IDA B WELLS: podcast appearances and interviews

Ida Bell Wells-Barnett (July 16, 1862 – March 25, 1931) was an American investigator, sociologist, educator, and civil rights leader. She played a foundational role in the civil rights movement and was one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Throughout her career, Wells dedicated herself to combating prejudice and violence, with an emphasis on advocating for African American equality and women's rights. During the 1890s, she extensively documented lynching in the United States through articles and pamphlets, including Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in all its Phases and The Red Record. Her work challenged prevalent myths by exposing the brutality of lynching and analyzing its social and political implications, revealing that violence was often used to suppress economic and political competition by white communities. Born into slavery in Holly Springs, Mississippi, Wells was freed as an infant following the Emancipation Proclamation. After losing her parents and brother to yellow fever at age 16, she became a teacher and helped maintain her family, eventually moving to Memphis, Tennessee. There, she co-owned and wrote for the Memphis Free Speech and Headlight newspaper, reporting on racial segregation and inequality. Her investigative journalism faced threats and violence, including the destruction of her newspaper office, prompting her to relocate to Chicago. In addition to her activism, Wells was involved in women's rights and the women's suffrage movement. She traveled nationally and internationally as a speaker and continued her advocacy until her death in 1931. In 2020, she was posthumously honored with a Pulitzer Prize special citation for her courageous reporting.