Beginning in 1883, the Chicago Tribune newspaper printed a summary of the incidences of lynchings the paper had reported on throughout the year. Years later, Ida B. Wells Barnett embarked on a personal mission to bring awareness to lynching by writing scathing articles decrying the violent practice.
Ida B. Wells-Barnett was born a slave in 1862 in Holly Springs, Miss. In 1889, while working as a teacher in Memphis, Tenn., Wells-Barnett became editor and co-owner of a weekly paper, The Memphis Free Speech and Headlight.
It was in this paper that Wells-Barnett openly criticized the racist hiring policies of the Memphis school system. As a result of her articles, Wells-Barnett was fired from her teaching job. Undaunted, Wells-Barnett continued to use her platform as a journalist to denounce the racist practices in her community.
