During the eighteenth-century African Americans were enslaved and then brought to freedom in 1865 by Abraham Lincoln. After all that, people murdered ex-slaves and African Americans because they did not want them to become better than whites. Which in later years was known as lynching and is also now illegal. One brave woman stepped up and faced the challenge to fight for African American rights. She fought for the helpless and dying in this time of great suffering. Her name was Ida B. Wells Barnett.

Ida B. wells Barnett had a twisted Early life that created who she was. Ida was born in 1862 in Holly Springs Mississippi. Ida B. wells had a mother a father and seven other siblings. Her parents were slaves when Ida was born but were set free once Ida was a toddler. Her mother was a skilled cook and her father had Carpenter skills. She was the oldest of her siblings and had to take care of them once her infant brother and parents died.Ida did not have a long education, but she did become a teacher when she was older. She went to Rust College But she was expelled because she started a dispute with the university president. She was a skilled writer and was known for that in her later years of life. When she had gone to school for long enough to get a degree, she became a teacher. Facts on early life: She and her remaining siblings were orphaned when her mother father and infant brother died. Her parents and sibling died from the yellow fever epidemic in the area. She and her siblings went to their grandmother's house and managed to keep the family together. This was what helped shape who she was and what she will do in later years.

She was influenced by people who were forgotten and uncared for which made her turn to the light. She was influenced by the people in need of help during the illegal act of lynching. She also was needed by the spirit of her friend who was lynched (killed without trial of negotiation). She did this because it was the right thing to do. She had experienced how horrible it was because of her friend who was killed in an angry, violent, nasty mob. She kept going because of the train ride she was thrown off, when she had nothing, she could do about her friend, she had also received lots of money for the trained case which she put on trial. The ones who were hurting and suffering had brought her to the light to help win the fight.

She was challenged with many obstacles, but she pushed through and kept going on. She was challenged with people who thought that whites were “higher beings” than African Americans. People like the train conductor when she was thrown off the train. The white government which was unfair and cruel to African Americans. The people did not realize that everyone is the same. She came over these obstacles by, writing documents and papers of the problem to show the people what they were doing. So, she spoke for the helpless people who were tortured and put to death.

She had two huge accomplishments but here are a few of her smaller ones. She had filled a lawsuit for her first case with the train conductor who threw her off the train. She had done it all by herself. This is so important because it was her first mark on the world for women and African Americans. It had not done much then but now it is a reason woman should have a voice. Her second accomplishment was when she wrote her findings in newspapers and pamphlets. She began doing it and would not let anything stop her. This is important because it was her change to tell the world about the horrors of lynching and how they treated African American families. Then the effects were that black men and women started teaming up together to take away this threat. The effects now are remarkably similar because the thing she did still affect us today.

For all heroes, their rein must end. She died on March 25^th, 1931, at the age of 68 in Chicago. She was buried in Oak Woods cemetery, Cook County, Illinois. She died of kidney disease. When she died, she left a legacy to be found by young men and women to continue making history for African Americans.

Courage and determination are words that would describe Ida B. wells Barnett. She was braver than many people in history could imagine. She did things that people could never think of doing in their lifetime! She faced many challenges and succeeded in the end. Many people thought she could never do such a thing because she was an African American woman which made it twice as hard as it should be for others. There is a law that she created called the antilynching law that she made. In the end, she helped women in the fight against racial abuse and racism. She also left a huge legacy which her family and followers have carried on. On July 16^th, 2021, there is a bronze statue being unveiled this summer in her honor.