Ida B. Wells Lecture Series
The Ida B. Wells Lecture Series
The Ida B. Wells lecture series explores contemporary issues impacting the rights of women and justice for all marginalized people and elevates the voices of those who have been silenced. The series honors the legacy of early 20th-century Black journalist, Ida B. Wells, whose writing and advocacy communicated to America the reality of lynching and racism and who exemplifies the power of words to create change. She herself was silenced and vilified.
Series themes and speakers have included Black mothers and police violence with Loretta Prater and Sybrina Fulton, mother of Trayvon Martin, and wrongful incarceration with Yusef Salaam, New York City councilor and member of the Central Park Five. Details can be found below.
The Ida B. Wells lecture is supported in part with funds from the Mellon Foundation's “Affirming Multivocal Humanities'' grants, which allows us to not only amplify diverse voices, but also to create multivocal spaces for listening, reckoning, and remembering those whose voices are too often unheard and to engage students, the UD community and the community beyond to understand the power of the humanities to create knowledge, narratives of truth, social justice and social change.
Past Events
March 12, 2024
Freedom for the Wrongfully Convicted
In 1989, at just 15 years young, Yusef Salaam was wrongfully convicted, along with four other Black and Latino young men, of raping and beating a white woman, Trisha Meili, who was jogging in New York’s Central Park. After almost seven years behind bars for a crime he did not commit, Salaam’s case was overturned and he was set free.
His life, hers, and those of the other young men, were forever changed by this experience. But after Salaam’s release, he has advocated for criminal justice reform, prison reform, and the abolition of juvenile solitary confinement and capital punishment.
Salaam, who was recently elected to the New York City Council, shared his story at this year’s Ida B. Wells lecture, hosted by the Department of Women and Gender Studies. The event was held on Tuesday, March 12, from 4-5:30 pm in Mitchell Hall. Salaam signed copies of his book Better, Not Bitter
To supplement this event, Women and Gender Studies held a screening of the documentary “The Central Park Five” on Monday, March 11 at 5:30 p.m. The film chronicles The Central Park Jogger case from the perspective of these five teenagers whose lives were upended by this miscarriage of justice.
Black Mothers and Police Violence
Tuesday, March 7, 2023 4pm to 6:30pm
In celebration of 50 years of Women and Gender Studies at the University of Delaware, the department, with support from the College of Arts and Sciences and other university-wide collaborators, hosted the inaugural Ida B. Wells lecture, titled “Black Mothers and Police Violence.”
The event featured a conversation between two Black mothers whose sons were killed by the police or a police surrogate—Sybrina Fulton (mother of Trayvon Martin) and Loretta Prater (mother of Leslie Prater). The lecture is named for Ida B. Wells, an investigative journalist and early civil rights activist, who spoke to audiences across the country to expose the horrors of lynching.
In addition, Mary Ruth Warner was honored as the first recipient of an award in her name for her contributions to the University of Delaware and the Department of Women and Gender Studies.
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Crucial conversations
March 15, 2024 | Written by Megan M.F. EverhartOne of the Central Park ‘Exonerated Five’ shares his story of finding hope and using his platform to advocate for reform. -
Mother's love
March 09, 2023 | Written by Hilary DouwesBlack Mothers whose sons were killed discuss their journey to advocacy at Ida B. Wells Lecture -
Black mothers to discuss police violence
February 28, 2023 | Written by Margo McDonoughTrayvon Martin and Leslie Prater’s lives – and deaths – will be explored and remembered Tuesday, March 7, at the University of Delaware when both of their mothers speak at the Ida B. Wells Lecture.
