Original scientific paper
“Eternal Vigilance is the Price of Liberty”: The Proverbs and Proverbial Sayings of Ida B. Wells-Barnett
Raymond M. Summerville
orcid.org/0000-0003-2615-5636
Abstract
This essay seeks to recontextualize some of the proverbs and proverbial expressions that Ida B. Wells Barnett used throughout her life by examining biographies, personal diaries, articles and letters, and analytical texts about her life. Her proverbs and proverbial language come from a variety of different sources including literature, the Bible, and other famous leaders. She used proverbs in diverse and ingenious ways for a multitude of purposes. Her primary reasons for employing proverbial rhetoric was to persuade political leaders to put an end to lynch laws and mob violence in America. She also used them to bring attention to the temperance movement and to other causes that she cared deeply about. One overarching idea in this essay is that by understanding Wells-Barnett’s use of proverbs and proverbial language, one may also gain a more thorough understanding of various aspects of her worldview.
Keywords
African American; American,; Anti-lynching movement; autobiography; Bible; clergy; civil rights; Civil War; clergy; folk; folklore; human rights; Jim Crow; paremiology; politics; proverbs; proverbial expressions; proverbial rhetoric; race; Reconstruction; slavery; suffragist; segregation; temperance
Hrčak ID:
277552
URI
Publication date:
31.8.2021.
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