July16 1862-March25,1931
,
A Reformer for
Racial Equality

Educator
Anti-lynching crusader
Suffragist
Women's rights advocate
Journalist
Speaker

Born in Holly Springs, Mississippi in 1862
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Died in Chicago, Illinois in 1931 at age 69
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Oldest daughter of James and Lizzie
Wells
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Parents enslaved prior to Civil War
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Supported 7 children because her
mother was a "famous" cook and

Her father was a skilled carpenter
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
When Ida was 14
An epidemic of Yellow Fever swept through
Holly Springs
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Killed her parents and youngest sibling
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She kept family together by teaching
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Continued education at near-by Rust College
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Moved to Memphis to live with her aunt
◦ Helped raise her youngest sisters
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In Memphis, she began to fight for racial and
gender justice.
1884 conductor of Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad
Company asked her to give seat on train to a
white man
◦ She had a first class ticket
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Ordered her into the smoking or "Jim Crow" car
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Forcibly removed from train
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She bit one of the men on the hand
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Wells sued the railroad, winning a $500
settlement in a circuit court case.
Decision was later overturned by the
Tennessee Supreme Court
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13th Amendment: Abolished slavery
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14th Amendment: Equal protection under the
law to all U.S. citizens
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15th Amendment: Cannot deny rights based on
race
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Freedman's Bureau: Provided food, clothing,
hospitals, help with employment, and schools
for blacks in the South
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Despite 1875 Civil Rights Act banning
discrimination on the basis of race,
creed, or color
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In theaters, hotels, transports, and
other public accommodations
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Several railroad companies racially
segregated passengers
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KKK formed by white southerners

Angry that African Americans
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Could participate in politics and hold
government offices
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Wore white robes and high pointed hats
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KKK –A terrorist organization
◦ Persecuting blacks and other minorities

In 1892 three of her friends were
lynched.
◦ Thomas Moss, Calvin McDowell, and Henry
Stewart.
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Owners of People's Grocery Company
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Had taken away customers from white
businesses
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Group of angry white men tried to "eliminate“
competition
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Attacked People's grocery
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Owners fought back

Shooting one of the attackers
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Owners of People's Grocery were arrested
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Lynch-mob broke into the jail
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Brutally murdered all three men
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Police refused to arrest killers
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Wells tried to start a boycott against whiteowned stores and public transportation

Between 1885 & 1901 more than 2,000
Blacks were lynched.

She was editor and co-owner of local
Black newspaper, Free Speech and
Headlight

Used the newspaper to attack lynching
and racism

Newspaper store was burned

Wells also encouraged Blacks to move
West.

Her life in danger, Ida left for England to
find work

Returned to the US, moved to Chicago
 In
Chicago, she helped develop
numerous African American women
organizations
 Diligent
 Worker
in her anti-lynching crusade
for women's suffrage
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Participated in famous 1913 march for
universal suffrage in Washington, D.C.
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Unable to tolerate any injustice

Ida B. Wells, along with Jane Addams

Blocked establishment of segregated
schools in Chicago
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1895: Wells married editor of one of Chicago's
early Black newspapers
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She wrote: "I was married in the city of
Chicago to Attorney F. L. Barnett, and retired
to what I thought was the privacy of a home."
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Did not stay retired long
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Continued writing and organizing
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In 1909, she joined with W.E.B. DuBois
and others to form the NAACP

The NAACP was formed to aid African
Americans who were victims of violence
or discrimination

She was among few Black leaders to
explicitly oppose Booker T. Washington
and his strategies
As late as 1930, she became disgusted by
nominees of major parties to state legislature
Wells-Barnett decided to run for the Illinois State
Legislature
One of first Black women to run for public office in
the United States
A year later, she passed away after a lifetime
crusading for justice.
 Strange
Fruit
Published in1937 as a poem.
◦ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4ZyuULy9zs
◦ Written by Abel Meeropol, Jewish family
◦ After leaving college he became a teacher in New
York City.
◦ His students included Paddy Chayefsky, Neil Simon
and James Baldwin.
◦ Meeropol was also a member of the American
Communist Party.