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Ida B. Wells

Background: African American journalist and newspaper editor. Husband was a newspaper owner named Ferdinand L. Barnett. Ida was an early leader in the civil rights movement. She experienced being kicked off a train by the conductor of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad Company. This is because Wells refused to give up her seat to a white man. This occured 71 years before the incident involving the Rosa Parks bus incident. She documented lynching and gave public speeches about the matter. She was also involved in woman’s rights and the woman’s suffrage movement. Ida had three friends who were lynched while in jail. In 1896 Ida founded the National Association of Colored Women.

Problem: Ida wanted colored woman’s suffrage, or the ability to vote. She also was an advocate for abolishing lynching before, and after her friends died of it. Her speech given; “Lynch Law in America” explained her stance on the issue. She looked for the causes of lynching and concluded some of the reasons were “failing to pay debts, not appearing to give way to whites, competing with whites economically, [and] being drunk in public.”

Solution: Ida was an activist and a journalist. Often she would speak at various black women’s clubs and in groups in New York. She raised more than $500 to investigate and publish her reports about lynching. Ida B. Wells published books including “Southern Horrors: Lynch Laws in All Its Phases”. Wells wrote columns about lynching. She organized boycott of 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Wells also took her campaign to Europe in 1893 & 1894, where she gave speeches and participated in Interviews.

Eli, this is a good start to the paper but you need to elaborate.-Mr. Wimmer

Bibliography:

Baker, Lee D. "Ida B. Wells-Barnett(1862-1931) and Her Passion for Justice, Black Women, African American Women, Sufferage, Women's Movement, Civil Rights Leaders." //Home | Duke University//. Duke University, 01 Apr. 1996. Web. 06 Sept. 2011. .

"Ida B. Wells." //Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia//. Wikipedia, 09 Dec. 2003. Web. 06 Sept. 2011. .

Wells, Ida B. "“Lynch Law in America”." Speech. The Arena, Chicago, Illinois. 1 Jan. 1900. //“Lynch Law in America”//. University of South Florida. Web. .