There is a meme going around about a well-known African American journalist. I reproduce it below. Facebook pulled the meme because it is obvious fake news.
The fact checking group Politifact does a decent job of explaining why this meme is false, but I have a few additional thoughts on this.
I have known about Ida B. Wells for more than four decades. I learned about her anti-lynching crusade in high school. I visited the site where she published a newspaper in Memphis. She left the city when her newspaper office was buned down.
In New York she is probably the best known black woman born in the 19th Century other than Harriet Tubman.
Speaking of Tubman, if there was a vast conspiracy to hide the history of Black Republicans, why have we all heard of Tubman? She was barred from voting, but she friends with many Republicans including William Seward, Lincoln’s Secretary of State.
And what about Frederick Douglass. He was not just a Republican, he actually spoke at the Republican National Convention and held positions from Republican presidents. I am sure that you have likely heard of Douglass, Tubman, and Wells, all people who were associated with the Republican Party for a substantial part of their lives.
I guess the real question is: “Can you name a Black Democrat born in the 19th Century?”
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