Black History Month...Celebrating Ida Bell Wells-Barnett

"Is there no redress, no peace, no justice in this land for us? Tell the world the facts."

Ida Bell Wells-Barnet was a well-known journalist and civil rights activist. Ida spent much of her time fighting against injustice and for equality for blacks and women. Ida was a freed slave. After emancipation, she attended college and taught until she was dismissed for writing in protest of segregation in education. Ida went on to become part-owner and editor of a Memphis newspaper where she became most famous for articles she wrote protesting the terrible practice of lynching in the South. Ida’s writings angered many whites in the Memphis where she received death threats and eventually had the offices of her newspaper, Free Speech, destroyed by an angry mob. This did not stop Ida. Her tireless efforts in protest of lynching continued, eventually resulting in the passage of anti-lynching laws in six states. In addition to becoming a renowned anti-lynching activist, Ida successfully campaigned for women’s suffrage and helped found the NAACP. Ida is remembered today as an inspiration to activists and a role model for black women journalists.