Ida B. Wells-Barnett

 

Lynching reporter,

challenger of Jim Crow laws,

child educator.

Photo from National Women's History Museum

10 Fun Facts About Ida B. Wells-Barnett:

1. Born into slavery during the Civil War period in Holly Spring, Mississippi on July 16, 1861.
2. Most of her professional life was spent as an educator, doing investigative journalism, and as an abolitionist. She was also a suffragist encouraging Black women to vote for more African American political influencers.
3. She began her teaching career to keep her family together after her parents and baby brother died from yellow fever. She taught in Memphis at an Elementary School in the Shelby County school system.
4. Co-owned and wrote for Memphis Free Speech and Headlight newspaper with her writing focusing on racial segregation and inequality. A copy has not been made of this paper.
5. One of her famous works is her pamphlet - Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in all its Phases in which she described how lynchings were used by white men to intimidate and oppress African Americans who created competition for them economically.
6. She experienced a situation like that of the famous Rosa Parks where Ida was asked to move from the first-class women's train car to an overcrowded smoking car. After she refused, the conductor with Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad along with two other men dragged her off the train entirely. Later, she successfully sued the Railroad company and was awarded $500.
7. An early leader in the Civil Rights Movement and one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1909.
8. A pen name she created, "Iola", was specifically used to write for The Living Way newspapers in Washington, D.C. when she was attacking racist Jim Crow policies in her writing.
9. Not willing to back down in 1893 whilst being ousted by other suffragists, she organized the Women's Era Club, a first for African American women.
10. She became secretary of the National Afro-American Council that she helped organize.

Barbie Doll Dedication

This year in 2022, the Barbie company dedicated one of its models to be Ida B. Wells in their collection.

Photo from cnn.com

Read the article here:

https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/11/us/ida-b-wells-barbie-cec/index.html?utm_term=16419876885123796e2c28bea&utm_source=cnn_Five+Things+for+Wednesday%2C+January+12%2C+2022&utm_medium=email&bt_ee=iBO92zCR3BGwj6wj0PQ7dsbrg3ynXmsSuBNWgEHhQt%2FNo33UOVUZRSnFD1zM3jMn&bt_ts=1641987688515

YouTube Video by New York Historical Society

found on WomenandtheAmericanStory.org

Quote from Horror Stories

Another Quote From Ida

Sources:

1. Norwood, Arlisha R. National Women's History Museum. Ida B. Wells-Barnett: https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/ida-b-wells-barnett 2/4/22
2. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Ida B Wells: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ida_B._Wells 2/4/22
3. Encyclopaedia Brittanica. Ida B. Wells-Barnett: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ida-B-Wells-Barnett 2/4/22
4. Black Past. Ida Wells-Barnett: https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/barnett-ida-wells-1862-1931/ 2/4/22
5. Women and the American Story. Life Story: Ida B. Wells-Barnett (1862-1931): https://wams.nyhistory.org/modernizing-america/fighting-for-social-reform/ida-b-wells/ 2/4/22
6. Biography.com. Ida B. Wells: https://www.biography.com/activist/ida-b-wells 2/4/22

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