Black History Month 2025 - Ida B. Wells in Leeds

Wells in Leeds

To find information about Wells' visit to Leeds we researched local newspaper articles from early July 1894, using both online repositories and original copies.

Below are some newspaper articles that we transcribed:

Article 1: Leeds Mercury, 3^rd July 1894
Miss Ida B. Wells, B.A., the celebrated Coloured Lady, will speak in BELGRAVE LECTURE HALL on Thursday, July 5^th, on "The Negro: a Man and a Brother." Chair to be taken by the MAYORESS OF LEEDS at Eight o'clock. Miss AMY SUMMERSGILL has kindly consented to sing.

This article from The Leeds Mercury gives us the exact date of her speech (5^th July) and reveals the location and lecture title. The title reflects upon the well-known anti-slavery motto 'Am I Not a Man and a Brother?', which had been prominent for much of the nineteenth century.

We can also see in the first article that her speech had other attractions, such as the presence of the Mayoress of Leeds and a vocal entertainment. Perhaps these additions would have brought a more diverse audience to the event, allowing her to inform the unknowing about the extent of racial violence in the US on a wider scale.

The attendance of these high-status, likely-white figures also suggests that Wells was respected as a speaker, which tells us just how successful she was as a woman of colour at the time.

Article 2: Leeds Mercury, 6^th July 1894

There was a large audience in the Belgrave Lecture Hall, Leeds last night, to hear a lecture by Miss Ida B. Wells, B.A., a coloured lady, who is engaged in a campaign against the horrible system of negro lynching, now so prevalent in the South States of America. "The negro-a man and a brother" --was the title of her address, and after briefly narrating the history of the slave trade in America, she proceeded to speak of some of its consequences, and of the present grievances of the now so-called free race. Proceeding to the subject of lynching, Miss Wells said that in proportion as the negro has accumulated wealth Lynch law had grown… Up to May 1^st of this year fifty persons had been lynched. Two of these were women, one of whom was burnt, whilst the other was fastened in a box that had a lot of protruding nails in it and rolled down a hill. Taken out in a bleeding and lacerated condition. She was hanged to a tree and bullets fired into her body.

[…]

The world, she believed, had done so little regarding this matter because it knew so little. It was her mission to give to the world the black people's side of the story. It was a crime for a black man to fire upon a white man even in self-defence; and she knew of the three negroes who were brutally lynched for so acting. She had made it her duty to specially investigate all lynching cases, and a duty full of risk. In the paper of which she had been editor, she had exposed the conduct of the whites, and as a result her newspaper premises had been destroyed, and her manageress driven out of the town. Happening at the time to be away from her office, she received no personal injury, but preparations, she understood, had been made in the town to lynch her on her return. One prominent citizen had declared that if she returned to Memphis in twenty years, he would shoot her down on sight.

[…]

She had come to England to ask the people here to use their influence with the United States Government in these matters. All the negroes wanted was justice.

This article reveals what Wells wanted to achieve by delivering this speech in Leeds: to 'campaign against the horrible system of negro lynching' in the US and to raise awareness about the issue because '[t]he world...had done so little regarding this matter because it knew so little'.

The article appears to summarise her speech. It mentions that she made the audience aware that despite slavery ending, discrimination against people of colour was not coming to a halt. She placed emphasis on the fact that she believed the issue of lynching was a 'consequence' of slavery.

She touched upon the irony of African Americans being called 'free' and spoke of the sheer numbers of people who were lynched in America throughout the recent years, delving into the raw, dreadful truth of the matter and the unjust laws around it.

Another thing we have learned from this article is that Wells herself had been put under direct threat of lynching, simply for being a successful African American journalist who wrote about the issues that were important to her.

Article 3: Leeds Times, 'Lynch Law in America', 7^th July 1894

A large audience assembled in the Belgrave Lecture Hall, Leeds, on Thursday night, to listen to an address by Miss Ida B. Wells, B.A., a coloured lady, who, during the past few months, has visited various parts of this country to champion the cause of the negroes of South America - Miss Wells, who was introduced by the Mayoress (Mrs. Leuty), pointed out some disabilities under which the negroes of the South suffer. Their vote was as completely nullified as if it had never been conferred. The laws prohibiting intermarriage between black and white people fostered immoral and illegal relations : they were forbidden to travel in the same railway carriage with white people excepting as servants, while churches, temperance societies, lecture rooms, Young Men's Christian Associations, and theatres were closed in the face of the negroes, in fact only in the public houses and gambling dens was the line of demarcation not drawn so strongly. They had been told to be patient until they accumulated wealth and gained in general character. In proportion as the negro had accumulated wealth and property had lynch law increased. During the past ten years the record of lynchings had increased year by year. In 1882, 52 persons were lynched in the South: in 1892 164 men and 5 women were so treated; in 1893 there were 159 lynchings, 4 of the victims being women, and in 3 cases the persons were burned to death. This year, up to the 1^st of May, 50 persons had been lynched in different parts of America; 2 were women - 2 were buried alive, and 1 was actually flayed alive. Miss Wells gave a vivid description of some of the cases. As to the allegation that the chief offences for which the negroes were made to suffer death were assaults on white women, she asserted that in two-thirds of the cases those were not the charges brought forward. Farcical investigations were sometimes held, but too often the leaders of the mobs were members of the jury and returned a verdict that the person had met his death at the hands of some person unknown. Because these acts had been committed by white men and women, the world had been singularly silent, but the silence was to be attributed to ignorance rather than indifference.

Another newspaper article that covered her speech in Leeds was the Leeds Times, on 7^th July 1894. This article states that she discussed the laws prohibiting intermarriage between black and white people. She also highlighted that black and white people were forbidden to travel in the same railway carriages, further showing the discrimination black people faced daily. She also stated that other 'public' spaces were "closed in the face of the negroes" including "churches, temperance societies, lecture rooms, Young Men's Christian Associations, and theatres" showing that black people were forced to live as outsiders.

Wells also talked about the horrific number of lynchings from the previous years and how the number of killings were rapidly growing, showing the desperate need for change. She also mentioned the devastating ways that black people were killed: two women "were buried alive, and one was actually flayed alive". This horrifying image shows that her aim was to make people aware of the inhumane and despicable lynchings of black people in America to raise enough awareness and prevent it from happening. Wells stated that the world had been silent about racism. She felt, however, it was due to ignorance rather than a lack of sympathy for those racially abused. Her goal wasn't simply to criticise those who had abused black people, as she was devoted to educating others about the wrongdoings of racial inequality and oppression, despite putting herself at risk.

To further investigate Wells' speech, in November 2024 we visited and gained access into the old Belgrave Lecture Hall, which was the site of her anti lynching speech. The building is now under renovation. And long before, walls have been built to separate what would have been the large conference room where Wells spoke. Unfortunately, there is no trace of Wells speaking there within the building itself.

Belgrave Hall was originally a chapel as seen in the photograph below of the Leeds city map in 1891. This emphasises that the building must have been of high significance to the city of Leeds and the local community. We were, in the main, quite disappointed there were few discernible original features that were left untouched in the building. It would be good for the city of Leeds to do more to remember its encounter with this important and inspiring woman.

Further Reading:

• McMurray, Linda O. To Keep the Waters Troubled: The Life of Ida B. Wells (Oxford University Press, 1998).
• Wells, Ida B. Crusade for Justice: The Autobiography of Ida B. Wells, ed. Alfreda M. Duster. [1970] (University of Chicago Press, 2020).
• Zackodnik, Teresa. 'Ida B. Wells and "American Atrocities" in Britain', Women's Studies International Forum 28. 4 (2005), pp. 259-73.