_Her pen moved swiftly across the crisp white sheet before her as an electrifying power surged througout her body and mind. Her sharp pointed weapon seemed to slash the blankness before her with resiliance and conviction as she battled against the great burden of her people, of all people: the disregard of people's rights. All around her she witnessed brutal killings of blacks, humiliating degradation, and a people inhibited by chains that were meant to cripple them forever. With each word she fired onto the paper she imagined destroying the injustices and cutting the chains one by one until she and other blacks could finally have a chance to live their dreams without fear.

_After moving to Memphis Ida began to expand her life to new horizons of hope. She obtained a teaching job teaching first grade at an all-black school in Memphis and learned paitience while managing an average of 70 children at once. She also joined Lyceum, a literay club at a Memphis church, that performed plays and skits and wrote a variety of literature. Ida was chosen to be the editor of the Lyceum's newspaper, the Evening Star. Later Ida began writing for a larger newspaper, the Living Way, and she gained her pen name Iola from a misprint in the paper where the d in her name appeared as "o l".

__Ida wrote opinionated articles about both blacks and whites and the problems in society such as discrimination and segregation. She was one of the few women, nonetheless black women, who was part of the field of journalism and dared to criticize the times. Ida's writings became poplular among blacks, but whites resented her outspoken voice. She was known as the "Princess of the Press" for her strong, unique articles. In 1884 Ida encountered one of her most humiliating experiences, when she was physically forced off a train when she refused to get up from the white's section. Ida used this opportunity to write to the black community about the situation and what could be done to stop segregation. Ida wrote:

THing"...The correspondence I had built up in newspaper work gave me an outlet to express the real 'me' and I enjoyed my work to the utmost."

_Ida again attacked segregation and was fired from her job as a school teacher in 1889 when she wrote an editorial in Free Speech and Headlight about how terrible the segregation in public schools was. Black children were forced to learn in harsh conditions, and Ida would not stand for it so once again her pen became a mighty sword.

_The greatest wrong which Ida fought against was the practice of lynching. Ida devoted a great part of her life to making known the terrors of blacks being hanged, shot, or beaten to death by mobs of whites. When three of her friend were brutally lynched after their grocery store was in direct competition to a white owned grocery store across the street, Ida took up arms and with great determination for change. She saw lynching as tactic to keep the black race from achieving and rising from a low social standing. Blacks were being lynched for the slightest of crimes and sometime the lynch victims were innocent, yet they were not allowed their right to a fair trial...then it was too late. Ida began writing even more articles investigating lynching, and she also traveled around America, and even to Europe, to make strong speeches that would arouse people to take action. Ida's life was threatened many times, and she was forced to move constantly because of the violence, yet she fought on with perseverence.

_Ida's personal life was not always as clear and direct as her work. During her twenties, for instance, she dated a variety of men, but never found a genuine, lasting companion. Furthermore, the fact that she was a single woman living on her own made her often the topic of gossip in her society, since the people believed that women should never be left on their own, unguarded. It was not until the age of thirty-three that Ida found true love in Ferdinand Lee Barnett, a lawyer who also published The Conservator. They wed joyously on June 27, 1885, and were celebrated in the reception afterwards by the Ida B. Wells Club.

_Ida settled well enough into the role of wife and mother, though she admitted she was not the kind of woman who enjoyed doing housework. It was dificult, however, balancing her crusade and her family. When she had her first son, for example, she took him along with her as she toured the country making speeches. Ida rejoiced in her children immensely. Besides Charles, she had another son, Herman, and two daughters, Ida and Alfreda. She was a firm mother, who actively participated in her children's lives. She demanded that they do their very best in school and maintain an overall honorable character. Always, however, she was governed by her feeling of love for them, once expressing in a letter:

THingWhenever I think of my dear [family], which is all the time, such a feeling of confidence comes over me. I have had many troubles and much disappointment in life, but I feel that in you I have an abiding joy...

Ida effectively juggled her family and crusade unilt her death on March 25, 1931. She had lived a life of toil and strife, and in her death left future generations with a venerable legacy of strength and courage.