Education Secretary Linda McMahon attempted to honor a series of women in American history across several disciplines via social media last weekend. In one of the posts, Secretary Linda McMahon gave praise to pioneering journalist Ida B. Wells, but the AI-generated image was deemed historically inaccurate.
The Washington Post reports that Linda McMahon took to President Donald Trump’s Truth Social platform to celebrate a series of women with historic contributions to society. In the post for Ida B. Wells, McMahon, 77, shared an AI-generated image of a Black woman writing with a quill pen by candlelight.
From Truth Social:
HerStoryInAction – ” The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them.” Ida B. Wells. She used her voice to expose injustice, defend truth, and demand change. This was a time when doing so could cost her life.
Ida B. Wells became one of the most influential voices against injustice in American history.
Why teaching history matters!
Ida B Wells – 1862- 1931
Photo by Gemini
History experts blasted McMahon’s use of the image, considering plenty of photos of Wells exist in several archival locations.
“The use of AI to pull together infographics about individuals has resulted in poor quality and inconsistent resources in education,” Sarah Weicksel, executive director of the American Historical Association, said to the Post. “The AI images are pulling from material that is historically inaccurate. We have excellent sources for all of these women, so there is no point to using something that is AI generated.”
Weicksel added in her interview with the Post that the image McMahon used was also inaccurate because gas lights and dip pens were in use in the late 1800s and early 1900s, when Wells was at the height of her fame.
The Post article featured a comment from Paula Giddings, who penned a biography on Wells, which provided context on why using AI would have contradicted Wells’ personal views on keeping truth in the center of the work.
“While I appreciated the recognition of Ida B. Wells, the decision to use an AI generated image undermines the very values she stood for: truth-telling and her lifelong campaign against false representations,” Giddings said. “To use a fabricated image — even a respectful one — is not only unnecessary but is evidence that the secretary of education misreads [Wells’s] legacy.”
Ida B. Wells was a staunch anti-lynching advocate, using her investigative journalism abilities to create two notable works, A Red Record and Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases.
Wells passed away in 1931 at the age of 68.
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Photo: Getty