American journalist and social reformer
verifiedCite
While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies.Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions.
Select Citation Style
Feedback
Thank you for your feedback
Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.
External Websites
- Northern Illinois University - Digital Library - Ida B. Wells, 1862-1931
- New-York Historical Society - Women & the American Story - Biography of Ida B. Wells-Barnett
- White House Historical Association - Ida B. Wells-Barnett: Anti-lynching and the White House
- Iowa State University - Archives of Women's Political Communication - Ida B Wells-Barnett
- National Park Service - Ida B. Wells
- National Women's History Museum - Ida B. Wells-Barnett
- Tennessee Encyclopedia - Ida B. Wells-Barnett
- BlackPast - Biography of Ida Wells Barnett
Britannica Websites
Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students.
- Ida B. Wells-Barnett - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11)
- Ida B. Wells-Barnett - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)
verifiedCite
While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies.Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions.
Select Citation Style
Feedback
Thank you for your feedback
Our editors will review what you’ve submitted and determine whether to revise the article.
External Websites
- Northern Illinois University - Digital Library - Ida B. Wells, 1862-1931
- New-York Historical Society - Women & the American Story - Biography of Ida B. Wells-Barnett
- White House Historical Association - Ida B. Wells-Barnett: Anti-lynching and the White House
- Iowa State University - Archives of Women's Political Communication - Ida B Wells-Barnett
- National Park Service - Ida B. Wells
- National Women's History Museum - Ida B. Wells-Barnett
- Tennessee Encyclopedia - Ida B. Wells-Barnett
- BlackPast - Biography of Ida Wells Barnett
Britannica Websites
Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students.
- Ida B. Wells-Barnett - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11)
- Ida B. Wells-Barnett - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)
Also known as: Ida Bell Wells, Ida Bell Wells-Barnett, Iola
Written and fact-checked by
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Last Updated: •Article History
Quick Facts
- Née:
- Ida Bell Wells
- Born:
- July 16, 1862, Holly Springs, Mississippi, U.S.
- Died:
- March 25, 1931, Chicago, Illinois (aged 68)
- Founder:
- National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
- Role In:
- American civil rights movement
See all related content →
Top Questions
Where was Ida B. Wells-Barnett born?
Where was Ida B. Wells-Barnett born?
Ida Wells was born in Holly Springs, Mississippi, on July 16, 1862.
How did Ida B. Wells-Barnett become famous?
How did Ida B. Wells-Barnett become famous?
Ida B. Wells-Barnett first grew to prominence by leading a campaign against lynching, first by writing newspaper columns but later through delivering lectures and organizing anti-lynching societies.
What was Ida B. Wells-Barnett’s occupation?
What was Ida B. Wells-Barnett’s occupation?
Ida B. Wells-Barnett was a journalist by trade but also spent a lot of her time and energy organizing and participating in various civil rights campaigns and organizations.
What were Ida B. Wells-Barnett’s achievements?
What were Ida B. Wells-Barnett’s achievements?
Among Ida B. Wells-Barnett’s achievements were the publication of a detailed book about lynching entitled A Red Record (1895), the cofounding of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and the founding of what may have been the first Black women’s suffrage group.
Ida B. Wells-Barnett (born July 16, 1862, Holly Springs, Mississippi, U.S.—died March 25, 1931, Chicago, Illinois) was an American journalist who led an anti-lynching crusade in the United States in the 1890s. She later was active in promoting justice for African Americans.
Ida Wells was born into slavery. She was educated at Rust University, a freedmen’s school in her native Holly Springs, Mississippi, and at age 14 she began teaching in a country school. She continued to teach after moving to Memphis, Tennessee, in 1884 and attended Fisk University in Nashville during several summer sessions. In 1887 the Tennessee Supreme Court, reversing a Circuit Court decision, ruled against Wells in a suit she had brought against the for having been forcibly removed from her seat after she refused to give it up for one in a “colored only” car. Using the pen name Iola, Wells in 1891 also wrote some newspaper articles critical of the education available to African American children. Her teaching contract was not renewed. She thereupon turned to journalism, buying an interest in the Memphis Free Speech.
Britannica QuizPop Quiz: 17 Things to Know About the American Civil Rights MovementIn 1892, after three friends of hers had been lynched by a mob, Wells began an editorial campaign against lynching that quickly led to the sacking of her newspaper’s office. She continued her anti-lynching crusade, first as a staff writer for the New York Age and then as a lecturer and organizer of anti-lynching societies. She traveled to speak in a number of major U.S. cities and twice visited Great Britain for the cause. In 1895 she married Ferdinand L. Barnett, a Chicago lawyer, editor, and public official, and adopted the name Wells-Barnett. From that time she restricted her travels, but she was very active in Chicago affairs. Wells-Barnett contributed to the Chicago Conservator, her husband’s newspaper, and to other local journals; published a detailed look at lynching in A Red Record (1895); and was active in organizing local African American women in various causes, from the anti-lynching campaign to the suffrage movement.
From 1898 to 1902 Wells-Barnett served as secretary of the National Afro-American Council. In 1909, she participated in the meeting of the Niagara Movement and the founding of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) that sprang from it. Although she was initially left off the NAACP’s controlling Committee of Forty, Wells-Barnett later became a member of the organization’s executive committee; however, disenchanted with the NAACP’s white and elite Black leadership, she soon distanced herself from the organization.
In 1910 Wells-Barnett founded and became the first president of the Negro Fellowship League, which aided newly arrived migrants from the South. In 1913 she founded what may have been the first Black women’s suffrage group, Chicago’s Alpha Suffrage Club. From 1913 to 1916 she served as a probation officer of the Chicago municipal court. She was militant in her demand for justice for African Americans and in her insistence that it was to be won by their own efforts.
Her autobiography, Crusade for Justice, was published posthumously in 1970.
The Editors of Encyclopaedia BritannicaThis article was most recently revised and updated by Encyclopaedia Britannica.