Ida B. Wells and Otelia Champion: A Legacy of Black Women who Spoke Truth to Power

After the riots of the 1960s, the Kerner Commission Report concluded that America would become two separate, unequal nations unless systemic policy changes were made. I had to attend an HBCU to more fully understand that Black History didn’t begin with slavery, and that many heroes and s/heros had made enormous sacrifices during the 400 years since the first 20 Africans arrived on these shores.

School textbooks omitted any such references, newspapers were loathe to cover so called “colored” news other than the local crime blot’s paragraph and examples of sports legends and a few inventors during Black History month – previously relegated to a week and perennially treated as a mere footnote in February to the acknowledgement of Blacks in America.

Fortunately, for many scholars and stewards of the inextricable link between African American and American history the name Ida B. Wells among Black folk has long resonated with pride, dignity, and fearless determination. We honor her life’s devotion to end lynching of Black folk in America. Where the white press vilified her as a menace the Black press and community lifted Ida B. Wells up as an icon of self-determination and advancement for the cause of women’s suffrage and fairness.

In May 2020 Ida B. Wells was posthumously awarded the Pulitzer Prize, 89 years after her death, for her groundbreaking work in influencing anti-lynching legislation. What remains noteworthy with this award is the sad fact of the marginalized manner in which too many Black activists have been historically presented by mainstream media. Black images and narratives fixated within mainstream media have seldom been viewed with the same lens as Black news consumers view their leaders in terms of importance, influence, sacrifices and their over-all political effectiveness at advancing a seemingly unending fight for human rights and equality. Congratulations Ida B. Wells. It’s been a long-time in coming.

Ms. Otelia Champion, a native East Chicagoan and family friend, was a music educator in the East Chicago School City and the first black graduate of East Chicago Roosevelt High School. In the Calumet region, she was known for her prodigious concerts and the annual Christmas Concert held at a large local church, which featured my mother, Irene Day-Comer, as a soloist for many years.

Ms. Champion later became President of the National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs, the largest, most influential organization of its kind and the leading women’s African America civil rights and women’s suffrage movement of the late 19th to mid-20th century. This presidency was a coveted, high profile, politically prominent post that Ida B. Wells had once pursued but lost to Mary Church Terrell.

When Northwest Indiana Times posted Ms. Champion’s obituary, she was described only as a music teacher and community organizer. In contrast, Ebony Magazine published a feature on the organization’s global impact over decades and covered its world convention in Anchorage, Alaska, convened under Ms. Champion’s tenure as President. That year, 1982, Ms. Champion also met personally in the Oval Office with President Ronald Reagan where she laid out her organization’s policy agenda for jobs, equal pay for women, education, and continued voting rights. It was then reported anecdotally that Otelia Champion pressed her demands in such a manner as to have left Reagan flustered and “red as a beet.” One would need to have known Ms. Champion to understand her moxie, and that she, like Ida B. Wells, was fearless when speaking “truth to power.” How many of her demands were granted is a matter of further inquiry.

The legacy of Ida B. Wells and Otelia Champion remain relevant to the work of those today who speak truth to power unflinchingly and work tirelessly to advance the causes of women’s and minorities’ rights and justice and fairness to African American people.

Below is a photo from the 1982 National Federated Colored Women’s Clubs Convention at the Sheraton International Hotel, Washington DC, Hosted by Otelia Champion, President NFCWC. The Man of the Year Honoree was Attorney Clarence Walker of East Chicago, Guest Speaker was Secretary of Transportation Elizabeth Dole. Featured entertainment: The Dennis Llewellyn Day Group. Members of the band: Dennis Day (vocals), the late great Noble Jolley Sr. (guitar), Joe Hall of the Blackbyrds (bass), Curtis Pope (trumpet), Harlan Jones (keyboard), George Jones (drums).

International Office of Federated Colored Women’s Club, Washington, DC