History
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Born the eldest child of Elizabeth and James Wells, Ida B. Wells-Barnett grew up in Holly Springs and attended Shaw University, now Rust College. A reformer who insisted on economic and political resistance to oppression, she became head of a household at age 16 and taught in rural schools. After leaving Holly Springs for Memphis, she challenged racial discrimination in railroad ladies' cars at age 20. She later became part owner of The Memphis Free Speech and Headlight newspaper and, through her journalism, spearheaded the anti-lynching movement after several friends were unjustly murdered by a white mob in Memphis, Tennessee. Wells later co-founded the NAACP and was active in the National Association of Colored Women. She was honored with a U.S. postage stamp, inducted into the Mississippi Hall of Fame, and had a local post office named in her honor.
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Holly Springs, Mississippi · United States
