Passionate for Justice: Ida B. Wells as Prophet for Our Time

by Catherine Meeks, Nibs Stroupe, Stacey Abrams (Foreword by)

Overview

"In Passionate for Justice, we find a compass that points us to the future, where we can each give voice and action to justice, equity, and life-giving community. Ida Wells would have had it no other way."
—From the Foreword by Stacey Abrams, 2018 Democratic Nominee for Governor of Georgia

Ida B. Wells was a powerful churchwoman and witness for justice and equity from 1878 to 1931. Born enslaved, her witness flowed through the struggles for justice in her lifetime, especially in the intersections of African Americans, women, and those who were poor. Her life is a profound witness for faith-based work of visionary power, resistance, and resilience for today’s world, when the forces of injustice stand in opposition to progress.

These are exciting and dangerous times. Boundaries that previously seemed impenetrable are now being crossed. This book is a guide for the current state of affairs in American culture, enlivened by the historical perspective of Wells’ search for justice.

The authors are an African-American woman and a child of white supremacy. Both have dedicated themselves to working, writing, and developing ministries oriented toward justice, equity, and mercy. This book can be used in all settings, but most especially in churches (pastors and other church leaders, study groups), seminaries, and universities.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781640651609
Publisher:	Church Publishing, Incorporated
Publication date:	09/17/2019
Pages:	160
Sales rank:	1,081,350
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Catherine Meeks, PhD, is the former Executive Director of the Absalom Jones Center for Racial Healing, the retired Clara Carter Acree Distinguished Professor of Socio-Cultural Studies from Wesleyan College, and the former Founding Executive Director of the Lane Center for Community Engagement and Service. Dr. Meeks is the author of six books, including The Night is Long but Light Comes in the Morning, the editor of Living Into God’s Dream: Dismantling Racism in America, and the co-author of Passionate for Justice: Ida B Wells as Prophet for Our Times. She is the winner of The President Joseph R. Biden Lifetime Achievement Award, and was one of Georgia Trend Magazine’s notable women in 2022. She holds a Master’s Degree in Social Work from Clark Atlanta University, and a PhD from Emory University. She is the founder of Turquoise and Lavender, an institute for transformation and healing and writes regular opinion pieces for Baptist News Global. Dr. Meeks lives in Atlanta, Georgia.

NIBS STROUPE retired in 2017 as pastor of Oakhurst Presbyterian Church, a nationally recognized leader in multicultural and racial justice ministry. He has written numerous articles for magazines, including The Atlantic online. He has written frequently for Westminster/John Knox's Feasting on the Word series, and is a frequent contributor to Journal for Preachers. He is the author of four books. He lives in Atlanta, Georgia.

Table of Contents

Foreword iv

An Introduction to Ida B. Wells from Her Great-Granddaughter vii

Preface ix

1 "To the Seeker of Truth" 1

2 "Crusade for Justice" 10

3 "To Tell the Truth Freely" 21

4 "My Name Is Legion" 43

5 "At the Crossroads: Just Trying to Be Human" 71

8 "Order Our Steps" 95

7 Seeking the Beloved Community 134

What People are Saying About This

Christian Century

“In some ways the book feels like the theological equivalent of Ibram X. Kendi’s How to Be an Antiracist.”
—Rev. Dr. Douglas H. Brown Clark, Visiting Assistant Professor at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary

From the Publisher

"Our nation needs this kind of wisdom now more than anything in a time of crisis and national moral failure. The progress of the past 50 years is so fragile. Here are two brave and honest southern voices—one black, one white—drawing wisdom from their own histories in a segregated society, seeking guidance in the words and deeds of a legendary defender of justice."
—Douglas A. Blackmon, winner of the Pulitzer Prize book Slavery By Another Name

"Ida B. Wells was a courageous truth-teller, and so too is this book. As Catherine Meeks and Nibs Stroupe tell the story of Wells, they deftly expose the truth about our nation, which our nation has long avoided—to its peril. This is the prescient truth of racial, gender and class privilege fueling the violence of lynching. Meeks and Stroupe have given us a book for all time. For those who seek the truth of who we are as a nation—Ida B. Wells: A Prophet for Our Time is a must read."
—The Very Reverend Kelly Brown Douglas, Ph.D., Dean of Episcopal Divinity School at Union Theological Seminary

"The authors take a unique and daring approach to narrating the life of Ida B. Wells. They draw parallels, lessons, and inspiration from Wells' encounters with injustice to illuminate and better understand their own struggles and encounters with racism and sexism. What makes this book so different from all earlier tributes to Wells is the fact that Meeks (a black woman) and Stroupe (a white man) are able to independently weave threads of insights from nearly a century earlier into accounts of their own very personal journeys. The approach is novel, the challenge is considerable—and the read is well worth it."
—Troy Duster, Chancellor's Professor Emeritus, Universityof California, Berkeley

"In this hard-hitting yet heartfelt analysis, historians Meeks and Stroupe use Gilded Age reformer Ida B. Wells (1862–1931) as a touchstone for a discussion of 21st century racism. In simple language, Meeks and Stroupe present a cogent, persuasive blueprint for achieving racial justice and equality in America."
—Publishers Weekly

"We see the name Ida B. Wells in the title of this most special book, and, immediately, we think the book will be written in the third person point of view, traditionally required for biographical writing. Meeks and Stroupe, however, choose otherwise, and for reason. They are writing not only about Ida B. Wells, activist of the late nineteenth/early twentieth century, but also about Ida B. Wells, the "messenger" we need "for this present moment." Her courage and vision for justice are central to the dialogue, the prayers, and the confessions that bring Meeks and Stroupe together in free and inspired conversation on the guiding question of the book: 'What does it mean to be a liberated person?'

We cannot move forward without answering that question and, for Meeks and Stroupe, we cannot answer that question without understanding who Ida B. Wells was, what she accomplished, and how vital her life and activism are to matters of justice in the twenty-first century. In this now of confusion in our nation and around the globe, Ida B. Wells is not among us, but, thanks to Meeks and Stroupe, she is voice, inspiration, courage, and conviction in this most special book!"
—Gloria Wade Gayles, Ph.D., Founding Director, The SIS Oral History Project and RESONANCE in LEADS, The Center for Leadership and Civic Engagement, Spelman College

"Catherine Meeks and Nibs Stroupe are two excellent writers, historians, and astute cultural observers who have each published numerous books. That they have collaborated to write this book on Ida B. Wells is good news for all of us. Wells is one of our most important forbears whose life offers critical lessons for how to live with courage and determination in this particularly toxic era of a resurgence of violent white supremacy. Through these chapters, may Wells’ life and witness gain a wider audience and may her stunning witness move us to radical action on behalf of justice and the building of the Beloved Community."
—Murphy Davis and Ed Loring, Open Door Community, Baltimore, and Editors, Hospitality Newspaper

"This is a remarkable story of two overlapping worlds rooted in rural Arkansas—the world of an African American female and the world of a white male. These two Arkansans, standing side-by-side, look in the mirror of the life of Civil Rights leader Ida B. Wells and see themselves reflected in all their own distinctiveness. And what they see are the ways racism has and continues to distort us and how Wells' life invites us to see not only our own stories but also our common humanity.
—Erskine Clarke, recipient of Columbia University's Bancroft Prize for his book Dwelling Place

"At the center of this book is the powerful legacy of Ida B. Wells and her relentless fight against racism and injustice. Through their reflections on her story, Catherine Meeks and Nibs Stroupe illuminate aspects of their own personal histories and contemporary struggles for racial equality. They offer something remarkable in today's political climate: an African-American woman and a white man with the ability to hear each other's stories with grace even as they press toward justice. Their frank dialogue is a model for others seeking interracial community and social change."
—Susan E. Hylen, associate professor of New Testament, Candler School of Theology, Emory University

“This re-telling of Ida B. Wells’s prophetic witness for justice in troubled times is a must read for individuals and communities of faith in the United States alarmed by the recent turn in our social and political ethos. The authors blend their readings of Well’s prophetic witness in the context of the Reconstruction and is aftermath with the impact of that witness upon their own very different, yet resonant, lives—an African American woman and a white man raised in the same segregated county in Arkansas—coming of age in the Civil Rights movement and its aftermath.

The book highlights the striking similarities between Well’s Reconstruction and post-Reconstruction context and our own: the loss of political and social gains to the seemingly intractable forces of white supremacy, re-inventing and rebranding itself but always working for the same destructive purpose. The authors lift up Well’s life-long struggle for justice as a call to vigilance that is soberly realistic about the challenges of overcoming the deeply embedded reality of racism in our national DNA. Yet, it is a call stubbornly rooted in a hope that refuses to give up on the vision of the Beloved Community as the divine intention for all people.

This book will be especially valuable to those called to the difficult task of working for justice together, across lines of race, gender, and class, in resistance and hope, in what the authors call our nation’s ‘third passage’ with regard to racism and white supremacy—a passage whose future remains in the balance.” —Chris Boesel, PhD, Associate Professor of Christian Theology, Drew Theological School

Editorial Reviews

07/08/2019

In this hard-hitting yet heartfelt analysis, historians Meeks (Standing on Their Shoulders) and Stroupe (While We Run This Race) use Gilded Age reformer Ida B. Wells (1862–1931) as a touchstone for a discussion of 21st century racism. In the book’s opening section the authors briefly rehash Wells’s life; she worked as a journalist, was a tireless advocate for both black and woman’s rights, and helped found the NAACP in 1909. Meeks and Stroupe argue Wells’s life spans a pivotal intersection of racial and gender oppression within American history—which launches their examination of present-day white supremacy. While the biography section is idealized and rushed, the subsequent analysis is deeply moving. Meeks, a black woman, and Stroupe, a white man, tell their stories of dealing with racism. Meeks, in a dialogue with Stroupe, effectively points out the limitations in white versions of events, convincingly making the point that white Americans have largely failed to acknowledge the black experience of continuing oppression. Stroupe agrees and believes that all white Americans are born into a culture steeped in systemic, unconscious racism. The fix, Stroupe posits, is to recognize such racism, repent, partake in social justice causes, fight for reparations, and work toward reconciliation. In simple language, Meeks and Stroupe present a cogent, persuasive blueprint for achieving racial justice and equality in America. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

In some ways the book feels like the theological equivalent of Ibram X. Kendi’s How to Be an Antiracist.”
—Rev. Dr. Douglas H. Brown Clark, The Christian Century

"In this hard-hitting yet heartfelt analysis, historians Meeks and Stroupe use Gilded Age reformer Ida B. Wells (1862–1931) as a touchstone for a discussion of 21st century racism. In simple language, Meeks and Stroupe present a cogent, persuasive blueprint for achieving racial justice and equality in America."—Publishers Weekly

"In Passionate for Justice: Ida B. Wells as Prophet for Our Time, Catherine Meeks and Nibs Stroupe embark upon a brave and hopeful mission. Having come by separate life paths, this African-American woman and this white American man seek to stand together upon common ground, the revolutionary witness of an extraordinary, and too-little recalled black journalist and churchwoman. This would be an important book at any time, but it is critical for such a time as this."
—Leonard Pitts, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary, novelist and columnist

"Our nation needs this kind of wisdom now more than anything in a time of crisis and national moral failure. The progress of the past 50 years is so fragile. Here are two brave and honest southern voices—one black, one white—drawing wisdom from their own histories in a segregated society, seeking guidance in the words and deeds of a legendary defender of justice."
—Douglas A. Blackmon, winner of the Pulitzer Prize book Slavery By Another Name

"Ida B. Wells was a courageous truth-teller, and so too is this book. As Catherine Meeks and Nibs Stroupe tell the story of Wells, they deftly expose the truth about our nation, which our nation has long avoided—to its peril. This is the prescient truth of racial, gender and class privilege fueling the violence of lynching. Meeks and Stroupe have given us a book for all time. For those who seek the truth of who we are as a nation—Ida B. Wells: A Prophet for Our Time is a must read."
—The Very Reverend Kelly Brown Douglas, Ph.D., Dean of Episcopal Divinity School at Union Theological Seminary

"The authors take a unique and daring approach to narrating the life of Ida B. Wells. They draw parallels, lessons, and inspiration from Wells' encounters with injustice to illuminate and better understand their own struggles and encounters with racism and sexism. What makes this book so different from all earlier tributes to Wells is the fact that Meeks (a black woman) and Stroupe (a white man) are able to independently weave threads of insights from nearly a century earlier into accounts of their own very personal journeys. The approach is novel, the challenge is considerable – and the read is well worth it."
—Troy Duster, Chancellor's Professor Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley

"'What does it mean to be a liberated person?' We cannot move forward without answering that question and, for Meeks and Stroupe, we cannot answer that question without understanding who Ida B. Wells was, what she accomplished, and how vital her life and activism are to matters of justice in the twenty-first century. In this now of confusion in our nation and around the globe, Ida B. Wells is not among us, but, thanks to Meeks and Stroupe, she is voice, inspiration, courage, and conviction in this most special book!"
—Gloria Wade Gayles, Ph.D., Founding Director, The SIS Oral History Project and RESONANCE in LEADS, The Center for Leadership and Civic Engagement, Spelman College

"Catherine Meeks and Nibs Stroupe are two excellent writers, historians, and astute cultural observers who have each published numerous books. That they have collaborated to write this book on Ida B. Wells is good news for all of us. Wells is one of our most important forbears whose life offers critical lessons for how to live with courage and determination in this particularly toxic era of a resurgence of violent white supremacy. Through these chapters, may Wells’ life and witness gain a wider audience and may her stunning witness move us to radical action on behalf of justice and the building of the Beloved Community."
—Murphy Davis and Ed Loring, Open Door Community, Baltimore, and Editors, Hospitality Newspaper

"This is a remarkable story of two overlapping worlds rooted in rural Arkansas—the world of an African American female and the world of a white male. These two Arkansans, standing side-by-side, look in the mirror of the life of Civil Rights leader Ida B. Wells and see themselves reflected in all their own distinctiveness. And what they see are the ways racism has and continues to distort us and how Wells'
life invites us to see not only our own stories but also our common humanity.
—Erskine Clarke, recipient of Columbia University's Bancroft Prize for his book Dwelling Place

"At the center of this book is the powerful legacy of Ida B. Wells and her relentless fight against racism and injustice. Through their reflections on her story, Catherine Meeks and Nibs Stroupe illuminate aspects of their own personal histories and contemporary struggles for racial equality. They offer something remarkable in today's political climate: an African-American woman and a white man with the ability to hear each other's stories with grace even as they press toward justice. Their frank dialogue is a model for others seeking interracial community and social change."
—Susan E. Hylen, associate professor of New Testament, Candler School of Theology, Emory University

“The authors lift up Well’s life-long struggle for justice as a call to vigilance that is soberly realistic about the challenges of overcoming the deeply embedded reality of racism in our national DNA. Yet, it is a call stubbornly rooted in a hope that refuses to give up on the vision of the Beloved Community as the divine intention for all people. This book will be especially valuable to those called to the difficult task of working for justice together, across lines of race, gender, and class, in resistance and hope, in what the authors call our nation’s ‘third passage’ with regard to racism and white supremacy—a passage whose future remains in the balance.”
—Chris Boesel, PhD, Associate Professor of Christian Theology, Drew Theological School

“Sobering, searing and ultimately uplifting, this look at the life of Ida B Wells offers insight into not only one of America’s most ferocious social justice warriors but the authors own biographical recollections show how Wells’ witness is just as important today as it was yesterday. The astonishing courage of Ida B. Wells comes through in this deeply insightful look at a woman that more people should know. The authors, Nibs Stroupe and Catherine Meeks, show how Wells’s battles against racism, sexism and balancing her life as a mom and an activist offers lessons for us today as well as insights into the past.
—John Blake, author of Children of the Movement and senior writer at CNN.com

"This thoughtful, moving book is much more than a biography. Catherine Meeks and Nibs Stroupe offer deeply personal reflections on the meaning of Ida B. Wells for their lives—and ours. They remember Wells's witness and extend it with their own. And they offer a powerful call to join the struggle."
—Ted A. Smith, Professor of Preaching and Ethics, Candler School of Theology, Emory University

"Our nation needs this kind of wisdom now more than anything in a time of crisis and national moral failure. The progress of the past 50 years is so fragile. Here are two brave and honest southern voices—one black, one white—drawing wisdom from their own histories in a segregated society, seeking guidance in the words and deeds of a legendary defender of justice."
—Douglas A. Blackmon, winner of the Pulitzer Prize book Slavery By Another Name

"Ida B. Wells was a courageous truth-teller, and so too is this book. As Catherine Meeks and Nibs Stroupe tell the story of Wells, they deftly expose the truth about our nation, which our nation has long avoided—to its peril. This is the prescient truth of racial, gender and class privilege fueling the violence of lynching. Meeks and Stroupe have given us a book for all time. For those who seek the truth of who we are as a nation—Ida B. Wells: A Prophet for Our Time is a must read."
—The Very Reverend Kelly Brown Douglas, Ph.D., Dean of Episcopal Divinity School at Union Theological Seminary

"The authors take a unique and daring approach to narrating the life of Ida B. Wells. They draw parallels, lessons, and inspiration from Wells' encounters with injustice to illuminate and better understand their own struggles and encounters with racism and sexism. What makes this book so different from all earlier tributes to Wells is the fact that Meeks (a black woman) and Stroupe (a white man) are able to independently weave threads of insights from nearly a century earlier into accounts of their own very personal journeys. The approach is novel, the challenge is considerable—and the read is well worth it."
—Troy Duster, Chancellor's Professor Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley

"In this hard-hitting yet heartfelt analysis, historians Meeks and Stroupe use Gilded Age reformer Ida B. Wells (1862–1931) as a touchstone for a discussion of 21st century racism. In simple language, Meeks and Stroupe present a cogent, persuasive blueprint for achieving racial justice and equality in America."
—Publishers Weekly

"We see the name Ida B. Wells in the title of this most special book, and, immediately, we think the book will be written in the third person point of view, traditionally required for biographical writing. Meeks and Stroupe, however, choose otherwise, and for reason. They are writing not only about Ida B. Wells, activist of the late nineteenth/early twentieth century, but also about Ida B. Wells, the "messenger" we need "for this present moment." Her courage and vision for justice are central to the dialogue, the prayers, and the confessions that bring Meeks and Stroupe together in free and inspired conversation on the guiding question of the book: 'What does it mean to be a liberated person?'

We cannot move forward without answering that question and, for Meeks and Stroupe, we cannot answer that question without understanding who Ida B. Wells was, what she accomplished, and how vital her life and activism are to matters of justice in the twenty-first century. In this now of confusion in our nation and around the globe, Ida B. Wells is not among us, but, thanks to Meeks and Stroupe, she is voice, inspiration, courage, and conviction in this most special book!"
—Gloria Wade Gayles, Ph.D., Founding Director, The SIS Oral History Project and RESONANCE in LEADS, The Center for Leadership and Civic Engagement, Spelman College

"Catherine Meeks and Nibs Stroupe are two excellent writers, historians, and astute cultural observers who have each published numerous books. That they have collaborated to write this book on Ida B. Wells is good news for all of us. Wells is one of our most important forbears whose life offers critical lessons for how to live with courage and determination in this particularly toxic era of a resurgence of violent white supremacy. Through these chapters, may Wells’ life and witness gain a wider audience and may her stunning witness move us to radical action on behalf of justice and the building of the Beloved Community."
—Murphy Davis and Ed Loring, Open Door Community, Baltimore, and Editors, Hospitality Newspaper

"This is a remarkable story of two overlapping worlds rooted in rural Arkansas—the world of an African American female and the world of a white male. These two Arkansans, standing side-by-side, look in the mirror of the life of Civil Rights leader Ida B. Wells and see themselves reflected in all their own distinctiveness. And what they see are the ways racism has and continues to distort us and how Wells' life invites us to see not only our own stories but also our common humanity.
—Erskine Clarke, recipient of Columbia University's Bancroft Prize for his book Dwelling Place

"At the center of this book is the powerful legacy of Ida B. Wells and her relentless fight against racism and injustice. Through their reflections on her story, Catherine Meeks and Nibs Stroupe illuminate aspects of their own personal histories and contemporary struggles for racial equality. They offer something remarkable in today's political climate: an African-American woman and a white man with the ability to hear each other's stories with grace even as they press toward justice. Their frank dialogue is a model for others seeking interracial community and social change."
—Susan E. Hylen, associate professor of New Testament, Candler School of Theology, Emory University

“This re-telling of Ida B. Wells’s prophetic witness for justice in troubled times is a must read for individuals and communities of faith in the United States alarmed by the recent turn in our social and political ethos. The authors blend their readings of Well’s prophetic witness in the context of the Reconstruction and is aftermath with the impact of that witness upon their own very different, yet resonant, lives—an African American woman and a white man raised in the same segregated county in Arkansas—coming of age in the Civil Rights movement and its aftermath.

The book highlights the striking similarities between Well’s Reconstruction and post-Reconstruction context and our own: the loss of political and social gains to the seemingly intractable forces of white supremacy, re-inventing and rebranding itself but always working for the same destructive purpose. The authors lift up Well’s life-long struggle for justice as a call to vigilance that is soberly realistic about the challenges of overcoming the deeply embedded reality of racism in our national DNA. Yet, it is a call stubbornly rooted in a hope that refuses to give up on the vision of the Beloved Community as the divine intention for all people.

This book will be especially valuable to those called to the difficult task of working for justice together, across lines of race, gender, and class, in resistance and hope, in what the authors call our nation’s ‘third passage’ with regard to racism and white supremacy—a passage whose future remains in the balance.” —Chris Boesel, PhD, Associate Professor of Christian Theology, Drew Theological School

From the Publisher