Ida B. Wells, Activist and Anti-Lynching Crusader, 1862

On 16 July 1862, Black feminist, anti-racist and anti-lynching activist Ida B. Wells was born in Holly Springs, Mississippi.

After the lynching murders of three of her friends for the "crime" of setting up a grocery store which competed with a white-owned store W,ells undertook a detailed investigation of lynchings and their causes.

Wells' work countered the popular myth that most lynchings were to punish alleged rapists, and showed that instead most were for such "crimes" as failing to pay debts, competing with whites economically or drinking alcohol. She recommended that Black people arm themselves for "protection which the law refuses to give"; she herself bought a pistol after being threatened by white racists.

Wells participated in the founding of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), but later distanced herself from the group after becoming dissatisfied with its leadership made up of the small group of either white or Black members of the elite. Instead she founded the Negro Fellowship League, and later the Alpha Suffrage Club in Chicago, which may have been the first Black women's suffrage organisation.

Ida B. Wells born - WCH | Stories

#IdaB.Wells #CivilRights #Anti-Lynching #RedRedRecord #OnLynching