Global Port Cities, Transnational Religious Networks, and Ida B. Wells-Barnett’s Campaign for Justice - A conversation with Heather D. Curtis

Ida B. Wells-Barnett (1862-1931) is most often remembered as a pioneering African American journalist who fought for racial equality and women’s rights in the United States at the turn of the twentieth century. In conversation with Nghana Lewis, Heather Curtis will discuss Wells-Barnett’s participation in the burgeoning world of transnational religious reform networks made possible, in part, through the circulation of people and ideas in port cities across several continents during this period. Situating Wells-Barnett’s life-long crusade for justice in this wider frame shows how she connected the campaign for African American civil rights with broader battles against racial, economic, and gender oppression in a range of imperial contexts. Analyzing the global dimensions of Wells-Barnett’s work, Curtis argues, also reveals the foundational role of religious activists, ideas, and institutions in animating anticolonial liberation movements from the late nineteenth century to the present. Together, Curtis and Lewis will reflect on the ongoing resonance of Wells-Barnett’s work for contemporary conversations about justice, rights, and equality in and beyond the United States.