Within months after Wells’ birth, she was freed from slavery by the Emancipation Proclamation. When the Civil War ended, educational opportunities for newly freed slaves sprouted up throughout the South. Well’s parents were intent that she receive an education, and enrolled her in school. By the time she was a teenager, she continued her education at Rust College in Holly Springs. While there, she was influenced by the missionary spirit of the school and the religious training she had received at home was reinforced.
Ida B. Wells Challenges the Status Quo
Shortly thereafter, Wells' fight for justice began after she challenged Jim Crow Laws in Tennessee. Wells brought a successful lawsuit against the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad after having been removed from her seat when she refused to sit in the "colored only" car. Her victory, however, was only temporary. In 1887, the Tennessee Supreme Court overruled the lower court.
Ida B. Wells Challenges Lynching
Wells' anti-lynching campaign began in 1892 after three of her friends were lynched by a mob. She began writing articles against lynching. As a result, her controversial stance led to the destruction of her newspaper office. From thereafter, she continued her crusade at the New York Age as a staff writer. In addition to her journalist endeavors, she became a lecturer and organizer of anti-lynching societies throughout the United States. She also traveled to Great Britain to speak out against lynching.
Wells settled down in 1895 after she married Ferdinand L. Barnett, a lawyer, editor, and public official. However, Wells still remained active in Chicago affairs, contributed to the Chicago Conservator and other local journals, organized African American women in anti-lynching campaigns and the suffrage movement, and published A Red Record (1895), which detailed lynching. In addition, she founded Chicago's Alpha Suffrage Club, the first black woman's suffrage group.
Ida B. Wells’ Commitment to Serve
In addition to her commitment to women’s suffrage and anti-lynching movement, Wells served as secretary of the National Afro-American Council from 1898 to 1902. In 1909, she helped establish the NAACP. By 1912, however, she was excluded from the organization because of her radical views. In 1910, after founding the Negro Fellowship League, she became its first president.
Wells died on March 25, 1931. Her autobiography, Crusade for Justice, was published in 1970.
