Ida B. Wells
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First Day of Issue: February 1, 1990 First Issue Location: Chicago, Illinois American journalist and reformer Ida B. Wells campaigned on many human rights issues, including the fight to give women the right to vote, but she is most well known for fighting the random lynching of blacks by mobs during the late 1800s and early 1900s. During that time, many blacks were lynched without so much as a trial after being accused of a crime; others were lynched for no apparent reason at all. Wells worked to expose such murders and stop them. Born a slave in 1862, Wells became a part-owner of and reporter for the newspaper Free Speech. In 1892, after three of her friends were hanged in Memphis, she began to investigate lynchings and other violence against blacks. And in 1909, she was instrumental in founding the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). One of the most influential civil rights organizations in the United States, the NAACP advocates nonviolent protest against discrimination. The group's early efforts against lynching led to the abolishment of the practice Unicover Corporation |
