Ida B. Wells
Ida B. Wells was an African American investigative journalist turned civil rights advocate and anti-lynching activist. Wells was born on July 16th, 1862, in Holly Springs, Mississippi between the end of the Civil War and the enactment of the Emancipation Proclamation. As a journalist she gained popularity for her writings about anti-lynching and racial injustices. Ida’s crusade to discover the truth behind the lynching in the Southern States was ignited after a mob murdered three of her friends by lynching. Through Wells’ investigative journalism she discovered that the lynching we horrendous tactics to maintain power and retaliation against African Americans.
With her finding in hand, she went on to publish “Southern Horrors: Lynching Law in All It’s Phases’ and “A Red Record: Lynching in the United States.” In Southern Horrors, Ida writes:
"It is with no pleasure I have dipped my hands in the corruption here exposed. Somebody must show that the Afro-American race is more sinned against than sinning, and it seems to have fallen upon me to do so.” (Southern Horrors, 2)
Her publications garnered her popularity, and she was sent off to travel the world to participate in public speaking where she shared what it was like in the southern part of the United States. Ida’s speaking events placed the United States into the international spotlight. As a result of the international pressure, the United State was no longer able to be complicit to the realities of the South. To restore their image on the world stage, the United States had to take action against lynching and racial violence in the Southern states. In addition to being an anti-lynching activist, Wells became one of the leaders fighting against voting inclusion by creating the Alpha Suffrage Club for African American women and became a founding member of the NAACP.
 |
| Alpha [Woman’s] Suffrage Club of Chicago, Illinois. |
Ida B. Wells is important to American History because her work placed the United States on the world stage for the racial discrimination and treatments of African Americans. The writings and popularity of Wells, as well as her international speaking events, forced American policies and government to face the truth behind lynchings and racial injustice. By exposing the truth that the United States was being complicit with the crimes of lynchings going on in the Southern states and discriminatory treatment placed international pressure of the United States government to take a stand. Today she is honored and revered as an influential trailblazer for her commitment to pursue justice and fight to end lynchings in America.
 |
| Bottom inscription: "One had better die fighting against injustice than to die like a dog or a rat in a trap" |
Pictured above: artist Richard Hunt, Michelle Duster, great granddaughter of Ida B. Wells, and Ald. Sophia King (4th) unveil a portion of the Ida B. Wells monument at East 37th Street and South Langley Avenue in Bronzeville on the South Side, Wednesday morning, June 30, 2021.
The Light of Truth Ida B. Wells-Barnett Monument |
