Ida B. Wells

African American journalist, abolitionist and feminist who led an anti-lynching crusade in the United States in the 1890s. She was born into slavery during the Civil War, but about six months later the Emancipation Proclamation was signed.Wells-Barnett started her career as a teacher, but soon became a journalist to shed light on the conditions of African Americans throughout the South. She wrote about things such as white mob violence and investigated cases of lynchings. Wells-Barnett became so well known that she traveled internationally to share her knowledge.

Ida did many things in her lifetime. She founded the National Association of Colored Women’s Club, which addressed the issues dealing with civil rights and women's suffrage. She was also considered the founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). From 1898-1902 she served as secretary of the National Afro-American Council. In 1910 Wells-Barnett founded and became the first president of the Negro Fellowship League, which aided newly arrived migrants from the South. In 1913 she founded what may have been the first black woman suffrage group, Chicago’s Alpha Suffrage Club. From 1913-1916 she served as a probation officer of the Chicago municipal court.

Something I found admirable about this woman is that she was strong and she held her ground. On day when she was traveling by train from Memphis to Nashville, she was asked to move from her first class seat to the "colored" cart, even though she had already purchased her ticket fair and square. She was eventually forcibly removed and this enraged her so much that she brought a suit against the Chesapeake and Ohio railroad; the court did not rule in her favor. After this occurrence, she began to avidly right about injustices that the black community experienced. She often used the pen name “Lola” when she first began writing newspaper articles. If you don't know what a pen nam is, it is a shield allowing the author to conceal his or her identity or shake off any preconceived notions.

Wells-Barnett went through some crazy things in her life including a time when three of her friends were lynched. This led her to begin an editorial campaign against lynching. She continued as a staff writer for the New York Age and then as a lecturer and organizer of anti lynching societies.