Ida Wells - Tennessee History for Kids

In search of Ida B. Wells

Some of Ida B. Wells' descendants visit a post office named for her in Holly Springs, Mississippi

Ida B. Wells was born in Mississippi and lived almost half of her life in Illinois. But along the way she spent time in Memphis, and it was there that the course of her life changed. Today, many people regard Wells -- a journalist, activist, teacher, organizer and plaintiff -- as one of the foreshadowers of the Civil Rights Movement. We'll tell you some of her story and let you decide for yourself.

The Ida B. Wells birthplace, which is now a small museum

Ida B. Wells was an unlikely candidate for fame. She was a slave when she was born in 1862, although it should be pointed out that her father James Wells -- also a slave -- was a very skilled carpenter. He was the son of his owner and a slave (so Ida B. Wells' grandfather was white). James Wells actually built the home in which Ida was born (and which still stands in Holly Springs, Mississippi).

When the Civil War ended in 1865, Ida B. Wells became one of tens of thousands of former slaves who received an education because of the Freedmen's Bureau. She attended what was then known as Shaw University (now Rust College) near her home in Mississippi. But in 1878, the yellow fever epidemic laid waste to Holly Springs. Sixteen-year-old Ida Wells lost both her parents and one of her siblings in the epidemic.

Ida Wells

Members of the Freemasons, a group to which Ida's father belonged, tried to split up the six remaining Wells children to live with various friends and family. Completely opposed to this idea, Ida dropped out of school and found a job as a teacher. With the help of her grandmother she managed to keep the family together for about two years.

Around 1880, Ida and her sisters moved to Memphis, where she got a teaching job. During the summers, Wells attended classes at Fisk University in Nashville. Then, on September 15, 1883, she was riding the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad from Memphis to the nearby community of Woodstock and chose to sit in the rear coach, which was, by railroad custom, reserved for white, non-smoking passengers. The railroad porter told her to move to the front coach. She refused, and she was literally dragged from the train. When Ida B. Wells got back to Memphis, she hired a lawyer and sued the railroad for damages.

The article in the Chicago Daily Tribune about Wells winning her case at the trial level

By the time the case came to trial (on November 19, 1884), Ida Wells had been involved in another, very similar, incident on the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, and the judge appears to have combined the two incidents into a single case. The trial was not a long one but was very interesting; the court heard testimony from several passengers, from the porter and from Ida herself. (The original transcript of this trial can be found at the Tennessee State Library and Archives; Ida Wells' verbatim testimony in it can be read here).

The front page of the state supreme court decision

On Christmas Eve, 1884, Circuit Court Judge Pierce ruled in favor of Wells and awarded her $500 in damages. However, the railroad appealed the case and, two and a half years later, won that appeal before the Tennessee Supreme Court (throwing out Judge Pierce's decision and ruling against Wells). The court stated in its opinion (which you can find at any law library in Tennessee): "We know of no rule that requires railroad companies to yield to the disposition of passengers to arbitrarily determine as to the coach in which they take passage."

A plaque in Memphis honoring Ida Wells

Throughout this time Wells was working as a teacher, while she wrote for newspapers on the side. She earned very little money from her writing, but in 1891 she became a co-owner of a newspaper that she renamed the Memphis Free Speech. In 1892, Wells wrote in detail about a horrible lynching that had taken place in Memphis in which a mob dragged three black men -- co-owners of a grocery store -- from jail and murdered them. This experience led her to investigate other lynchings. And, as a result of her articles, some white citizens of Memphis burned the Free Speech office; Wells was forced to stay away from Memphis under threat of violence. She, like thousands of other African Americans of her era, left the South and moved north -- first to New York and later Chicago.

The Chicago home in which Wells lived from 1919 until 1930
PHOTO: Michelle Duster

For the next several years Ida Wells became one of America's most prolific writers and speakers about the lynchings that were happening with some regularity in the South. She wrote hundreds of articles and essays. One of the most important was a pamphlet called, "Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases." Here is an excerpt from it:

"The mob spirit has increased with alarming frequency and violence. Over a thousand black men, women and children have been thus sacrificed the past ten years. Masks have long been thrown aside and the lynchings of the present day take place in broad daylight. The sheriffs, police and state officials stand by and see the work well done."

The sanctuary at Chicago's Quinn Chapel AME Church, where Ida B. Wells made many speeches
PHOTO: Michelle Duster

Wells spoke all over the North and on two occasions conducted speaking tours of England. In the process she had many admirers but, in an era where her candor was very unique, many critics as well. In 1899, for instance, she was not invited to speak at the conference of the National Association of Colored Women, apparently because whites who gave to the organization said they would no longer financially support it if the organization embraced Wells. A few years later, she was one of the more prominent black leaders who opposed Booker T. Washington's strategy of accommodation with white oppression.

Along the way, Ida B. Wells married Ferdinand L. Barnett, a Chicago attorney who shared her convictions. From that point forward she was known by the hyphenated name Ida B. Wells-Barnett (very unusual in an era when women almost universally took their husband's last names). In addition to being an active writer and speaker for her entire life, she managed to also have and raise four children.

In 1931, while working on her autobiography, Ida B. Wells-Barnett died.

The headstone of Ida Wells and her husband, Ferdinand L. Barnett
PHOTO: Michelle Duster

Today, Ida B. Wells' story is a required part of the Tennessee history curriculum in the fifth and eleventh grades. Yet there is some irony in this. After all, here is a person who lived in Tennessee for a short time and who probably would have been murdered had she returned. Also, she wasn't really acknowledged in her time the way civil rights leaders of the late 20th century were honored; she was more like a "voice in the wilderness," saying and writing things that few of her peers dared say and write. But in the light of history, Ida B. Wells has many more admirers than critics.

Also, as we look back at the life of this woman, it's hard not to be appreciative of all she wrote. Today there are dozens of books about Ida B. Wells; two that we recommend in particular are Crusade for Justice: The Autobiography of Ida B. Wells and Ida: In Her Own Words (edited by Michelle Duster), which contains her pamphlet on lynching. (To obtain a copy of this book, click here).

Ida B. Wells Homes (foreground) is being torn down, as newer housing is being built in that part of Chicago (background)
PHOTO: Michelle Duster

In 1940, a public housing project in Chicago, built in the neighborhood where Ida B. Wells lived for more than 30 years, was named for her (although that project was recently torn down). After the Civil Rights Movement became a reality in the 1950s and 1960s, Wells' legacy became more celebrated. Today some of her Chicago-based descendants are working with the city of Chicago to create a multi-dimensional monument to capture the life and work of their famous ancestor.

Donald Duster, on the left, and Alfreda Duster Ferrell, on the right, are two of Ida B. Wells' grandchildren.

One other thing about the grandchildren and great grandchildren of Ida B. Wells: they have been known to descend on Holly Springs, Mississippi, every July 16 to honor their famous ancestor, visit her birthplace and see other local sites (such as the mass grave of yellow fever victims at the local cemetery).

Finally, this reminder: The Ida B. Wells' birthplace is now a small museum. Click here to learn more about this place.