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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
