“You have to be willing to lose something to stand up for something,” Michelle Duster, granddaughter of activist and abolitionist Ida B. Wells, said as she spoke during the Black Womanhood: Stereotypes vs Reality Morning Ex on Monday, December 9. She sat on stage with Upper School history teacher Susan Elliot, talking about Wells, Black womanhood, and her writing. 

Duster also spoke in Upper School history teacher Andrew Bigelow’s junior US History class and Elliot’s junior US History class, both of which learned about Ida B. Wells during a unit on social reformers and the legacy of the reconstruction unit. Additionally, Duster talked to the Upper School’s Women of Color Affinity (WOCA). During the MX, she was introduced by WOCA leaders junior Leila Griffin, junior Olivia Hanley, junior Aziza Mabrey-Wakefield, and junior Asha Wright. 

Duster is an author, speaker, educator, and professor at Columbia College Chicago. She was born on the south side of Chicago and earned degrees from Dartmouth College and the New School. She has received the 2019 Martin Luther King, Jr. Social Justice Award from Dartmouth College and the Multi-Generational Activist award from the Illinois Human Rights Commission. 

Duster has written 5 books: Michelle Obama’s Impact on African American Women and Girls, Shifts Anthology, Ida In Her Own Words, Ida From Abroad, Tate and His Historic Dream, and Exploring Our History. She has also written chapters in Women Building Chicago and In Spite of the Double Drawbacks. 

Along with writing, she works on committees and other groups that develop projects focusing on the contributions of African Americans and women in the United States. She was involved in the naming of Ida B. Wells Drive and the honorary Ida B. Wells Way. She has also worked on the historical marker in Bronzeville to honor the Ida B. Wells Homes and is working on monuments and other projects to honor Ida B. Wells. “I like that all of her work is centered around the compensating for the identity of Black women and what they mean to society, and I think that is often not talked about,” Griffin said.  

Elliot, who is a self-proclaimed “fangirl” of Duster, organized this MX and brought Duster in to speak. She first found out about Duster when she noticed that she was giving a talk in a church on the south side and was the granddaughter of Wells. Elliot had expected the talk to be about Wells, but Duster spoke about her book about Michelle Obama. “She gave this talk and it was just so eye-opening to me,” Elliot said. “So then I went and just got all of her books and read everything.”

After being introduced, a WGN video clip that featured Duster was shown about the National Memorial of Peace and Justice. After, Elliot and Duster talked about her work, Ida B. Wells, and the legacy of Ida B. Wells in an interview-style discussion. She spoke about writing and her career as a writer, advising aspiring writers to stay true to themselves. “My suggestion would just be to write what you care about,” Duster said. “Writing can be the first line of creating historical documents.”

Duster spoke about her book on Michelle Obama: Michelle Obama’s Impact on African American Women and Girls. The book is a collection of art, poetry, essays and other passages created by African American women from 13 to 60. Duster went to school with Michelle Obama. During the MX, Duster spoke about her book and Michelle Obama’s impact on the Black community. “She was a sense of hope for girls that looked like her,” Duster said. “Her existence gave visibility to a community of people who are invisible or intentionally erased.”

Regarding her grandmother and the history of her family, Duster talked about the work that Wells did and how she believes Wells got into activism. Ida B. Wells led an anti-lynching crusade and fought against segregation. She was born in Mississippi and grew up in the South, staying in the North after being threatened to be killed. She helped found the NAACP, the National Association of Colored Women, the Alpha Suffrage Club, and the Negro Fellowship League. “She fought for civil rights for African Americans, people of color, and women,” Duster said. “She stood up against power without caring about what the consequences might be.”

“Her great granddaughter’s role in keeping her story alive is critical to our historical narrative which often lacks the voices of women and in particular, Black women,” Bigelow said. “Duster was able to amplify the legacy of Wells in her writings and speeches. It was an honor to have her in my class and at Parker.”