Ida Bell Wells-Barnett

Ida Bell Wells-Barnett (July 16, 1862 – March 25, 1931), more commonly known as Ida B. Wells, was an African-American investigative journalist, educator, and an early leader in the Civil Rights Movement. She was one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). She arguably became the most famous black woman in America, during a life that was centered on combating prejudice and violence.
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Wells was born into slavery in Holly Springs, Mississippi. She was freed by the Emancipation Proclamation during the American Civil War. At the age of 16, she lost both her parents and her infant brother in the 1878 yellow fever epidemic. She went to work and kept the rest of the family intact with the help of her grandmother. Wells moved with some of her siblings to Memphis, Tennessee, where she found better pay as a teacher. Soon she co-owned the newspaper, Memphis Free Speech and Headlight.

In the 1890s, Wells documented lynching in the United States, investigating frequent claims of whites that lynchings were reserved for black criminals only. Wells exposed lynching as a barbaric practice of whites in the South used to intimidate and oppress African Americans, who created economic and political competition and a subsequent threat of loss of power for whites. A white mob destroyed her newspaper office and presses, as her investigative reporting was carried nationally in black-owned newspapers.

Subjected to continued threats, Wells left Memphis for Chicago. She then married and had a family, while continuing her work writing, speaking, and organizing for civil rights for the rest of her life. Wells was outspoken regarding her beliefs as a Black female activist and faced regular public disapproval, including that of leaders with diverging viewpoints from both the civil rights movement and the women's suffrage movement. She was none-the-less active in women's rights and the women's suffrage movement, establishing several notable women's organizations. Wells was a skilled and persuasive speaker and traveled nationally and internationally on lecture tours.