Ida Bell Wells is also known as an African American who was an investigative journalist, a feminist and also an abolitionist. She was born a slave in Mississippi Holly Springs in the year 1862. As a slave and worse, being an African American made her susceptible to discrimination and racial prejudice.AS if that was not enough at 16 years she lost her two parents and some of her siblings to an outbreak of yellow fever. As the eldest of the other siblings, she was forced to take care of the rest. To survive, she lied that she had attained 18 years, and for that, she was able to get a job as a teacher.
Five interesting facts about Ida B Wells
1. She lost her teaching position because if her editorials.
Ida Wells had become an excellent editor and was never afraid to write about issues that faced her fellow African Americans. She got this inspiration from personal experience when she was dragged out from a seat by a conductor just because she was not white; she did not deserve a first-class place. Being a tough lady, she moved to court sued the railroad and won the case. From that moment she fought all kinds of injustices, especially those against her nature. She wrote in her editorials about how the school facilities were built in favor of the white kids and unequal to the African American children. It was just after she published her articles about the schools that she lost her teaching position.
2. She was born as a slave and into slavery
As mentioned earlier, Wells was born in 1862 in Mississippi a time in which her parents were slaves. It wasn’t until 1865 that they were all freed through the Emancipation Proclamation and they could speak freely without the fear of being locked up for expressing themselves.
3. She mobilized many Black Americans into leaving Memphis.
The hanging of her friend by an angry white mob encouraged Wells to write in the Free Speech and Headlight criticizing the act. Out of anger and frustration, she helped her fellow Black Americans to leave Memphis because the lynching of their fellow brother showed that their leaders were not in a position to protect them from physical harm and damage to their properties. People listened to her, and quite a large number left Memphis. She also left with the rest since her office was also raided and destroyed. This did not scare her but instead inspired her to write and criticize more about lynching.
4. She founded the Alpha Suffrage Club of Chicago.
She was most famous because of her anti-lynching activism. Being a person who was firmly against discrimination, she actively participated in the women’s suffrage movement. Due to the above-mentioned fact, she was able to find a club of her own which was advocating for Black Women’s rights to vote. This club also educated all the black people on all the issues that came along with voting.
5. She was an investigative journalist
This part of her career started when her friend was brutally lynched. She became an investigator to find out how these were happening why. She came to the point that she had counted the number of all hangings which brought to the light how dangerous this injustice was.
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