VOICES OF THE VANGUARD • VOLUME 1 • TRACK 3
Ida B. Wells
TRUTH • JUSTICE • COURAGE
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Meet Ida B. Wells
Ida B. Wells was born in Holly Springs, Mississippi, in 1862. After losing her parents and a younger brother during a yellow fever epidemic, Wells became a teacher and helped support her siblings. She later moved to Memphis, where she challenged racial segregation and became a journalist, editor, and newspaper co-owner. Wells used careful research, eyewitness accounts, and public records to expose the violence of lynching and to challenge false claims used to justify it. Threats and the destruction of her newspaper office forced her to leave Memphis, but she continued writing, speaking, and organizing in the United States and abroad. In Chicago, Wells worked for civil rights, women’s suffrage, community improvement, and political participation. She helped establish important organizations and demanded that reform movements include Black women. Wells’s life shows how journalism can uncover injustice, preserve evidence, and move people to act. Her courage made truth-telling a powerful form of resistance.
Listen For
- The role of evidence in journalism
- Courage in the face of threats
- How reporting can challenge injustice
Words to Know
Journalism • Evidence • Lynching • Integrity
Think About It
Why does careful evidence matter when powerful people deny the truth?
Keep Exploring
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