Ida B. Wells Biography and Quotes
Birthday: July 16th, 1862
Commemoration: March 25th, 1931
Nationality: African-American
68
Years Old
Famously Known For
- Organized a number of civil rights and women movements
- Participated in the fight for African American worker’s rights, in 1920
- Inducted to the National Women’s hall of Fame in 1988
Early Life
Ida B. Wells was born in Holly Springs, Mississippi on 16th July 1862. She was the first born of James Wells and Elizabeth Warrenton. Her father was the son of a white man and a black slave who first came to holly Springs as a carpenter apprentice. Here, he worked as a hired slave.
Elizabeth Warrenton was sold as a slave and was away from her family which she tried to locate after the Civil war, but she could not contact them.
Ida Wells enrolled in a college in Holly springs. Unfortunately she lost her parents to yellow fever, and she was spared since at that time she had gone to visit her grandparents. Ida Wells was against the idea of her aunts separating her siblings and instead got a job as an educator to take care of them. However, Peggy wells and Eugenia both died and she was forced to go along with the idea.
Personal Life
Ida Wells was married to an attorney, Ferdinand L. Barnett, in the year 1895. The attorney had lost his wife and was taking care of two of their sons. He too was an activist for the African Americans. The couple went ahead and had four more children.
Career
Wells started out as a teacher in order to take care of her siblings after the death of their parents. She went on to become a civil rights activist and together with her husband fought for the rights of the African Americans who included mostly workers.
Death
Ida B. Wells died on 25th March 1931, aged 68 years.
