Wells attended Rust College in Holly Springs and Fisk University in Nashville. She taught in Memphis and wrote for the newspaper, The Living Word and lost her job because she spoke up about rights and fair laws. She then started her own newspaper, The Memphis Free Speech. This came about because of an incident where the Tennessee Rifles, a black state militia, was illegally disarmed and the Ku Klux Klan (a hate group formed right after the Civil War) dragged three black men from a jail and shot them at close range. Wells made this incident public and wrote about it and other lynchings, beatings and house burnings. Over 10,000 blacks had been killed since the end of the Civil War. She brought this fact to the attention of President William McKinley.

Wells married Ferdinand L. Barnett, a newspaperman from Chicago in 1895. They had four children. She started the Ida B. Wells Club whose members were women against violence. "No more lynching!" was their cry. Wells-Barnett traveled to New York to meet with people of all races to stop the violence. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) came out of this meeting. Wells-Barnett worked all her life to stop the Ku Klux Klan by starting awareness groups and publishing information about their activities.

After suffering an illness for two years, Wells died in 1931. In 1990, a postage stamp was issued in her honor. Wells chose to do something and made a difference.

This essay was submitted by Leslie S. Bezich, Seventh Grade Teacher at Richardson Middle School in Torrance, California.

1. Ida B. Wells-Barnett is known for starting her own newspaper, The Memphis Free Speech. Do some research into her newspaper. Choose one incident she reported on, and describe it in a short essay. Go to http://www.pbs.org/blackpress/news_bios/wells.html for more information.



2. The two books Ida B. Wells-Barnett: Crusader Against Lynching by Elaine Slivinski Lisandrelli and Great African Americans: Ida B. Wells-Barnett, A Voice Against Violence by Patricia and Frederick McKissack are listed in the biography as sources for more information about Wells-Barnett. Read one of them, and write a review of the book including a brief summary and your opinion of the book and its content. Go to http://www.amazon.com to purchase the books.



3. The issuance of a postage stamp in Wells-Barnett honor is sign of incredible accomplishment. Research what the stamp looks like, and draw it using oil pastels or other art supplies. Use the link http://library.advanced.org/10320/wells.html to see the stamp. Then design a stamp to commemorate the end of racial segregation in this country. What symbols, colors, designs, will you use? Explain the significance of your design in a short essay.

Ida B. Wells, A Passion for Justice (Video recording): the Memoirs of Ida B. Wells
NYC, NY: William Greaves Productions, c.1989. 53 minutes

Wells-Barnett in Books

Lisandrelli, Elaine Slivinski, Ida B. Wells-Barnett: Crusader Against Lynching
University of Chicago Press, Chicago, Ilinois. c1998.

McKissack, Patricia and Frederick, Great African Americans: Ida B. Wells-Barnett,
A Voice Against Violence
Enslow Publishers, Inc., Berkley Heights, New Jersey, c1991.

More Books on Civil Rights and American Civil Rights Leaders

Carnes, Jim, Us and Them: A History of Intolerance in America
Oxford University Press, Oxford, New York, c1996.

Harmon, Rod L., Collective Biographies: American Civil Rights Leaders
Enslow Publishers, Inc., Berkley Heights, New Jersey, c2000.

Meltzer, Milton, The Black Americans: A History in Their Own Words (1619-1983)
Thomas Y. Crowell Junior Books, New York, NewYork, c1984.

Patterson, Charles, Social Reform Movements: The Civil Right Movement
Facts on File, Inc., New York, New York, c1995.