COMMUNITY Celebrating 110 years of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)! Ida B. Wells-Barnett: Her Life, Legacy and the NAACP This year marks the 110th anniversary of the NAACP, so we think there’s no better time than now to highlight the role of those often-unsung heroes, who nevertheless made significant contributions to African-American history. Each month we will feature a different individual, sharing their historical background, career, and their role in civil rights. Our inaugural article features the life and legacy of Ida B. Wells-Barnett and her significant contributions to America and to African-American culture. It was fewer than six months before President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation that, in 1862, Ida B. Wells was born into slavery in Holly Springs, MS as the first of eight children of James and Elizabeth Wells. The Wells’ family like other enslaved families in the confederate states were declared free by the stroke of Lincoln’s pen January 1, 1863. The Wells’ family believed that education was the key to upward mobility in this newly organized American paradigm. Her father was one of the founders and a member of the board of trustees of Shaw University, now Rust College, the school at which Ida B. would begin her studies at an early age. However, at 16-years-old, she had to drop out of college when both of her parents and three of her siblings died from yellow fever. The courage and strength she showed during this time would become her legacy. While elder family members encouraged her to split up the family, Wells said, “no,” instead, she took on the role of mother and father. She dropped out of school and with the help of her grandmother, cared for her four remaining siblings. Her grandmother watched the children during the week so that she could work as an elementary school teacher in Holly Springs, MS.
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