# Ida Wells-Barnett

## Biography

Ida B. Wells-Barnett was an influential American investigative journalist, educator, and early leader in the civil rights and women's suffrage movements. Born into slavery in Mississippi in 1862, she became a teacher after her parents and a sibling died in a yellow fever epidemic, leaving her to care for her younger siblings. She moved to Memphis, Tennessee, and began writing articles for Black newspapers under the pen name "Iola", often addressing racial injustices. In 1889, she became part owner and editor of the Memphis Free Speech and Headlight.

Wells-Barnett gained national prominence for her anti-lynching crusade, which began in 1892 after three of her friends were lynched. She fearlessly investigated and exposed the true motives behind lynchings, challenging the prevailing narrative that they were solely a response to Black men assaulting white women. Her courageous journalism led to the destruction of her newspaper office, forcing her to relocate to Chicago. She published "Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases" in 1892 and "A Red Record" in 1895, meticulously documenting lynchings and their statistical data. Wells-Barnett was also a co-founder of the NAACP and established the Alpha Suffrage Club, the first Black women's suffrage organization in Chicago. She remained a militant voice for justice until her death in 1931.

## Books

- [The Red Record: Tabulated Statistics and Alleged Causes of Lynching in the United States](https://samolit.com/books/96262)
- [Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases](https://samolit.com/books/96024)