Ida B. Wells born in Holly Springs, Mississippi, July 16, 1862 and died March 25, 1931 in Chicago, Illinois. She was an African American woman, who from an early age had to be a mother to her siblings, a teacher, then a journalist, newspaper editor, sociologist and suffragist. What makes Ida B. Wells-Barnett unique is how she became a crusader for the voiceless, showcasing her important leadership roles for African-American civil rights. Ida B. Wells had lived during the time when African Americans after the Civil War were given the rights they were likely to have. never dreamed of having during their time as slaves. They could now be citizens of the United States, with equal protection under the laws, and male African Americans at a certain age could now vote. Each of these things represented both a great victory for the liberated people and the promise of a luminescent future. . During the 1870s and 1880s, these rights were slowly diminishing and eventually stripped from African Americans through Jim Crowlaws. The Jim Crow laws were a set of laws that “relegated African Americans to the status of second-class citizens and represented the legitimization of anti-black racism.”1 These blacks were losing their rights and were forced to work other jobs similar to slavery. . African Americans were now oppressed economically, socially, politically and the most common method was through violence. In the late 1800s, lynching was clearly the most flagrant and feared means of depriving blacks of their rights. In Ida B. Wells-Barnett's time, lynching was a racial terror. Blacks of the time were often falsely accused of committing the most heinous crimes imag...... middle of paper...... were extraordinary and his contributions to each were timely and indispensable. Ida B. Wells continued the good fight against mob violence and lynching and crusaded for black rights until her death on March 25, 1931. In conclusion, being a crusade for the voiceless by showing her important leadership roles for African American civil rights, Ida is still recognized today as a great journalist and activist. Her organizations that she formed long ago, such as the NAACP and the National Association of Colored Women, continue to survive and help millions of people out there today. Now I will close with a beautiful quote from Mrs. Ida. B. Wells-Barnett “the way to right wrongs is to shine the light of truth,”10 which is something she truly fought for and managed to help provide better futures for generations to come.