We want to take the time to celebrate the life and legacy of the civil rights icon, Ida B. Wells. Yesterday marked the 159th anniversary of her birth.
Ida B. Wells was born into enslavement several months before the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation, but despite that, she grew to be one of the most influential early leaders in the Civil Rights Movement.
She used her talents as an investigative journalist to fight for equality and justice by exposing the racial motives behind the lynchings of successful Black people in the south. Today, her legacy lives on — especially through the countless Black women in journalism working to expose and fight against systems of white supremacy.
Ida B. Wells was ahead of her time. She paved the way for the Black liberation movement of today by waging a tireless struggle for equality and justice decades before many had even begun to imagine it was possible.
