This past Friday, people from all over the country celebrated the life and legacy of Ida B. Wells, a civil rights icon. This year marked the 159th anniversary of her birth.
Ida B. Wells was born into enslavement several months prior to the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation in Holly Springs, Mississippi. She became one of the most influential leaders in the Civil Rights Movement.
At the age of 20, Wells moved with her sisters to Memphis, Tennessee to live with their aunt in 1882 . She had lost both her parents four years prior to a yellow fever outbreak. Her brothers found work as carpentry apprentices and she continued her education at Fisk University in Nashville. While on a train ride from Memphis to Nashville in May 1884, Wells reached a turning point. She had bought a first-class ticket, but the train crew forced her to move to the car for African Americans. Wells refused on principle before being forcibly removed from the train. As she was being removed, she bit one of the crew members. Wells sued the railroad, and won a $500 settlement in a circuit case court. The decision was overturned by the Tennessee Supreme Court.
After the incident, Wells began writing about issues of race and politics in the South. She had a number of articles published in Black newspapers and periodicals. She also became an owner of two newspapers. She was a journalist, publisher, and a teacher in a segregated school in Memphis. She used her talents as an investigative journalist to fight for equality and justice by exposing the racial motives behind the lynchings of successful Black people in the South.
Ida was an active fighter for women’s suffrage, especially Black women. She formed several civil rights organizations, including the National Association of Colored Women. She is considered one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) but cut ties with the organization.
Ida B. Wells helped pave the way for countless Black women journalists who continue to fight to expose racial inequality.
Maya Angelou once said, “History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unloved, but if faced with courage, need not be lived again.” Let us learn from people like Ida B. Wells who helped change this country.
NIOT Daniel Island 