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# Ida B. Wells-Barnett

National Portrait Gallery

                    - Share IconShare Icon                       - 
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                      - Print
                      -     DetailsRelatedObject Details- Artist
- Sallie E. Garrity, c. 1862 - 1907
- Sitter
- Ida Bell Wells-Barnett, 16 Jul 1862 - 25 Mar 1931
- Exhibition Label
- In 1884, the journalist Ida B. Wells filed a lawsuit against the Chesapeake, Ohio and Southwestern Railroad after being forcibly removed from the ladies’ train car because she was black. Wells, who had been traveling from Memphis to the nearby town of Woodstock, won the trial in Shelby County but lost the appeal at the Tennessee Supreme Court. After this, she focused on advocating for the civil rights of African Americans—including suffrage.
- In 1913, at the suffrage parade in Washington, D.C., she famously refused to march in the back with the other African American women. Instead, she marched at the front of the Illinois suffrage delega- tion. Her gumption distinguished her. Among the most famous black authors of the late nineteenth century, Wells protested lynching and made a crusade to have it federally outlawed. In 1892, she denounced the purported rationale behind it: “Nobody . . . believes the old threadbare lie that Negro men rape white women.”
- En 1884, la periodista Ida B. Wells demandó a las compañías ferroviarias Chesapeake & Ohio y Southwestern luego de ser expulsada a la fuerza del vagón de damas por ser de raza negra. Wells, quien viajaba de Memphis al cercano pueblo de Woodstock, ganó el juicio en Shelby County, pero perdió la apelación en el Tribunal Supremo de Tennessee. Desde entonces se dedicó a defender los derechos civiles de los afroamericanos, incluido el sufragio.
- En 1913, durante el desfile sufragista en Washington, D.C., causó revuelo cuando se negó a marchar en la parte de atrás, con las demás afroamericanas, y se colocó al frente de la delegación de Illinois. Siempre se distinguió por sus agallas. Fue una de las autoras negras más famosas de fines del siglo XIX y alzó su voz contra los linchamientos, liderando una cruzada para prohibirlos mediante legislación federal. En 1892 denunció la supuesta razón para dicha práctica: “Nadie [...] cree esa mentira trillada de que los hombres negros violan a las mujeres blancas”.
- Credit Line
- National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
- c. 1893
- Object number
- NPG.2009.36
- Restrictions & Rights
- CC0
- Type
- Photograph
- Medium
- Albumen silver print
- Dimensions
- Image/Sheet: 13.9 x 9.8 cm (5 1/2 x 3 7/8")
- Mount: 16.3 x 10.7 cm (6 7/16 x 4 3/16")
- Mat: 45.7 x 35.6 cm (18 x 14")
- Place
- United States\Illinois\Cook\Chicago
- See more items in
- National Portrait Gallery Collection
- Location
- Currently not on view
- National Portrait Gallery
- Topic
- Photographic format\Cabinet card
- Ida Bell Wells-Barnett: Female
- Ida Bell Wells-Barnett: Literature\Writer
- Ida Bell Wells-Barnett: Journalism and Media\Journalist
- Ida Bell Wells-Barnett: Journalism and Media\Editor
- Ida Bell Wells-Barnett: Education and Scholarship\Educator\Teacher
- Ida Bell Wells-Barnett: Society and Social Change\Reformer\Activist\Civil rights activist
- Ida Bell Wells-Barnett: Society and Social Change\Enslaved person
- Portrait
- Record ID
- npg_NPG.2009.36
- Metadata Usage (text)
- CC0
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/sm4760ba458-1ad1-4332-8204-273304fbbb15
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  CC0Creative Commons - No Rights Reserved iconUsage Conditions Apply>download icon>          This image is in the public domain (free of copyright restrictions).  You can copy, modify, and distribute this work without contacting the Smithsonian.  For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Open Access page.        International media Interoperability FrameworkIIIF provides researchers rich metadata and media viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. Visit the IIIF page to learn more.View manifestView in Mirador ViewerExpand to view image×                             Footer logo      
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