Holly Springs, Mississippi
1862 -1931
Ida was an African American journalist, newspaper editor, suffragist, sociologist, feminist, and early leader of the Civil Rights Movement. She is also one founders of the National Association of the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1909.
Wells was involved in many different groups focused on the equality of African Americans and women. She was a founder of the National Association of Colored Women’s Club, which dealt with issues around civil rights and women’s suffrage. In 1913, she founded what was possibly the first black women suffrage group, the Chicago’s Alpha Suffrage Club.
After the lynching of three of her friends in 1892, Wells turned her attention to white mob violence and became a well-known anti-lynching activist.
The treatment of African Americans in the women suffrage movement was not always stellar. They were often marginalized or excluded. During the 1913 march in Washington DC, African American women were first excluded from marching and then finally relegated to the back of the march. Ida, however marched not at the back, but with her own delegation from Chicago.
Ida B. Wells and Frances Willard in particular had several conflicts that illustrate the poor treatment of blacks. Willard made racist comments during an interview and Wells would not put up with this treatment.