“The way to right the wrongs is to turn the light of truth upon them.”
Ida B. Wells-Barnett
Ida B. Wells was born into enslavement in 1862 during the Civil War. In her early life, her parents were active in Reconstruction Era politics. During a visit to her grandmother, Wells caught word that her parents and infant brother had died from yellow fever in her hometown of Holly Springs, MS. Later she would move to Memphis to work as an educator and also a journalist, writing for local church newspapers.
In Memphis, Wells would often take the train as a mode of transportation. One day in 1884, Wells was forcibly removed from the train car for refusing to move into the “colored only” car. She sued the train company and wrote an article about her experience. The article found an audience, prompting her to transform her career into full-time journalism.
During her career as a journalist, Wells wrote about the injustices Black people faced in a post Civil War world and the backlash against Reconstruction. Through her writing she brought to light the atrocities of lynchings that were happening in the South. She wrote powerful reports, despite the known dangers of truth telling during the era of racial terrorism.
Her work for social justice did not stop there. She went on speaking engagements with Frederick Douglass. She was involved in many social justice organizations like the NAACP and The National Association for Colored Women. She fought actively for women’s suffrage, beginning her own all Black club called Alpha Suffrage Club.
Ida B. Wells was an extraordinary example of an activist. Her legacy of determination and persistence for social justice remains a beacon of light for Sankofa Impact, and for everyday activists everywhere.
