1 / 7 photos Ida B. Wells

Born a slave in 1862, Ida B. Wells fought against the odds to become an educated woman and civil rights activist that played a major part in the anti-lynching crusade in the 1890s. (Photo courtesy of Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library)

After the untimely death of her parents and one of her siblings due to yellow fever, Ida B. Wells, the eldest of the Wells children, has to drop out of school at the age of 16 to care for her brothers and sisters. (Photo courtesy of Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library)

Ida B. Wells moves to Memphis, Tennessee, to live with her aunt in 1882, bringing her younger sisters with her. (Photo courtesy of Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library)

During a train ride from Memphis to Nashville, Tenessee, Ida B. Wells is asked to move to the section designated for African-Americans, even after having purchased a first class ticket. This incident led to writing articles that were published in several African-American newspapers about the injustices of race relations in the South. (Photo courtesy of Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library)

Always having been one to stand up for her beliefs, the incident that causes Ida B. Wells to take action against the injustices that she saw was the lynching of three grocery store owners. After witnessing the lynch mob murder them, Wells took it upon herself to research other lynchings and report about them. (Photo courtesy of Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library)

Later in life, Ida B. Wells finds it difficult to split time between her family and her activism. She gives birth to four children: Charles, Herman, Ida and Alfreda. (Photo courtesy of Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library)

Although Ida B. Wells slowed down in her activism after building her family, she made a major impact in fighting for civil rights in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, even calling for President Woodrow Wilson to take action against discrimination. She died of kidney disease on March 25, 1931. (Photo courtesy of Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library)