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Ida B. Wells
Sign in to saveAlso known as Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Ida Wells-Barnett, Ida Bell Wells, Ida Bell Wells-Barnett, Ida Wells
American journalist and civil rights activist (1862–1931)
OverviewAI-generated
Ida Wells was an African American journalist, sociologist, suffragist, and writer. Born in Holly Springs in 1862, she was educated at Fisk University. She was a member of the Republican Party and belonged to the NAACP and the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs. She was married to Ferdinand Lee Barnett, adopting the married name Wells-Barnett.
Her notable works include *The Red Record*, *History's Greatest Speeches*, *The Memphis diary of Ida B. Wells*, and *On lynchings*. Her writing was recognized in the Pulitzer Prize collection. She received the National Women's Hall of Fame award. Wells died of uremia due to natural causes in Chicago in 1931 and is buried at Oak Woods Cemetery.
Synthesized by Vinony from 28 facts across 3 sources: Wikidata, Open Library, Vinony collections. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
Person · Open Library
- Born
- 1862
- Died
- 1931
- Works
- 36
Top works
- The Memphis diary of Ida B. Wells
- History's Greatest Speeches
- The Red Record
- Slave Narrative Six Pack 4
- On lynchings
via Open Library + Wikidata
Key facts
- Born
- Ida Bell Wells , ( 1862-07-16 ) July 16, 1862, Holly Springs, Mississippi , C.S.
- Died
- March 25, 1931 (1931-03-25) (aged 68), Chicago, Illinois , U.S.
- Burial place
- Oak Woods Cemetery
- Other names
- Ida B. Wells-Barnett Iola (pen name)
- Education
- Rust College Fisk University LeMoyne-Owen College
- Occupations
- Civil rights and women's rights activist journalist and newspaper editor teacher
- Political party
- Republican
- Other political affiliations
- Independent (1930)
- Spouse
- Ferdinand L. Barnett ( married</span>"}]]}'>m. 1895 )
- Children
- 4, including Alfreda Duster
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- human
- Gender
- female
- Citizenship
- United States
- Place of birth
- Holly Springs
- Place of death
- Chicago
- Spouse
- Ferdinand Lee Barnett
- Political party
- Republican Party (United States)
- Languages spoken
- English language
- Field of work
- sociology
- Image
- Ida B Wells with her children, 1909 (cropped).jpg
- Number of children
- 4
Show 11 more facts
- Commons category
- Ida B. Wells
- date of birth
- 1862-07-16
- date of death
- 1931-03-25
- ethnic group
- African Americans
- married name
- Wells-Barnett
- manner of death
- natural causes
- cause of death
- uremia
- place of burial
- Oak Woods Cemetery
- writing language
- English language
- pseudonym
- Iola
- birth name
- Ida Bell Wells
Sources (10)
via Wikidata · CC0
~40 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Ida Bell Wells-Barnett (July 16, 1862 – March 25, 1931) was an American investigative journalist, sociologist, educator, and early leader in the civil rights movement. She was one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Wells dedicated her career to combating prejudice and violence, and advocating for African-American equality—especially for women.
Throughout the 1890s, Wells documented lynching of African-Americans in the United States in articles and through pamphlets such as Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in all its Phases and The Red Record, which debunked the fallacy frequently voiced by whites at the time – that all Black lynching victims were guilty of crimes. Wells exposed the brutality of lynching, and analyzed its sociology, arguing that whites used lynching to terrorize African Americans in the South because they represented economic and political competition—and thus a threat of loss of power—for whites. She aimed to demonstrate the truth about this violence and advocate for measures to stop it.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Ida B. Wells” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.