Ida B. Wells, an Upstander through Journalism

Ida B. Wells, a pioneering American journalist and activist, demonstrated an unwavering commitment to truth and justice through her investigative reporting, particularly on lynching and racial violence in the post-Civil War United States. She relentlessly pursued facts and numbers, despite immense personal risk to herself and her loved ones. Her legacy stands as a powerful reminder of the role of journalists in challenging misinformation as well as how to use the media to bring awareness to critical issues facing the public. Wells co-owned and wrote for The Memphis Free Speech, which became a platform for her advocacy against lynching and other forms of racial violence. After a white mob burned down her Memphis paper, Wells moved to New York where she continued to report on lynching for several publications, including The New York Age. She later settled in Chicago and wrote for the Chicago Daily Inter-Ocean.

The life and career of Ida B. Wells can offer insights about how to engage with the media today. One lesson from Wells’s legacy is to be discerning about the media one chooses to read. When writing about the horrors of lynching and other pervasive forms of racial violence, Wells used long-form journalism as a tool to examine the breadth and depth of the practice so that the public could know the truth in a broader social and historical context. Today long-form journalism has largely been replaced by shorter, more digestible forms of media that can quickly capture the public’s waning interest, but key perspectives and context often gets left out. “The importance of story completeness cannot be overstated in the field of journalism. . . . In the haste to publish news, completeness is frequently disregarded, but it is an essential component of responsible journalism.” Supporting media outlets that prioritize in-depth investigative reporting is crucial in maintaining a well-informed public. Critical analysis of our news sources was deeply important in the 1890s, and it remains so in the 2020s.

In our current era of ever-changing technology and rapid social media, the news landscape is vast and often cluttered with misinformation. Wells’s journalism serves as a reminder to seek out news that is credible, trustworthy, and shines a spotlight on issues of injustice. Her investigative techniques, which involved meticulous fact-checking, on-the-ground research, and statistical information, set a standard for journalistic integrity. The printers and readers who supported Wells valued her factual reporting and sought journalism that confronted injustice, rather than perpetuating it.

The courage that it took for Wells to report the news in the face of threats and ostracism is notable, and her dedication to truth paid off: she exposed the horrors of lynching to Americans and also rallied support for increasing African Americans’ civil rights at home and abroad. Current news readers can be inspired by the principles, bravery, and attention to detail that Ida B. Wells brought to her work. Her life and legacy reinforce the need to critically interrogate the media with which one engages. This can include researching and supporting media outlets that have high credibility ratings, taking the time to peruse (Definition 1a, see link) long-form journalism, and reading voices and perspectives that are underrepresented.

These media practices can help all of us make informed decisions about the information we consume in order to be knowledgeable participants in democracy.

Learn more about the life and accomplishments of Ida B. Wells in the following resources. You can get a glimpse of her bold writing style and further explore the many ways she advocated for equity and fought racism.

Video: How One Journalist Risked Her Life To Hold Murderers Accountable
In this TED-Ed Animation, educator Christina Greer details the life of Ida B. Wells and her tireless struggle for justice.

Lesson: The Anti-lynching Activism of Ida B. Wells
Students explore the life and choices of anti-lynching journalist Ida B. Wells and learn about the long tradition of Black resistance to racial terror and violence.

Reading: Excerpt from Crusade for Justice
This excerpt from Ida B. Wells’s autobiography gives us insight into her decision to take a stand and speak out against racial lynchings.

Reading: Excerpt from "Lynching and the Excuse for It"
In this editorial, Ida B. Wells responds to Jane Addams, a progressive who was known for her work serving immigrant communities in Chicago. Wells corrects Addams’s claims using lynching data she documented from 1882 to 1891.

Reading: WTTW Chicago Stories - Ida B. Wells
Split into nine different sections, this dynamic site shares the story of Ida B. Wells through biography, interviews, images (warning: some are graphic), and video, detailing her extraordinary accomplishments in the realms of investigative journalism and the fight for equity for all people, in all spaces.