The significance of Ida B. Wells' work for American freedoms
Rudy Williams
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Ida B. Wells was born into a family of sharecroppers in Holly Springs, Mississippi, on July 16, 1862. Author and professor Rychetta Watkins has researched Wells for publications.
"She came from this family that managed to stay in tact even in the midst of slavery, and her father was politically active," said Watkins.
The deadly yellow fever outbreak of 1878 that swept the Mid-South took the lives of both of Wells' parents and an infant brother and drove Wells, just 16 years old, to Memphis with her siblings. For Wells, family was everything, so she took on a teaching job at a small school house to care for her family. Wells is described as a elegant and striking.