WOMEN IN THE BACKROUND OF HISTORY

Also known as Ida B. Wells (Holly Springs, Mississippi, 16 July 1862–Chicago, Illinois, 25 March 1931), she was an African-American journalist and activist. She was part of the suffrage movement and co-founded the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People, dedicated to defending civil rights and women’s rights in the United States. She was a pioneer of investigative journalism, documenting hundreds of cases of racial lynching, and for this journalistic work she was posthumously awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 2020.

The Civil Rights Act of 1875, which prohibited discrimination on the basis of race, creed or colour in theatres, hotels, transport or other public places, was declared unconstitutional in the Civil Rights Cases of 1883, and many railway companies were able to continue racial segregation of their passengers. However, when Ida B. Well returned to Memphis, she immediately hired a solicitor to sue the railway company. She won the case in the local court, but the company appealed to the Tennessee Supreme Court, which overturned the ruling. It was then that Well began writing under the pseudonym Iola.

Meanwhile, during demonstrations for women’s suffrage, Well opposed segregation by refusing to stand at the back of the march because she was black, a gesture that earned her recognition. In 1889, she began working as an editor and became co-owner of the anti-segregation newspaper Free Speech, published in Memphis.

https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ida_B._Wells#HeroSection