Chicago Unveils New Ida B. Wells Monument
Yesterday, the City of Chicago unveiled an Ida B. Wells monument. The monument named the “Light of Truth” honors civil rights icon, Ida B. Wells. Richard Hunt created the Wells sculpture now located in Bronzeville at the former Ida B. Wells Housing Project.
Wells was born into slavery on July 16, 1862, and became a prominent civil rights activist. At the age of 27, Wells became the co-owner and editor for the Memphis Free Speech and Headlight newspaper. Wells was known for her investigative reporting that covered racial segregation and inequality. Wells also documented and reported on lynchings in the United States.
As a target of threats due to her prominent exposés in Memphis, Wells moved to Chicago, where she continued her impressive civil rights efforts and eventually ran for Illinois State Senate in 1930 as one of the first black women to do so. She ran as an independent candidate but came in third. Wells was one of two women founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1909.
Wells was the editor and publisher, and her husband was the founder of one of Chicago’s first black newspapers called The Chicago Conservator. Other notable accomplishments include her organization of The Women’s Era Club, a pioneer civic club for African-American women in Chicago that was later renamed the Ida B. Wells Club in her honor. This club advocated for the Bronzeville housing project to be named after Wells, which made history in 1939 as the first housing project named after a woman of color. This is why the new “Light of Truth” monument location is so meaningful.
Wells was also a founder of the Chicago Negro Fellowship League, the Alpha Suffrage Club, and was a director of the Cook County League of Women’s Clubs. In 1893, when the World’s Columbian Exposition was held in Chicago, African Americans were excluded from the exhibits. Wells worked with Frederick Douglass and other civil rights leaders to organize a Black boycott of the Chicago World Fair.
If you want to check out some more Chicago facts and history, take a look at our other Strellis and Field blog posts, which can be found here.
