Ida B. Wells-Barnett's Life Ida B. Wells was born to be a slave and in the middle of Civil War. She was born in Holly Springs, Mississippi, on July 16, 1862. In her family, she was the oldest daughter. Her parents were James Wells and Lizzie Wells. Because of the Emancipation Proclamation, Ida and her family were freed by the Union. Even though they were freed, they still faced lots ofracial prejudices as African Americans in Mississippi and were also restricted by rules and laws.
But suddenly, the Yellow Fever Epidemic came, and it killed thousands, and there was no cure for it at the time. Ida's mother and father and a young sibling were among those who were killed from the Yellow fever. Many friends and neighbors decided to take the remaining children and split them up, but Ida stayed strong and took care of her brothers and sisters that were left.
To keep the family together, she was ever resourceful and got a decent job as a teacher so she could meet her family's needs. At that time, she was only 18. She dropped out of school at the age of 16, which was before the yellow fever epidemic struck.
In 1882, Ida and her sister both moved to Memphis, Tennessee to live with an aunt. Her brothers found a job being carpenter apprentices. She continued her education at the Frisk University for a while.
She had a personal turning point on a fateful train ride from Memphis to Nashville, in May, 1884 when she was forced out of the train. She bought a first class ticket on that particular day, and when she sat down in the first class, the conductor told her to move to where smokers and African Americans had to sit. Ida was furious and refused to move. The conductor got help and forcibly moved her out of the train. When she was removed, she also bit one of the men on his hand. Wells decided to sue this case at a circuit court and she ended up winning $500. Then she decided to take the same case to the Tennessee Supreme Court. Unfortunately, she had lost that case. This injustice was her inspiration to pick up a pen and write about the issues of race and politics in the South. She used the moniker (a name) , Lola, to write black articles an newspapers. Later, she eventually became an owner of the Memphis Free Speech and Headlight, and, later, of the Free Speech. Working as a journalist and activist, she also taught at a public segregated school. She also stood up for childrens' rights, not only adults. She was a critic at how terrible the conditions were in the schools that blacks stayed in. All of this also risked her life. She was fired from her job because she stood up for people's rights. This not only caused her to be fired from her job but also the murder of a friend and his two business associates.
In 1892, three African American men, Tom Moss, Calvin McDowell and Will Stewart—set up a grocery store in Memphis. This store drew customers from the store owned by whites next to them. These whites were furious and often clashed with the three African Americans. One night, Moss and the others guarded their store against attack and ended up shooting several of the white vandals. They were arrested and brought to jail, but they didn't have a chance to defend themselves against the charges—a lynch mob took them from their cells and murdered them. Lynching is a brutal killing by hanging someone by the neck usually on a tree.
These brutal killings incensed (angered) Wells. This led her to write about lynching and the wrongful deaths of African Americans. Again, she risked her life for two months to search for more information about lynching. She also wrote about these horrible killings in the newspaper. One article put the whites on the edge, they stormed into her office and burned down all her supplies for journalism. Fortunately, Wells had been traveling to New York City at the time. She was warned that she would be killed if she ever returned to Memphis.
She stayed in the north, and wrote many reports about lynching at 'The New York Age.' This was an African-American newspaper run by former slave T. Thomas Fortune. She lectured abroad in 1893, looking to drum up support for her cause among reform-minded whites. She was upset by the ban on African-American exhibitors at the 1893 World's Colombian Exposition, and decided to write a pamphlet entitled,"The Reason Why the Colored American Is Represented in the World's Colombian Exposition." This pamphlet was funded and supported by Fredrick Douglass and Ferdinand Barnett. She also wrote a book called, "The Red Record," which was her opinions about lynching.
In 1892, She brought her anti-lynching campaign, and lead a protest there. She wanted President William McKinley to make reforms. In the same year, she married Ferdinand Barnett. They eventually had four children, but this did not stop Wells from continuing hersocial and political activism.
Later in her career, she established many new organizations. In 1896, she formed the National Association of Colored Women. After brutal assaults on the African-American community in Springfield, Illinois, in 1908, Wells had to take action: The following year, she attended a special conference for the organization that would later become known as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The acronyms for this organizations is NAACP.
Though she was considered a member of NAACP, she left later saying that they 'had lacked action-based initiatives.' She then called for President Woodrow Wilson to put an end to discriminatory hiring practices for government jobs. She created the first African-American kindergarten in her community and fought for women's suffrage. In 1930, Wells made an unsuccessful bid for the state senate. Health problems plagued her the following year.
Ida B. Wells-Barnett died of kidney disease on March 25, 1931, at the age of 69, in Chicago, Illinois. She left behind her heroism, to this day she is still remembered. In her life she fought against prejudice, and risked her life no matter what dangers she would face. She once said, "I felt that one had better die fighting against injustice than to die like a dog or a rat in a trap." Another one of her famous quotes were, “The way to right wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them.”
A Fitting Tribute/Memorial
A Fitting memorial for Ida would be a museum with all her life in it. This includes her quotes, lifetime, timelines, and more. The name of this tribute is "Never Again" because she never wanted lynching to happen, and 20 years after she died, only one lynching was reported. The materials of this museum would be very strong so it can hold up itself. It would contain Marble, strong glass, Bronze. It would contain a self lead tour or you can ride a train and listen to the tour guide. The components of the tribute would be trees to represent the hanging, a plaque shaped like a newspaper with information about her, and a tour led by a tour guide and a train, lastly there would be a enter sign. My memorial would be the size of a regular human, but the inside would be the size of a regular human. This is my memorial to honor Ida B. Wells and her heroism.