Ida B. Wells, African American Civil Rights Leader

Ida B. Wells began life as a slave in 1862 in Holly Springs, Mississippi.  She was freed during the Civil War by the Emancipation Proclamation, and went on to be an investigative journalist, educator, and early leader of the Civil Rights Movement.  She was one of the founders of the NAACP.  Her life centered on combating prejudice and violence.  She fought for equality for African Americans, especially women.

Ida's parents and a young brother all died around 1868 from the yellow fever epidemic.  Ida, in order to keep her family intact, went to work.  She got help from her grandmother, and the family was able to stay together.  In order to improve their quality of life, Ida moved the family to Memphis, where she secured a good teaching job.  She soon became involved in newspaper work, and co-owned the Memphis Free Speech and Headlight, two local newspapers.

As a journalist, Ida B. Wells wrote about many incidences regarding racial segregation.  She document lynchings, and exposed it as a barbaric practice that southern whites used to intimidate and oppress southern blacks.

Ida eventually moved to Chicago, where she married, and continued her work as a civil rights leader, with special emphasis on black women.  She preached peaceful means to change, long before Martin Luther King, Jr. was even born.