Ida B. Wells by Naomi Blair

Ida B. Wells was born July 16, 1862 in Holly Springs, Mississippi. She was born a slave. Being the daughter of Lizzie and James Wells, she was the eldest of her sisters. Because of the Emancipation Proclamation, Ms. Wells and her family were freed six months after her birth. Nevertheless, the Wells family, as long as many other African Americans, were discriminated against.

Known as a “race man”, James Wells worked as a carpenter. A “race man” is someone who worked for the advancement of blacks’( Says Wikipedia). Mr. Wells was a member of the Loyal League. Elizabeth Wells was a cook for the Bolling household. She worked for them before she died of the yellow fever. Ida’s parents wanted their children to take advantage of the opportunity of getting an education. Ida attended Shaw University, now known as Rust College, in the same town she was born, Holly Springs, Mississippi. She was expelled for her rebellious behavior.

At the age of 16, Ida lost both her mom and her dad and, also her baby brother, named Stanley. The 1878 epidemic killed her family. Wanting to keep the rest of her family together, Ida dropped out of college to work at a school for 30 dollars a month. She was annoyed and furious that the white teachers got paid 50 dollars more a month than she did. The fact that she received a lower pay than her white counterparts made her even more passionate about fighting discrimination of blacks by whites.

In 1955 Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white woman on the bus. 71 years earlier, Ida B. Wells did the same the same thing, except on a train. In Memphis, she hired an African-American attorney to sue the railroad after she got back from the police station. Back home, Ida B. Wells posted an article in "The Living Way" about her incident on the train. When the railroad paid off her black attorney, Ida hired a white one. She won her case on December 24, 1884, when a court told her to be paid $500. The railroad company went to the Tennessee Supreme Court, which reversed the local court's ruling. "We think it is evident” the court said “that the purpose of the defendant in error was to harass with a view to this suit, and that her persistence was not in good faith to obtain a comfortable seat for the short ride."

While Ida was teaching elementary school, she got a job offer at the Evening star. She accepted the job offer and also wrote for "The Living Way", weekly.

Ida Wells’ life was, in short, horrid. After her friends were lynched, Ida wrote in the "Free Speech" and "Headlight" newspapers she worked at, telling blacks to leave Memphis: "There is, therefore, only one thing left to do; save our money and leave a town which will neither protect our lives and property, nor give us a fair trial in the courts, but takes us out and murders us in cold blood when accused by white persons."

Lynching was a huge problem for blacks, back then. It may be hard for you to imagine, but lynching blacks was not much of a crime back then.  It was more like a “picnic”. In fact there is evidence that whites back then enjoyed the lynching. We know this because there is a museum filled with postcards showing images of blacks being lynched, burned, and castrated.  These were actual postcards that people would buy and send to their family and friends.  For example, one says “I missed you at the lynching today. How is Aunt Sue”, and many more like that. This is why Ida B. Wells fought so hard for anti-lynching laws.  She was fighting a way of life, which so many whites enjoyed.  She was so important because she did what no other person had the guts to do in that day and age.  Stand up and say, "This is WRONG!"

Ida B. Wells’ life was filled with violence and discrimination, nevertheless Ida fought on. She fought for her family, her friends, and certainly her life. The fight still went on, from the people she helped, even when she died in 1931 at the age of 68.

To see more lynching postcards go to: http://withoutsanctuary.org/