Ida B. Wells was born into slavery in 1861 and grew up to be one of the most prominent journalists and civil rights activists of her time. She lost her job as a teacher after penning an op-ed in which she criticized the under-funding of African American schools. After witnessing a lynching in her hometown of Memphis, she began publishing a series of articles that documented the horrors of lynching. This led to the burning down of her printing press, causing Wells to leave Memphis altogether.
Wells remained undeterred in her work and continued to publish in-depth reports documenting the practice of lynching, publishing the pamphlet Southern Horrors and later her book, A Red Record. Active in both the civil rights and suffragette movement, she pushed her fellow white suffragettes, often unsuccessfully, to take more action against lynching and other racial injustices. In 1909, she joined other prominent African American leaders to found the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, or NAACP. She received an honorary obituary in the New York Times in 2018 and was awarded a posthumous Pulitzer Prize in 2020.
Wells remained undeterred in her work and continued to publish in-depth reports documenting the practice of lynching, publishing the pamphlet Southern Horrors and later her book, A Red Record. Active in both the civil rights and suffragette movement, she pushed her fellow white suffragettes, often unsuccessfully, to take more action against lynching and other racial injustices. In 1909, she joined other prominent African American leaders to found the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, or NAACP. She received an honorary obituary in the New York Times in 2018 and was awarded a posthumous Pulitzer Prize in 2020.