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BLACK HISTORY MONTH. AND THIS MONTH, IDA B WELLS WILL BE FEATURED ON THE NEWEST U.S QUARTERS. ENTERING CIRCULATION. JOINING US LIVE THIS MORNING WITH MORE ON HER STORY. IS CELEBRITY HISTORIAN RAFI ANDONIAN. WE LOVE WHEN YOU COME AND TEACH US HISTORY. I DO TOO, I LOVE BALTIMORE AND WHAT A GREAT PLACE TO TALK ABOUT BLACK HISTORY MONTH. OF COURSE, A LOT OF RICH BLACK HISTORY IN THIS REGION. AND OF COURSE, IDA B WELLS TO KICK OFF THE MONTH. YEAH. SO PEOPLE DON’T KNOW WHO IDA B WELLS IS. TELL US ABOUT HER. SHE WAS BORN A SLAVE, AND FROM BEING A SLAVE, SHE WENT ON TO BE ONE OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL CIVIL RIGHTS LEADERS IN AMERICAN HISTORY. QUITE AN INCREDIBLE STORY. SHE WAS BORN A SLAVE IN 1862, THE SAME YEAR THAT THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION PASSES. OF COURSE, AS A RESULT OF THE BATTLE OF ANTIETAM, JUST UP THE ROAD FROM HERE AND HELPS END SLAVERY. AND ONE OF THE THINGS THAT’S FASCINATING ABOUT THAT IS HER JOURNEY MARKS THE ARC OF THE STRUGGLE FOR BLACK AMERICANS THAT FOLLOWED SLAVERY. SO IN HER 20S, SHE, FOR EXAMPLE, WHICH IS IN THE 1880S, IN THE ERA OF THE 1880S, SHE’S ON A RAILROAD CAR. SHE’S IN THE FIRST CLASS SEAT WITH THE LADIES, BECAUSE SHE WAS SOMEONE THAT WAS A DIGNIFIED WOMAN, AND SHE GETS REMOVED BUT REFUSES TO GIVE UP HER SEAT. 70 YEARS BEFORE ROSA PARKS TO GET MOVED BACK TO THE SMOKER’S CAR, WHICH IS ALSO THE BLACK CAR, AND GETS INTO A PHYSICAL ALTERCATION WITH THE CAR PERSON. BELIEVE IT OR NOT. WOW. ENDS UP SUING THE RAILROAD COMPANY IN THE GILDED AGE AND WINS IN COURT. HOWEVER, LATER IT WENT TO THE STATE SUPREME COURT IN TENNESSEE AND WAS OVERTURNED. BUT IT GIVES YOU AN IDEA OF HOW SHE WAS EARLY IN HER, IN HER LIFE, IN HER 30S, SHE GOES ON AND SHE ENDS UP EXPERIENCING LYNCHING TO HER CLOSE FRIENDS. AS A RESULT, SHE TAKES ON THE CAUSE OF ANTI-LYNCHING IN HER 30S IS ALSO WHEN THE PLESSY VERSUS FERGUSON DECISION HAPPENS. IN 1896 AND THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT FOR SEPARATE BUT EQUAL, CODIFYING SEGREGATION INTO LAW. AND IN HER 40S, SHE ENDS UP HELPING CO-FOUND THE NAACP, WHICH OF COURSE, HAS A HUGE LEGACY OF CIVIL RIGHTS IMPACT. SO HERE IS A LADY WHO ENDS UP BEING WHO ENDS UP BORN A SLAVE, AND IT FOLLOWS THE ARC OF THE AFRICAN AMERICAN EXPERIENCE IN THAT PERIOD, IN THE LATE 19TH AND EARLY 20TH CENTURY, AND THROUGHOUT HER LIFE, SHE WORE SO MANY HATS. SHE WAS A SOCIOLOGIST. SHE WAS A TEACHER. SHE. THAT’S RIGHT. SHE JUST WAS SO MANY. SHE DID MANY THINGS. SO LET’S LOOK AT WHAT’S ON HER QUARTERS. SO I BROUGHT HERE THE THE QUARTERS. YOU HAVE THE QUARTERS HERE? OF COURSE, THE HEAD SIDE IS GEORGE WASHINGTON ON HERE. AND THE REST OF THE COINAGE. AND IF YOU LOOK ON HER COIN, QUARTER UP CLOSE, IF YOU TURN IT TO THE TAIL SIDE AND SEE HER ON THERE, YOU’RE GOING TO FIND THREE WORDS ON THERE. YOU’RE GOING TO FIND ON THERE. THE FIRST WORD THAT YOU CAN FIND IS JOURNALIST. TO YOUR POINT, SHE WAS SOMEONE THAT RAN MANY NEWSPAPERS. SHE WAS THE EDITOR FOR MANY NEWSPAPER OWNED NEWSPAPERS ALL THROUGHOUT THE SOUTH, ALL THROUGHOUT DURING BLACK HISTORY, FOR BLACK NEWSPAPERS AND IN CHICAGO. AND SHE ALSO DID THINGS, FOR EXAMPLE, LIKE INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING. SHE COMPILED STATISTICS FOR LYNCHINGS. FOR EXAMPLE, IN THE 1890S, AND SHARED THEM IN IN THE WAKE OF PLESSY VERSUS FERGUSON. SHE WROTE A PAMPHLET ON WHY BLACK FOLKS ARE IN THE CONDITION THAT THEY ARE IN THE WORLD’S FAIR IN CHICAGO. IN 1893, WITH SUPPORT FROM FREDERICK DOUGLASS. BY THE WAY, A MARYLANDER HIMSELF. AND IN THAT SHE WAS SHOWING THE REASONS THAT BLACK FOLKS HAD TO STRUGGLE. THEY DID IN A WORLD’S FAIR THAT THEY WERE NOT ALLOWED IN MOST OF THE PLACES. BUT SHE FOUND A WAY IN TO DO SO. THIS IS THE KIND OF JOURNALISM WORK THAT SHE DID. THE OTHER WORLD YOU FIND ON THERE IS SUFFRAGIST ON THE CORNER. YOU FIND SUFFRAGIST. SHE FOUGHT FOR WOMEN’S RIGHTS TO VOTE IN 1913, NOT FAR UP THE ROAD FROM HERE IN WASHINGTON, D.C. THERE’S A WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE MARCH. BUT GUESS WHAT? IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE SEGREGATED. BLACK WOMEN BEHIND THE WHITE WOMEN. SHE DIDN’T ACCEPT THAT. SHE ENDED UP MARCHING NEXT TO THE WHITE WOMEN IN DEFIANCE OF THAT. A SUFFRAGIST WHO ALSO MIXED IN THE CIVIL RIGHTS. AND YOU’LL SEE THAT THIRD WORD ON THERE ON HER CORNER, SAYS CIVIL RIGHTS ADVOCATE. YOU KNOW, THE NIAGARA MOVEMENT. SHE OBVIOUSLY WAS FIGHTING FOR CIVIL RIGHTS IN A VARIETY OF WAYS. BUT ONE OF THE KEY WAYS I’LL POINT OUT THAT HAPPENED JUST UP THE ROAD FROM HERE IS NIAGARA MOVEMENT INITIALLY MET AT NIAGARA FALLS. THEY MET AT HARPER’S FERRY, NOT FAR FROM HERE. RIGHT WAS HARPER’S FERRY IS WHERE YOU HAVE THE THE UPRISING ATTEMPT WITH JOHN BROWN IN THE ANTEBELLUM PERIOD PRIOR TO THE WAR, AN ATTEMPT TO HAVE SLAVE UPRISING. WELL, IN THE EARLY 1900S, WHEN SHE AND OTHERS GO TO THE NIAGARA MOVEMENT, WHAT HAPPENS IS THAT THEY ARE TRYING TO BRING ALONG BLACK RIGHTS IN RESPONSE TO BOOKER T WASHINGTON, I BROUGHT A DOCUMENT HERE AND WE HAVE TO GO REALLY QUICKLY. BUT YEAH, SHOW US THIS AND THEN TELL US REALLY, REALLY QUICKLY HOW DID THEY EVEN DECIDE TO PUT HER ON THAT? ABSOLUTELY. SO BOOKER T WASHINGTON, 1895. DOES A COMPROMISE SPEECH AS A RESULT OF THAT, YOU’RE GOING TO HAVE RESPONSES TO THAT. AND THE NIAGARA MOVEMENT IS PARTLY A RESPONSE TO THAT, TO TAKE DIRECT ACTION. AND BECAUSE OF HER INVOLVEMENT IN NIAGARA MOVEMENT AND OTHERS LIKE W.E.B. DUBOIS, EVENTUALLY THAT IS A PREDECESSOR TO THE NAACP. AND THAT TAKES PLACE NOT FAR FROM HERE. SO THIS IS THE KIND OF SO THAT’S WHY YOU HAVE THE THREE WORDS FOR HER ON THE QUARTER, AND THE REASON THAT SHE’S IN THE QUARTER IS NOW, AS YOU POINT OUT, IS BECAUSE THERE IS A WOMEN’S QUARTER PROGRAM THAT’S TAKING PLACE AT THE UNITED STATES MINT WHERE THEY HAVE FIVE QUARTERS A YEAR, 20 QUARTERS TOTAL OVER THE COURSE OF FOUR YEARS, FEATURING DIFFERENT AMERICAN HISTORICAL WOMEN IN DIFFERENT PERIODS. THE MOST RECENT ONE AND THE NEWEST ONE COMING OUT IN A FEW DAYS FOR BLACK HISTORY MONTH, IS THE ONE FOR IDA B WELLS. SO YOU GOT TO LOOK IN YOUR POCKETS. THESE ARE CIRCULATING. YOU LOOK IN YOUR POCKET, IT’S ACCESSIBLE. IT’S TANGIBLE. AND I WANT TO SAY ONE MORE THING REAL QUICK IS THAT SHE’S ON THE SAME PLATFORM AS GEORGE WASHINGTON ON THE HEAD SIDE OF GEORGE WASHINGTON. SHE’S ON THE TAIL SIDE. THINK ABOUT WHAT THAT MEANS. MONEY IS WHERE NATIONS HONOR THEIR HEROES, AND THAT’S WHERE IDA B WELLS IS TODAY. BORN A SLAVE. AND TODAY, ON THE CURRENCY, ON THE MONEY IN YOUR POCKET. LITERALLY HAVING VALUE. WE ALWAYS LEARN THE BEST INFORMATION WHEN YOU COME. YOU NEVER FAIL US. AND THANK YOU FOR KICKING OFF OUR BLACK HISTORY MONTH WITH THIS AWESOME INFORMATION. I’M DEFINITELY GOING TO B