month? Is not Black history American history? Surely W.E.B DuBois is in our school children’s history book, and Marcus Garvy, and Harriett Tubman. Well, unfortunately Black History Month is still needed. The school books have some improving to do.
Now we have entered the month of March. Surprisingly March 8th is designated as International Women’s Day and the month of March is Women’s History Month. Apparently, it has taken some special efforts to get women’s story into the history books. Well, let’s just say it this way: our American History books have been a little bit out of balance.
Equality in the History
The task, of course, is to tell the actual history, also known as “what really happened.” Women could not vote in elections. We did learn about the Suffragettes and their victories, so some of the history is in the books. But we didn’t know that married women could not own property, and legally, somehow women ceased to exist when married. Let’s look at what AI says:
“Historically, married women in the US and UK could not own property, sign contracts, or keep their own wages due to the legal doctrine of “coverture,” which merged a wife’s legal existence into her husband’s. This meant husbands controlled all property, with significant legal reform only beginning in the mid-19th century through Married Women’s Property Acts.”
Paying women less than men while they’re doing the same job… well, if we look at what’s going on in today’s world, there are still examples of that injustice. We can definitely say… not at AMS Fulfillment. Our management and our ‘decision-makers’ are both women and men, and we’re grateful for that. AMS is a B Corporation, and our leadership is Values-Based. That means our clients, our employees and our communities expect the best from us and we are proud to live up to their expectations.
A Victory Story
We’re going to tell a story that is both Black History and Women’s History. We will tell the story of Ida B. Wells, a Black woman who succeeded in a very hostile world. She is described as a journalist, anti-lynching activist, women’s suffragist, and early civil rights movement leader. Her story is heroic, and there are so many achievements it would take a book to list them.
Ida B. Wells is one of the founders of the NAACP so we’ll start there. She started documenting lynchings in the 1890s and debunked the fallacy that lynching victims were guilty of crimes. She exposed the truth, that lynchings were used to terrorize the people. The following information is from Wikipedia.
“Wells was born into slavery in Holly Springs, Mississippi. She was freed as an infant under the Emancipation Proclamation, when Union Army troops captured Holly Springs. At the age of 14, she lost both her parents and her infant brother in the 1878 yellow fever epidemic. She got a job teaching and kept the rest of the family together with the help of her grandmother, later moving with some of her siblings to Memphis, Tennessee.
Courage is Her Foundation
Ida B. Wells wrote for a newspaper she owned, entitled “Memphis Free Speech and Headlight.” Her reporting covered incidents of inequality, and her journalism was published in Black-owned newspapers across the nation. Because of her success she was threatened with criminal violence and a white mob destroyed her Memphis newspaper office and press. She decided to leave Memphis and move to Chicago where she met and married an attorney named Ferdinand Barnett. They had a family, and she continued her lifetime of work organizing for civil rights and the women’s movement.
“Wells’ role in the U.S. suffrage movement was inextricably linked to her lifelong crusade against racism, violence and discrimination towards African Americans. Her view of women’s enfranchisement was pragmatic and political. Like all suffragists, she believed in women’s right to vote, but she also saw enfranchisement as a way for Black women to become politically involved in their communities and to use their votes to elect African Americans, regardless of gender, to influential political office.”
Ida B. Wells died in 1931 and interestingly, in 2020 she was honored with a Pulitzer Prize. The prize came with a citation as follows: “For her outstanding reporting on the horrific and vicious violence against African Americans during the era of lynching.”
Celebrating Her Life
Last year (2025) the U.S. Mint put Ida B. Wells’ image on the quarter. The launch was celebrated at the DuSable museum and in the National Women’s History museum.
Women’s History Month is a dedicated month to reflect on the often-overlooked contributions of women to U.S. history. International Women’s Day (March 8) was established by the United Nations in 1975, recognizing that fundamental freedoms and human rights require the equality of women. Our favorite message from this year’s event is “One child, one teacher, one book, one pen can change the world.” The life of Ida B. Wells certainly proves it true.
Recognizing the Women of AMS Fulfillment
We honor and thank the women of AMS, from the executives to the supervisors to the laborers – you are SO VITAL to our success and the success of our clients. We appreciate your wisdom, your talent, your voice… we thank you and we know your value is beyond measure. Happy Women’s History month to all!
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