Move over, superheroes—Ida B. Wells wrote headlines, saved lives, and dismantled white supremacy decades before “activism journalism” became a trend. In the 1890s, when Black lives were terrorized by lynching and systemic racism, this fearless reporter didn’t just write stories. She waged war.
Born into slavery in 1862, Wells became a teacher, journalist, and full-time revolutionary. After losing her teaching job for exposing the deplorable conditions of Black schools in Memphis, she doubled down on her pen as her weapon. As a columnist for Black-owned newspapers—and later as owner of the Memphis Free Speech and Headlight—Wells turned investigative journalism into a lifeline for her community. But her work wasn’t just “viral” for the era; it was dangerous.
In 1892, after Thomas Moss, Calvin McDowell, and Henry Stewart, friends of Wells, were lynched by a white mob in Memphis, she pivoted her writing to expose the real motive behind these killings.
For months, Wells traveled throughout the South investigating lynchings. She used eyewitness interviews and testimony from families and looked through records. The New York Times, in its recent obituary for Wells, noted, “She pioneered reporting techniques that remain central tenets of modern journalism.”
Her groundbreaking reporting debunked the racist myth that lynching was about “protecting white women,” instead revealing it as a tool of economic terrorism. Wells-Barnett found that many of these relationships were consensual, causing outrage within the white community. A mob destroyed her newspaper office in retaliation.
Her pamphlet, Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases, became a blueprint for resistance, urging Black Americans to flee the South and boycott oppressive systems.
Wells’ truth-trading made her a target. After her Memphis newspaper office was torched by a mob, she relocated to Chicago but refused to silence her voice. “She didn’t just report the news—she was the news,” says historian Paula Giddings. Wells took her anti-lynching crusade global, touring the U.K. to shame American racism and rally international support. She even confronted President William McKinley, demanding federal anti-lynching laws (which, infuriatingly, wouldn’t pass until 2022—128 years later).
Wells wasn’t just a journalist. She co-founded the NAACP, launched Chicago’s first Black women’s suffrage group, and created community aid networks for Black families. All while raising four kids! Her relentless activism laid the groundwork for future giants like Rosa Parks and Malcolm X. Yet, she’s often left out of mainstream “trailblazer” narratives.
From #BlackLivesMatter to journalists exposing police brutality, Ida B. Wells’ spirit lives wherever truth battles oppression.
