Ida B. Wells was a writer, publisher, speaker, activist, and the instrumental figure in the fight to outlaw lynching. Her crusade was impassioned and tireless. This inspiring yet down-to-earth profile of Wells also paints a painful yet important portrait of lynching. As a journalist and speaker, Wells was vocal despite the dangers her views represented in the South. When her life was threatened, she had to leave Memphis, where she owned and edited a newspaper. Resettling in Chicago, she continued to write, publish, and speak while raising six children. She traveled to lynching sites and spoke to victim’s families, documenting what happened. She helped men in jail who feared they would be lynched, and she spoke out, and even testified in court, against those who lynched Black men or, in the case of one sheriff, allowed a lynching to occur. An intense and gripping portrait that has the power to inspire readers with its strong sense of justice. (Ages 12-16)

The acclaimed civil rights leader Ida B. Wells (1862-1931) is brought vividly to life in this accessible and well-researched biography. Wells was a founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and she helped black women win the right to vote. But what she is most remembered for is the success of her lifelong crusade against the practice of lynching--called by some "our nation's crime"--in the American South. She fought her battle by writing and publishing countless newspaper articles and by speaking around the world. Her outspokenness put her in grave danger many times over, but she would not be silenced, and today she is credited with ending lynching in the United States. Her story is one of courage and determination in the face of intolerance and injustice. AFTERWORD, BIBLIOGRAPHY, INDEX.