Ida From Abroad

After the office of the Memphis Free Speech newspaper was destroyed and a price put on her head, Ida B. Wells became an exile from Memphis, Tennessee in 1892. She went to New York City where she wrote and started speaking to large groups of people about the brutal realities of lynching. She subsequently spent several weeks in the United Kingdom during 1893 speaking about these realities.

In 1894, Ida B. Wells returned to England where she continued to speak about the lawlessness in the United States. Her column, "Ida B. Wells Abroad," for the The Daily Inter Ocean newspaper and some personal correspondence provide a vivid picture of the challenges, triumphs, alliances and obstacles that Ida B. Wells encountered in her efforts to elicit support from the British to impact change in the United States.

Michelle Duster, great-granddaughter of Ida B. Wells, compares her life experiences to those of her great-grandmother to highlight the challenges and progress of African American women born a century apart.

Troy Duster, Ph.D., grandson of Ida B. Wells, adds historical background to the reason why global pressure was solicited in order to address the wide-spread oppression and terrorism faced by African Americans at the turn of the 20th century.

Ida B. Wells (1862 - 1931) was born a slave in Holly Springs, Mississippi, but through a series of circumstances ended up traveling across the country as well as to Europe to expose the injustices against African Americans that were raging through the South. She was a journalist, teacher, anti-lynching crusader, women's rights activist, civil rights pioneer and one of the founders of the NAACP at the turn of the 20th century.