American investigative journalist, educator, and civil rights leader. One of the co-founders of the NAACP.

Born a slave in MS., Ida was freed by the Emancipation Proclamation. She moved to TN with her family and became a teacher. She co-owned and wrote for the Memphis Free Speech and Headlight newspaper about racial segregation and inequality. A profound moment in Well’s history was when she refused to give up her seat in the first class ladies car on the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad in 1884.When the US Supreme Court had ruled against the Civil Rights Act of 1875, Ida took the case to court and won, effectively reversing the TN Supreme Court. 

Ida did much research on the lynching horrors of the day and wrote an important pamphlet “Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in all its Phases.” Wells traveled to Britain twice on lecture tours decrying lynching and published articles internationally on the subject. Upon marrying Chicago attorney and publisher F.L. Burnett, Ida spent much of her time writing about civil rights for African Americans in addition to raising a family. She became very active in women’s suffrage. She believed that the right of women to vote dovetailed with her crusades against discrimination, violence, and racism; it would lead to getting a more suitable group of politicians into office.