Ida B. Wells (1862–1931): Download the PDF
Journalist Ida B. Wells personified bold and insistent activism for African American rights, including suffrage for black women.
“Treat the world well. It was not given to you by your parents, but lent to you by your children.”
– Ida B. Wells
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Wells became a journalist (unpaid at first) for several newspapers serving black readers. She gained national recognition for a determined anti-lynching campaign. She described in graphic detail the barbarism of lynching including its promotion by some newspapers as a public spectacle, the gruesome torture of victims before death, and the large and festive crowds that included children. She also exposed the shocking reasons for lynching that could range from “talking sassy” to running a successful business.
- Shelby County Register’s office
Asserting Rights
Wells was forcibly removed from a train when commuting to work. Resisting fiercely, it took three men to pull her from a seat. At the age of 22 she won a settlement of $500 from the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad. Although overturned on appeal, the incident showed an early determination to demand equal rights.
Early Years
Ida B. Wells was born into slavery in Holly Springs, Mississippi in 1862. At sixteen her parents died in a yellow fever epidemic. Despite an age requirement of eighteen, she assumed responsibility for supporting her six younger siblings by teaching.
- Project Gutenberg
Ida B. Wells-Barnett
Ida B. Wells traveled to Chicago to protest the exclusion of African-American culture and contributions at the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893. She met her husband, widower Ferdinand Lee Barnett, a lawyer and newspaper editor. Settling in Chicago she became the mother of four children and two step-children.
Ferdinand Lee Barnett.
- University of Chicago Photographic Archive
Ida B. Wells with her four children: Charles, Herman, Ida Jr., and Alfreda.
- Creative Commons
The Chicago home of Ida B. Wells-Barnett.
- “Tony the Tiger” photo
Suffragist
Ida B. Wells befriended Susan B. Anthony and founded the Alpha Suffrage Club to advocate suffrage for black women. Visiting Boston, she joined Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin in founding the Women’s Era club for black women. In March 1913 she traveled to Washington, D.C. for a large suffragist parade the day before Woodrow Wilson’s inauguration. Despite being told that as an African-American she had to march in the back, she defiantly joined her Illinois delegation, aided by two white women allies.
- University of Arkansas
Ida B. Wells befriended Susan B. Anthony and founded the Alpha Suffrage Club to advocate suffrage for black women. Visiting Boston, she joined Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin in founding the Women’s Era club for black women. In March 1913 she traveled to Washington, D.C. for a large suffragist parade the day before Woodrow Wilson’s inauguration. Despite being told that as an African-American she had to march in the back, she defiantly joined her Illinois delegation, aided by two white women allies.
Confronting Frances Willard
Temperance and suffrage advocate Frances Willard argued that there would be fewer lynchings if black men were prohibited from buying alcohol. Outraged by the implication that black men were responsible for lynching Wells relentlessly criticized Willard until her Women’s Christian Temperance Union responded with an anti-lynching statement.
