Ida B. Wells was a famous African American educator. She even has a school named after her called the Ida B. Wells Academy. She was born in Holly Springs, Mississippi a month before the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. Her parents died as a result of the Yellow Fever epidemic.

Ida B. Wells became a teacher to follow her dreams. She graduated from Rust College in 1888. She soon moved to Memphis where she became editor and co-owner of a black oriented newspaper called "The Free Speech and Headlight." She wrote in the paper under the pen name "Iola."

While in New York for an editor convention, she received word that her life was in danger because Caucasian people did not like that she was for African American rights. Ida B. Wells fled to England and earned a reputation as a powerful speaker and a great leader. Finally, she returned to the United States and lived in Chicago. There she formed the Women’s Era Club for African Americans. The name was soon changed to the Ida B. Wells Club.

In 1895, she married Ferdinand Barnett. He was an attorney in Chicago. She had two sons and tow daughters. She continued her struggle for equal rights for blacks until her death in 1931.