The story of iconic civil rights activist Ida B. Wells is one that has been told many times. Her groundbreaking anti-lynching crusade, her tireless fight for women‘s suffrage, her status as one of the most famous black women in America by the turn of the 20th century – these are the well-worn grooves of her legacy. But to fully understand what fueled Ida B. Wells the activist, one must start with Ida B. Wells the sister. Her unbreakable familial bonds, forged in the crucible of unimaginable tragedy, laid the bedrock for all that was to come.
Born Into Bondage
Ida Bell Wells entered the world on July 16, 1862, in Holly Springs, Mississippi, a slave state in the grip of the Civil War. Her parents, James and Lizzie Wells, were slaves on a plantation, but not for much longer. Just six months after Ida‘s birth, the Emancipation Proclamation declared all slaves in rebelling Confederate states to be free.[^1]
The Wells family would remain in Holly Springs after the war, as James and Lizzie built a life with their eight children: Eugenia, James, George, Ida, Annie, Stanley, Lily and Alfreda. James became involved in Reconstruction-era politics, helping to establish a school for freed slaves and serving as a trustee.[^2] Lizzie, a deeply religious woman, instilled values of faith and fortitude in her brood.
These early experiences were formative for young Ida. "I remember seeing my father taking his gun and marching out of the house to join others to defend the rights of blacks in the South during the Reconstruction," she later recalled.[^3] Her parents‘ pride and political engagement in the face of a hostile, white supremacist environment sowed the seeds of Ida‘s activist spirit.
Tragedy Strikes
In 1878, when Ida was just 16, her world shattered. That summer, a devastating yellow fever epidemic hit Holly Springs, claiming 2,000 lives.[^4] Among them were both of Ida‘s parents and her 10-month-old brother Stanley. In the span of a few short months, half of the Wells family was gone.
For Ida, grief was swiftly followed by an enormous burden. As the eldest daughter, and with her surviving elder siblings unable to help, she became the primary caregiver of Annie, 12, Lily, 10, and Alfreda, 7. A friend of her father‘s, no doubt noticing Ida‘s precarious predicament, offered to take the girls to live with him and arrange a marriage for Ida. She staunchly refused, determined to keep what remained of her family together.[^5]
To do so, Ida dropped out of high school and secured a job teaching at a segregated elementary school for black children. She was only 16 herself, but convinced the school administrators she was 18 to meet the minimum age requirement.[^6] After passing an exam to get her teaching credentials, Ida embarked on her career as an educator, a path that many black women pursued in the late 19th century.
In 1880, over 50% of southern black women in the labor force worked as domestic servants.[^7] Teaching offered slightly more autonomy and higher pay, though black teachers were still paid significantly less than their white counterparts.[^8] For Ida, it was a means of survival, a way to put food on the table and keep a roof over her siblings‘ heads.
Making a New Life in Memphis
After a few years teaching in the Holly Springs area, Ida decided to seek better opportunities for her family. In 1882, she moved with Annie, Lily and Alfreda to Memphis, Tennessee. The girls lived with their Aunt Fannie, while Ida continued to teach and took college courses in the summers at Fisk University.[^9]
It was a balancing act, working to provide for her sisters while furthering her own education. But Ida‘s indomitable drive and keen intellect soon distinguished her. She became an editor and writer for black newspapers like The Living Way, under the penname "Iola." Her bold editorials denouncing racism and segregation in Memphis‘ schools and public facilities quickly made her a rising star.[^10]
Meanwhile, Ida‘s elder siblings were forging their own paths. Eugenia, the eldest Wells sister, married and started a family of her own in Holly Springs. Brothers James and George also became teachers, though James tragically passed away at age 20 in 1877.[^11]
For the younger Wells sisters, Ida was a guardian and role model. Lily later recalled how Ida made sure they stayed on top of their studies, despite the upheaval in their lives. "We were poor … but Ida saw to it that the brood of us went to school and that there was always a book around," Lily said.[^12]
Annie, Lily and Alfreda would all follow Ida into the teaching profession as adults. The four sisters remained deeply close and lived together at various points, even as Ida‘s anti-lynching crusade pulled her away from home more and more in the 1890s.[^13]
A Growing Family
In 1895, Ida‘s family expanded when she married Ferdinand Lee Barnett, a widower, attorney and journalist with two young sons, Ferdinand III and Albert. It was a meeting of activist minds and kindred spirits. Together, Ida and Ferdinand had four children of their own — Charles, Herman, Ida Jr., and Alfreda (named after her cherished youngest sister).
The power couple were devoted parents, but didn‘t fit the Victorian domestic ideal. Both continued their activist work while raising their children. "I honestly believe I am the only man in the United States who has a private office but not a private home," Ferdinand once quipped.[^14]
Ida managed to balance family with her demanding career, often bringing her children along on her travels and speaking engagements. As daughter Alfreda later recalled, "She either had to take us or stay home, so she took us."[^15]
The Wells sisters doted on Ida and Ferdinand‘s children, helping out whenever they could. Ida‘s kids grew up surrounded by a tight-knit extended family. These bonds would sustain Ida through the ups and downs of her activist journey, from death threats to acclaim on the world stage.
A Profound Legacy
When Ida B. Wells died of kidney disease in 1931 at age 68, she left behind a towering legacy in civil rights and journalism. But she also left a profound personal legacy – one of devotion to family against all odds.
Her siblings never forgot the sacrifices Ida made for them. As Alfreda put it, "she was more than a sister, more than a mother to us."[^16] They made sure Ida‘s children grew up steeped in their mother‘s memory and work. Daughter Alfreda founded the Ida B. Wells Memorial Foundation to preserve her mother‘s home in Chicago as a museum.[^17]
The tragic losses and weighty responsibilities Ida shouldered as a teenager shaped everything that followed. Her fierce drive to keep her family together despite hardships, her determination to secure an education and a meaningful career, her refusal to accept the status quo – all of these defining traits were forged in the crucible of her early life.
For Ida, the political was deeply personal. Her own family‘s story, and her unshakeable bond with her sisters in particular, fueled her fearless crusade against the terror of lynching that tore so many black families apart. As she once said: "I felt that one had better die fighting against injustice than to die like a dog or a rat in a trap."[^18]
Through this lens, Ida B. Wells‘ activism takes on new resonance. Hers was a fight not just for abstract principles, but for the safety and dignity of black families like her own. A fight to ensure that her siblings, her children, and generations of black families to come could thrive without fear.
In celebrating her civil rights legacy today, we must not overlook the power of family and sisterhood that shaped Ida B. Wells. For it was those unbreakable bonds, those hard-fought battles to hold her loved ones close, that gave the "Crusader for Justice" her most potent strength, grit and purpose.
[^1]: Bay, Mia. To Tell the Truth Freely: The Life of Ida B. Wells. Hill & Wang, 2010, pp. 9-10.[^2]: Ibid., p. 12.
[^3]: Wells, Ida B. Crusade for Justice: The Autobiography of Ida B. Wells. University of Chicago Press, 2020, p. 10.
[^4]: Duster, Michelle. Ida B. the Queen: The Extraordinary Life and Legacy of Ida B. Wells. Atria, 2021, p. 233.
[^5]: Bay, p. 24.
[^6]: Ibid., pp. 25-26.
[^7]: Jones, Jacqueline. Labor of Love, Labor of Sorrow: Black Women, Work, and the Family from Slavery to the Present. Basic Books, 1985, p. 132.
[^8]: McCall Horsford, Sonya. "This Bridge Called My Leadership: An Essay on Black Women as Bridge Leaders in Education." International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, vol. 25, no. 1, 2012, pp. 11-22, DOI: 10.1080/09518398.2011.647726.
[^9]: McMurry, Linda O. To Keep the Waters Troubled: The Life of Ida B. Wells. Oxford University Press, 2000, p. 25.
[^10]: Ibid., p. 46.
[^11]: Ibid., p. 60.
[^12]: Duster, p. 22.
[^13]: Ibid., p. 24.
[^14]: Giddings, Paula J. Ida: A Sword Among Lions. Amistad, 2008, p. 315.
[^15]: Duster, p. 102.
[^16]: DeCosta-Willis, Miriam. The Memphis Diary of Ida B. Wells. Beacon Press, 1995, p. 192.
[^17]: Duster, pp. 262-263.
[^18]: Wells, Ida B. Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases. 1892. Project Gutenberg, 2005, https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14975.
