By Sophia Hysaw, Opinion Editor & Staff Writer
Ida B. Wells, born in Mississippi, July 6, 1862, was a skilled writer, journalist, activist, and researcher. While born into slavery during the Civil War, afterward her parents became politically inclined and enforced the importance of education in Ida B. Wells.
Throughout her life, Wells faced racism and discrimination, and when one of her friends was lynched she turned to activism and confronted the problem of white mob violence in America. While she wrote in many newspapers she eventually was forced out of her town and had to move to Chicago due to the threats on her life.
Later in life she traveled abroad to shed light on the lynching issue at hand, and even confronted white suffragists who ignored this problem. Although during her time she was ostracized and criticized due to her, at the time, controversial stance on racism, she is widely recognized and honored today for her writings and activist work.