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Top 15 Unbelievable Facts about Ida B. Wells

Originally published by Nellian in March 2022 and Updated by Nellian in January 2024

Ida Bell Wells-Barnett was an American activist and journalist. Wells was born on July 16, 1862, in Holly Springs, Mississippi. Ida’s father James Madison Wells was a carpenter. Her mother’s name was Elizabeth Warrenton. Ida B. Wells started her career as a teacher but joined journalism where she expressed her views through writing.

Furthermore, Wells is famous for her activism against lynching. She was a vocal member of the suffrage movement. As a journalist, Ida excelled in areas such as; being among the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). In 1913, she founded the Alpha Suffrage Club of Chicago. This was the first group committed to advocating for Black women’s voting rights.

To boot, Ida bought a share in Memphis Free Speech and Headlight newspaper. She was appointed as editor. This made Ida the first female to co-own and act as editor of a Black newspaper in the U.S.

Learn more about the unimaginable realities of Ida B. Wells with this: Top 15 unbelievable facts about Ida B. Wells.

1. Ida B. Wells was born to enslaved parents

Ida B. Wells, Memphis Statue by Southern Hollows/S. Liles-

Wells was born on July 16, 1862, in Holly Springs, Mississippi. Ida was the eldest child of James Madison Wells,  who was a carpenter. Her mother was Elizabeth Warrenton. Ida had no experience as a slave, but stories from her parents and scars on her mother’s back were enough for her to grasp what had happened.

2. Ida B. Wells became an orphan at 16

Ida B. Wells with her children in1909-

Wells lost his father, mother, and little brother to a yellow fever epidemic that struck Holly Springs, her hometown, in 1878. Being the eldest of her siblings, she took up a job as a school teacher to take care of her siblings.

3. Ida B. Wells’s, first job was a teaching job that she left for journalism

Ida took up a school teaching job to fend for her remaining family after the death of her parents. She was fired as a teacher in 1886 at the age of 24 years because of her criticism of the poor state of learning conditions at the Memphis school. This, resulted in full-time journalism as she was already writing articles for newspapers even while a teacher.

4. Wells was most famous for lynching activism

Ida B. Wells (author), Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases, book cover, 1892-

In the 1890s, lynching became common and was used as a tactic by the whites to control the South region. Wells took advantage of her editorial and co-ownership position at Memphis Free Speech and Headlight newspaper to voice her opinions.

Moreover, Ida’s friend Thomas Moss was lynched in 1892 by supposed white business rivals who felt threatened by his business. Moss ran a grocery and letter-carrying business in Memphis. Moss’s incident encouraged Ida to be vigorous in her lynching activism.

Subsequently, Ida explained in her newspaper that the accusation of lynching victims was questionable. Those lynched were mostly black men accused of raping white women, and many times it was a sensual relationship with a white lady. Wells added that in other cases like Moss’s was just rivalry from their white counterparts.

Ida also used research work by the Chicago Tribune to document 728 lynching cases that had happened between 1884 to the year 1892. In her editorial works, she once angered white men by suggesting white women could find black men appealing romantically.

She left for the North (New York) and while there, she learned about threats against herself, her family, and her friends. Also, her newspaper offices were burned, so there was nothing to return to and that is how she left Memphis. Ida changed her pen name, from Lola to Exiled.

5. Wells was a Suffrage

Ida B. Wells at 1913 suffrage parade, in Chicago Daily Tribune, May 1913-

Ida championed for women to be given the right to vote. In 1913, Ida co-founded the Alpha Suffrage Club in Chicago. The Alpha Club became Illinois’s Black women’s largest suffrage organization. The club also taught women to become active political participants while still promoting Black candidates to clinch office seats.

What’s more, Ida B. Wells took part in the suffrage marching parade of 1913. The organizers of the event were against Black women’s involvement as participants. Thus, they said that the Black women would march in segregated sections.

This was condemned by the NAACP through protesting using letters and telegrams. The organizers reconsidered their decision, allowing Black women, Ida among the number, to march as part of their respective state and occupation delegates

6. Ida B. Wells Bit a racist conductor

Wells at 22 years bought a first-class ticket on a train to get to her job as a teacher at Holly Springs from Memphis. The conductor told her to leave her seat as she sat in a section reserved for whites only. Ida declined to move, and the conductor forcefully forced her out of the seat assisted by two other white men.

Ida was overpowered by the men, her only weapon was her teeth. So, she bit the conductor’s hand. Although passengers applauded the conductor, she was proud to have fought back with her hand biting.

7. Ida’s experience with the Jim Crow system was harsh

Jim Crow was a system that came after Reconstruction and was written into law. It often used violence and intimidation to infringe on the rights of Black people, segregate them, and restrict their freedom. 

Thus, Ida expressed that Jim Crow’s basis was social customs and individual whims. After suing the railroad where she experienced racial discrimination, she won the case. But, since Jim Crow ruled, she lost to the railroad through an appeal.

8. The activist, Ida Wells, attracted several suitors

, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Wells in her biography recounts 1886 Valentine’s Day as surprising. She received a half dozen cards from men who showed interest in her. Wells wanted a man who would support and have the same feminist ideals. So, she married prominent attorney and publisher Ferdinand Barnett. Her wedding announcement was run on The New York Times on the first page. Ida and Barnett raised their four children in the South.

9. Ida B. Wells documented an autobiography for future generations

Wells chronicled her life events in her autobiography, Crusade for Justice to be remembered by future generations. She never gave up on activism all her life. She even ran for state office and supported an anti-lynching bill before Congress in 1922. But the bill failed thanks to the democratic opposition.

10. Ida B. Wells was involved in community building in Chicago

, , via Wikimedia Commons

In 1894, Wells moved to Chicago and delved into building the community. Ida’s achievements in community building were evidenced in ways such as housing and offering social services to migrants from the South. She founded the Ida B. Wells Club as well as the first black women’s organization. She contributed to the start of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People as well as the National Association for Colored Women.

11. The Red Record  remains one of her iconic works 

Ida B. Wells’ groundbreaking investigative report The Red Record systematically exposed the brutal practice of lynching in the post-Reconstruction South. Published in 1895, the 100-page pamphlet recorded statistics showing that lynchings were not responses to crimes committed by Black men, as commonly claimed, but rather acts of racial terror used to intimidate and control the Black population.

Besides, Wells boldly named those responsible, from individual perpetrators to complicit law enforcement and court officials who allowed lynchers to act with impunity. The Red Record was one of the first comprehensive documentations of racial violence in the United States and represented a significant achievement in Wells’ lifelong anti-lynching crusade.

12. She is renowned as an international advocate

, , via Wikimedia Commons

Ida B. Wells brought her anti-lynching campaign to an international audience, traveling extensively to expose racial injustice in the United States. In 1893, she embarked on a speaking tour in Great Britain that highlighted lynching and violence against African Americans.

Additionally, Wells drew large crowds and confronted the U.S. exclusion of African Americans from the Columbian Exposition. Her international advocacy expanded over the next decades with lectures across Europe. By raising awareness globally, Wells underscored that civil rights was an international as well as national issue, establishing important connections with reformers worldwide.

13. Ida B. Wells earned the nickname “The Princess of the Press” 

She earned the nickname “The Princess of the Press” for her pioneering work as a journalist exposing racial injustice. As an investigative reporter, Wells fearlessly reported on lynching in the South and was one of the first to detail the practice in all its brutality.

Furthermore, her outspoken editorials against discrimination and advocacy for African Americans in the public sphere established her as a leading critical voice of her time. Wells’ tireless reporting in the face of threats and persecution propelled her to fame and cemented her legacy as a journalistic trailblazer as she reported truths others dared not print.

14. She has been memorialized through the naming of public facilities

, , via Wikimedia Commons

In recognition of her monumental achievements as an investigative journalist, anti-lynching crusader, and early civil rights leader, Ida B. Wells has been memorialized through the naming of various streets, schools, and buildings across the United States.

Subsequently, major thoroughfares named for Wells can be found in cities like Chicago and Memphis, where she once lived and worked. Smaller streets honoring Wells highlight her connection to the local communities she impacted.

These public honors help ensure Wells’ essential contributions to journalism, activism, and human rights remain in the public consciousness. The street names serve as lasting tributes preserving the legacy of Ida B. Wells and her fight for racial justice across America.

15. Ida’s impact is still relevant in today’s fight against racial injustice

, , via Wikimedia Commons

Ida B. Wells’ pioneering work as an investigative journalist, anti-lynching crusader, and early civil rights activist powerfully resonates decades later. Her bold reporting in the face of threats exposed racial violence and injustice, while her intersectional approach advocated for the rights of all oppressed groups.

Moreover, Wells’ uncompromising activism laid critical groundwork for future civil rights achievements. The organizations she founded continued her fight beyond her lifetime. Wells’ courageous example underlines the tenacity required to challenge institutional racism, inspiring new generations of activists to take up her unfinished work toward true equality. Her enduring spirit remains a catalyst for change.

Ida died on  March 25, 1931. But, even after her death, her work is still acknowledged. Such as the Opening of the National Memorial for peace and justice in 2018. The Memorial was set up to celebrate over 4000 African Americans lynched over time. Especially children, women, and men lynched between 1877 to the year 1950.

To add on, having fought lynching with all her might, Ida’s efforts were recognized by the posthumous Pulitzer Prize that was given in 2020, in a bid to appreciate her activism efforts. Hence with these 15 unbelievable facts about Ida B. Wells, we celebrate her as a beacon of inspiration for those who continue the struggle for equality as well as a luminary, illuminating the path toward justice and equality.