It's March 3rd 1913, Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington, D.C.
The delegation of Illinois suffragists is lining up
to participate in the Woman Suffrage Procession on the day before
Woodrow Wilson's presidential inauguration and somehow they get the
word. Organizer Alice Paul does not want Black
and white women marching together. So the group turns to
Ida B. Wells-Barnett, their only Black member
and says, We're sorry, Ida. We don't want to cause any trouble. You're going to
have to go to the back of the parade. And Ida storms off in tears, but she
doesn't go to the back. She waits along the parade route
and when the Illinois delegation appears, she steps out in front.
So for the rest of the Woman Suffrage Procession, Ida B.
Wells-Barnett of Chicago leads the Illinois suffragists.
And that's why at Belmont-Paul we say you can't spell formidable
without Ida.