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Ida B. Wells-Barnett

Artist: Sallie E. Garrity, c. 1862 - 1907
Sitter: Ida Bell Wells-Barnett, 16 Jul 1862 - 25 Mar 1931

Date: c. 1893

Type: Photograph

Medium: Albumen silver print
Dimensions: Image/Sheet: 13.9 x 9.8 cm (5 1/2 x 3 7/8"); Mount: 16.3 x 10.7 cm (6 7/16 x 4 3/16"); Mat: 45.7 x 35.6 cm (18 x 14")

Credit Line: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution

Restrictions & Rights: CC0

Object number: NPG.2009.36

Exhibition Label: Born Holly Springs, Mississippi; The daughter of former slaves, Ida B. Wells sued the Chesapeake, Ohio, and Southwestern Railway in 1883 after being dragged from her seat for refusing to move to a segregated railcar. Her anger over this incident spurred her to begin contributing articles to black-owned newspapers; she became part owner and editor of the Memphis Free Speech and Headlight in 1889. After three black businessmen were lynched in Memphis in 1892, Wells launched what became a four-decade-long anti-lynching crusade. She vigorously investigated other lynchings and published her groundbreaking treatise on the topic, Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases

Data Source: National Portrait Gallery

See more items in: National Portrait Gallery Collection

Place: United States\Illinois\Cook\Chicago