Ida B. Wells

Standing Up For The People

Ida B. Wells was born July 16, 1862.

Her causes were to educate and bring awareness about prejudice and violence.  Especially the violence caused by the lynching of African American men. 

When her friend Thomas Moss was lynched after he and his two friends opened up a grocery store in a town where there was a white grocery store owner. 

She became a journalist and used her skill as a writer to let the world know about injustices and prejudices against African Americans and women. 

She worked with Jane Adams in working to obtain the right to vote for women. 

Ida B. Wells was committed to standing up for people that were considered unredeemable. 

She tirelessly stood up for men with substance use disorder and worked to provide services that would help them gain employment. 

Even though her and her husband, Ferdinand, were stable financially, they did not allow their status to prevent them from serving those who others considered low class.

Her many accomplishments include:

•      Helping those who migrated from the South to the North.
•      Founding member of National Association for Colored Women and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. 

•       Posthumously awarded a Pulitzer Prize with a special citation, “for her outstanding and courageous reporting on the horrific and vicious violence against African Americans during the era of lynching.” 
•      Honored on a U. S. quarter part of the final year of the American Women quarters. 
•      Chicago’s City Council officially renamed Congress Parkway as Ida B. Well Drive.  It is the first downtown Chicago, street named after a woman of color. 
•      Chicago Housing Authority public housing project was named after her. 

We can learn so much from Ida B. Wells’ commitment to standing up for those who are most vulnerable. 

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