It took 13 years to get “The Light of Truth” Ida B. Wells National Monument installed on the plot of land where the Ida B. Wells Homes housing project once stood in Chicago, Illinois.
The bronze sculpture, designed by artist Richard Hunt, was unveiled in 2021 and now serves as the focal point of Bronzeville’s Ida B. Wells Festival, which takes place on the last Saturday of June each year. This year, the festival celebrates its 5th anniversary, with a hope to expand the festival’s overall reach, to continue to strengthen its community relationships, and to make attendees consider—What would Ida B. Wells say about our current political and social moment?
The Ida B. Wells Festival was created by writers and historians Michelle Duster, the great-granddaughter of Ida B. Wells and her husband Ferdinand Lee Barnett, and Bernard C. Turner, Executive Director of the Bronzeville Black Metropolis National Heritage Area. The festival centers Bronzeville—where Wells made her home in Chicago—in its programming, with walking and bus tours, a community forum with local businesses, and by using the Ida B. Wells monument as the meeting point for several festival activities.
Turner said that Bronzeville isn’t just one area.
“A lot of people think it’s a neighborhood. It’s not. It’s almost like a concept. It incorporates several community areas in Chicago and extends from 18th Street to 71st Street North and South, and then East and West from the lake over to the Dan Ryan. So, it’s not really one community area,” he said. “I’m trying to get people to understand that if they’re in Illinois Tech, or if they’re Oakwood Shores Community Center, or they are at Pilgrim Baptist Church, or if they are Quinn Chapel, or if they are any of these places, they’re in the National Heritage Area.”
These pillars of community care through a historical lens are the driving missions of the Ida B. Wells Festival. Duster and Turner are hoping to broaden the festival’s reach this year, and with a diverse itinerary for all ages and interests, there is surely something for everyone to enjoy.
Each activity and program in the festival is in some way related to Ida’s legacy. There is a morning meditation, a Zumba class at the monument, two film screenings, activities for families and kids, and a political panel discussion.
The stand-out event of the festival might just be this year’s Teen Activist Program. The festival will screen the film Against the Current by Joshua Jackson and Asif Wilson, about Black resistance in Illinois, narrated by teen community organizer Kyla Nash. Nash, who grew up in Bronzeville, will be in attendance for a discussion after the film. The teen program this year is also interested in having teenagers engaged in discussion about current events and issues in their own communities, like the infamously named “Teen Takeovers” in Chicago. Turner referred to the idea of encouraging discussions about resistance as “something Ida-like”.
Make sure not to miss the closing event of the festival—the “Long Fight to Gain & Retain Voting Rights: And How We Refuse to Go Back” panel discussion, featuring Congresswoman Robin Kelly.
“It’s such a big topic on people’s minds right now with all that’s going on regarding voting rights being dismantled,” Duster said. “I would just say some people don’t really understand exactly what is happening because we’re getting so much information from so many different sources and it’s confusing. I think it’s easy to be confused right now.”
“[Ida] was a suffragist. That was about voting rights, and she even ran for office herself. And so, this all fits into who she was and what she did.”
The panel discussion is produced in partnership with WCPT radio station, and moderated by Richard Chew, host of political and social talk-show “Chew’s Views”. The voting rights panel will be recorded and broadcasted on WCPT a few days later.
Festival attendees are implored to consider Ida B. Wells’ multi-dimensional legacy and Bronzeville’s rich history during their exploration of the festival. All events are open to the public and free (except bus tours). The festival kicks-off Saturday, June 27th at 9AM and concludes at 6:30PM.