IDA B. WELLS WAS ONE OF THE MOST ARDENT AND MILITANT
CRUSADERS WHO FOUGHT AGAINST THE LYNCHING OF BLACK
AMERICAN MEN BY SOUTHERN WHITES DURING THE LATE
NINETEENTH AND EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY. SHE
INVESTIGATED MANY OF THE LYNCHINGS AND ARGUED THAT THEY
WERE TERROR TACTICS USED TO INTIMIDATE BLACKS FREED BY
THE CIVIL WAR FROM ESTABLISHING THEIR OWN COMMUNITIES.
IDA B. WELLS WAS BORN IN MISSISSIPPI IN 1862, DURING THE
CIVIL WAR BETWEEN THE NORTH AND THE SOUTH. HER PARENTS
WERE SLAVES AND SHE WAS THE OLDEST OF EIGHT CHILDREN.
WHEN SHE WAS SIXTEEN, IDA STARTED TEACHING SCHOOL TO
SUPPORT HER BROTHERS AND SISTER, AFTER THEIR PARENTS
DIED DURING A YELLOW FEVER EPIDEMIC. SIX YEARS LATER,
SHE MOVED TO TENNESSEE, WHERE SHE TAUGHT SCHOOL AND
WROTE FOR VARIOUS LOCAL NEWSPAPERS.
ONE DAY IN 1884 WHILE RIDING TO WORK ON A TRAIN, IDA WAS
FORCIBLY REMOVED WHEN SHE REFUSED TO MOVE TO ANOTHER
SECTION OF THE TRAIN BECAUSE SHE WAS A NEGRO. SHE FILED
A SUIT AGAINST THE RAILROAD COMPANY CHARGING
DISCRIMINATION AND INITIALLY WON HER CASE. BUT SHE LOST
THE SUIT WHEN THE COMPANY APPEALED IT. WITH NO OTHER
WAY TO ADDRESS WHAT SHE BELIEVED WAS ILL TREATMENT BY
THE COURT, SHE STARTED WRITING A SERIES OF SCATHING
ARTICLES ABOUT THE CASE THAT WERE PRINTED IN LEADING
NEGRO NEWSPAPERS ACROSS THE COUNTRY. THESE ARTICLES
ANGERED WHITE SCHOOL OFFICIALS IN MEMPHIS AND THEY FIRED
HER FROM HER TEACHING JOB.
WHEN THREE OF HER CLOSE, BLACK FRIENDS IN MEMPHIS WERE
KIDNAPPED AND HUNG, IDA WELLS BEGAN AN ANTI-LYNCHING
CAMPAIGN AGAINST POLICE OFFICIALS. HER EDITORIALS
INFLAMED THE WHITE COMMUNITY AND HER NEWSPAPER OFFICE
WAS DESTROYED. SHE FLED TO NEW YORK CITY, WHERE SHE
CONTINUED WRITING FOR SEVERAL BLACK NEWSPAPERS,
DETAILING THE GRUESOME LYNCHINGS THAT WERE ROUTINELY
OCCURRING IN THE SOUTH.
SHE BELIEVED THAT WHEN NORTHERN WHITES
LEARNED ABOUT THE EXTENT OF SLAUGHTER OCCURRING IN THE
SOUTH, THEY WOULD ACT TO END IT.
IDA WELLS ALSO CARRIED HER MESSAGE ABROAD TO ENGLAND AND
SCOTLAND, HOPING THAT INTERNATIONAL ATTENTION TO THE
LYNCHINGS WOULD PRESSURE U-S OFFICIALS TO END THEM.
IN 1895, IDA B. WELLS MARRIED A BLACK
ATTORNEY F. L. BARNETT FROM CHICAGO. THEY HAD FOUR
CHILDREN. HE SUPPORTED HER WORK AS A CIVIL RIGHTS
ACTIVIST, AND IN 1909 IDA WELLS BECAME ONE OF
TWO WOMEN, ALONG WITH SEVERAL MEN, TO CALL FOR A
CONFERENCE ON THE NEGRO. THIS CONFERENCE LED TO THE
FORMATION OF THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE
ADVANCEMENT OF COLORED PEOPLE. THE N-DOUBLE A-C-P IS
STILL VERY ACTIVE TODAY, FIGHTING FOR SOCIAL, POLITICAL
AND ECONOMIC EQUALITY FOR BLACKS.
IN 1931, IDA B. WELLS-BARNETT WAS ADMITTED TO A HOSPITAL
IN CHICAGO SUFFERING FROM A KIDNEY DISORDER
AND DIED AT THE AGE OF 69. SHE HAD SPENT HER
LIFE TRYING TO HELP OTHER BLACK PEOPLE LIVE FREE FROM
INTIMIDATION, FROM TERROR AND THE FEAR OF BEING KILLED
BY MOB VIOLENCE BECAUSE OF THEIR RACE.
07-Feb-97