In 1862, Ida B. Wells-Barnett was born in Holly Springs, Mississippi. She was born into slavery and later emancipated with her parents at the conclusion of the Civil War.

Wells-Barnett was a journalist, anti-lynching activist, women’s suffragette, and an early civil rights movement leader.

Wells-Barnett authored A Red Record, a book that provided the history and statistical data on the lynching of African Americans in the United States during the late nineteenth century.

 

“When I present our cause to a minister, editor, lecturer, or representative of any moral agency, the first demand is for facts and figures.”

Chapter 10, The Red Record

“When the lives of men, women and children are at stake, when the inhuman butchers of innocents attempt to justify their barbarism by fastening upon a whole race the obloquy of the most infamous of crimes, it is little less than criminal to apologize for the butchers today and tomorrow repudiate the apology by declaring it a figure of speech.”

Chapter 8, The Red Record

Early Life

Ida B. Wells-Barnett was born on July 16, 1862, in Holly Springs, Mississippi. Wells-Barnett was born into slavery during the Civil War, a period defined by the fight to abolish slavery and arguments on the citizenship rights of African Americans. In 1865, Wells-Barnett and her parents, Elizabeth Warrenton Wells and James Wells, were emancipated from slavery via the Emancipation Proclamation.

The conclusion of the Civil War ushered in the Reformation era. Wells-Barnett’s parents were hopeful of the future for African Americans and instilled the value of education into their children (T. Burroughs Chap. 1). Well-Barnett’s father was a trustee Rust College (formerly Shaw University) where she attended until 1880, dropping out after she passed her teaching exam.

During the Fall of 1878, Wells-Barnett’s parents passed away in a yellow fever epidemic. At the age of sixteen she became the primary caretaker for her remaining six siblings. Wells-Barnett became a schoolteacher to support her family and eventually moved to Memphis and worked in Shelby County, Tennessee.

The Brilliant Iola: Black Journalism

On May 4, 1884, Wells-Barnett undertook her commute to Shelby County on the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad. She purchased a first-class ticket to sit in the ladies car, where she was soon told by the conductor to relocate to the smoking car. After being forcefully dragged out of the train, Wells-Barnett noted that the white passengers “…stood on the seats so that they could get a good view and continued applauding the conductor for his brave stand” (I.Wells 17). Wells-Barnett retaliated by suing the Ohio railway company, which resulted in successfully  receiving compensation for the harassment. The Tennessee state supreme court reversed the decision, but the case itself reflected Wells-Barnett’s early dedication for equity under the law.

Wells-Barnett’s journalism career began in Memphis. She became the editor of a local newspaper, The Evening Star, and a writer for The Living Way under the pen name “Iola.” The editorials written by “Iola” covered the racial issues African Americans faced in their daily lives. As a result, Wells-Barnett became well-known for her wittings, which earned her the titles of “Princess of the Press” and “the brilliant Iola.”

In 1889, Wells-Barnett was invited to join the Free Speech and Headlight. She joined the Free Speech as a partner and editor. Wells-Barnett’s desire to own a newspaper was born from her increased passion for writing during this period of her life (I. Wells 32). Two years after joining the Free Speech, Wells-Barnett exposed the poor conditions of the Memphis school system. Soon after, Wells-Barnett was fired from her position as a schoolteacher, which left her to focus her efforts in her career as a journalist full-time.

Wells-Barnett’s writing took a turn in 1892 when her close friend Thomas Moss was lynched (T. Burroughs Chap. 3). Thomas Moss, Calvin McDowell, and Henry Steward owners of The People’s Grocery store in Memphis were lynched for imposing on the economic power of a local white grocery. Wells-Barnett investigated the incident and reported her findings in the Free Speech, which poked holes in the official story given by white officials and highlighting the racial prejudice within the city of Memphis. In response to Wells-Barnett the Free Speech office was set on fire by a white mob who found the words of Iola unsettling. Wells-Barnett was visiting Oklahoma when the Free Speech was destroyed, driving her out of Memphis, but solidified the importance of her anti-lynching activism (I. Wells 56).

Lynching became Wells-Barnett’s research, she continued to investigate lynching incidents across the Eastern Seaboard by traveling to various locations, where she wrote about the injustices along the way. In 1892, she published the pamphlet Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in all its Phases, in which Wells-Barnett discussed the ways in which lynching mobs were formed and the common excuses that white officials used to justify the lynching of Black men. Wells-Barnett was assigned by the The Chicago Inter-Ocean the following year to investigate lynching in the American South, during which time she went undercover and published her findings in the newspaper.

Domestic Efforts and Abroad Lectures

In 1893, Wells-Barnett arrived in Chicago, Illinois after briefly lecturing overseas, the same year the World’s Colombian Exposition was being hosted by the city. The United States representatives largely excluded the black community from participating within the “White City” fairgrounds and rejected various propositions that would increase African American representation in the booths (A. Massa 332). Wells-Barnett, Fredrick Douglas, and other African American leaders did not ignore the implications of this exclusion and took the initiative to highlight the condition of the black community in the United States. Wells-Barnett came up with the idea of publishing a record that described post-Emancipation life for African Americans, she requested writings from other interested members and collected the funds that made this project possible (Massa 336). The result was the pamphlet The Reason Why the Colored American Is Not in the World’s Columbia Exposition, written in three languages which detailed the oppression African Americans faced in their daily lives. Wells-Barnett circulated this pamphlet at the Haitian government booth that had invited Fredrick Douglas as a representative for the World Fair.

_{Above:The Reason Why pamphlet cover, published by Ida B. Wells, 1893.}
[New York Public Library Digital Collections]

By 1894, Wells-Barnett returned to the other side of the Atlantic, spreading the word on the practice of lynching and the oppression faced by the black community in the United States. Wells-Barnett conducted lectures throughout the United Kingdom, clearing up misconceptions on the practice of lynching and inspired the creation of the London Anti-Lynching Committee. During her time abroad, Wells-Barnett also spoke out against the lack of support from white women in the suffrage movement who did not care for spreading awareness about lynching.

Black Feminism

In her return to Chicago, Wells-Barnett was welcomed by the Ida B. Wells Club, a women’s club named in her honor. Wells-Barnett was active within women’s rights issues, balancing her concerns as a Black feminist within the sphere of white feminism and the social issues plaguing African Americans. She consistently advocated for the rights of women, black women, and black people, causing some friction within some women’s suffrage organizations. Wells-Barnett’s relationship with Susan B. Anthony reflected her sentiments on such organizations with a mixture of respect for pioneering ways and criticism for ignoring the concerns of black women when it came to keeping the support of white women in the suffrage movement (T. Burroughs Chap. 9). However, Wells-Barnett founded and participated in several women’s suffrage organizations for black women such as the League of Colored Women, the National Association of Colored Women, and the Alpha Suffrage Club where ordinary women were uplifted in their concerns on class, gender, and race.

Wells-Barnett married Attorney Ferdinand L. Barnett on June 27, 1895, owner of the Conservator newspaper. Wells-Barnett became the editor and owner of the Conservator after purchasing the shares from her husband and other shareholders. She continued to research lynching and attended political meetings throughout the state of Illinois even with the birth of her first child. Wells-Barnett traveled with her nursing baby, supported in her endeavors by her husband and the Women’s State Central Committee who employed a nurse when Wells-Barnett traveled to give lectures on their behalf (I. Wells 206).

Anti-Lynching Activism and Black Leadership

The anti-lynching efforts of Wells-Barnett cumulated in 1895 with the publishing of A Red Record: Tabulated Statistics and Alleged Causes of Lynchings in the United States, 1892–1893–1894. In a hundred pages, Wells-Barnett provided a history of lynching and statistical records on lynchings in the United States. She encouraged readers to reflect on the ways they could contribute to the anti-lynching cause and promote justice (I. Wells-Barnett 144). A Red Record showcased years of Wells-Barnett’s journalism, encouraging public awareness on lynching and true equality in the law for African Americans in the American South and the rest of the United States.

_{Above: Original cover of A Red Record by Ida B. Wells-Barnett, 1895.
[New York Public Library Digital Collections]}

In 1909, Wells-Barnett attended the National Negro Conference in New York City. At this conference she presented “Lynching, Our National Crime,” compiling twenty years of lynching research. It was at this conference where the “Founding Forty” for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) were selected. Despite being an active leader within black politics, Wells-Barnett was snubbed from the selection of founders. It was believed by Wells-Barnett she was unwanted by some members (I. Wells 227). That same year Wells-Barnett went on to establish the Negro Fellowship League (NFL), a social space for the local Black community in Chicago that offered opportunities for employment, housing, learning, and legal counseling. The Negro Fellowship League represented Wells-Barnett’s leadership on a local level, but most importantly embodied her dedication for providing social services to working class Blacks.

Later Years

Wells-Barnett continued her anti-lynching activism, suffrage politics, and journalism in her later years. During this period, she joined a committee led by William Monroe Trotter that presented concerns over segregation to President Woodrow Wilson in 1915. At this meeting she commented to President Wilson “…that there were more things going on in the government than he had dreamed of in his philosophy, and we thought it our duty to bring to his attention that phase of it which directly concerned us.” (I. Wells 321). Later in 1918, Wells-Barnett brought to attention the discriminatory treatment African American soldiers faced during and after World War I. In her advocacy she set up memorials and wrote a letter to President Wilson, highlighting the discriminatory treatment African American soldiers faced on account of their race.

_{Above: Wells-Barnett’s letter to President Woodrow Wilson, 1918.
[National Archives Catalog]}

Within the twentieth-century Suffrage movement, Wells-Barnett pushed for the voting rights and political representation of black women. At the 1913 Women’s Procession March, black suffragettes were asked to walk behind the white suffragettes to avoid southern white women from abandoning the march. Wells-Barnett refused and walked alongside fellow white suffragettes to integrate the march (T. Burroughs Chap. 10).  In addition, Wells-Barnett ran for the Republican National Convention delegate seat in 1918 and the State Senate seat in 1930. While she did not obtain these positions, her dedication to the political rights of black women and the black community remained consistent.

_{Above: Wells-Barnett’s page in The story of the Illinois Federation of Colored Women's Club, 1922. 
[New York Public Library Digital Collections]} 

On March 15, 1931, Ida B. Wells-Barnett passed away from a kidney disease. As a respected leader of the Chicago black community, she left behind a legacy, one that was not fully recognized at the time of her death. Wells-Barnett did not receive recognition for her contributions until the publishing of her autobiography in 1970. While she did not live to see the civil rights movement in its glory, she laid the foundations for its radical activism with her anti-lynching efforts and journalism that echoed collective critical action within the black community.