An 1887 article by Ida using her pen name Iola

Newspaper from Ida's time:

ThingIda began writing more and more even as she taught, for she found it the only true way in which she could express herself. Indeed, she was becoming more renowned on account of her forceful, direct editorials that in no way crouched from baring the ugly truth. As one writer in the Washington Bee once stated,"From a mere, insignificant country-bred lass she has developed into one of the foremost among female thinkers of the race." For all the praise she received, Ida had to steel herself against criticism as well. It came from the fact that she was one of the few people who had the nerve to admonish those who were doing wrong, and she lashed out against not only whites, but blacks of her own society too. For instance, in her article "Functions of Leadership" in 1885, she rebuked the well-to-do African Americans in the community who were doing nothing to help out their less fortunate black brothers, without connections and without jobs.

ThingBy 1891, she was a regular writer for such magazines as The New York Age, the Indianapolis World, and Kansas City's Gate City Press. Her fame enabled her to participate in the Afro-American Press Convention in 1889, where she beat one of the founders to be elected as secretary. Later she was asked to write articles for a Memphis newspaper, Free Speech and Headlight (the name was afterwards shortened to just Free Speech). The black newspaper was owned by a Reverend Taylor Nightingale and a fellow journalist, J.L. Fleming. Fleming had originally operated the Marrion Headlight, for which Ida had written on occasion, but had been run out his town, along with some other blacks who held office, by a handful of jealous and suspicious whites. Ida saw this as the opportunity she had been waiting for, since the newspapers she wrote for could not afford to pay her except by subscriptions or free copies of the paper. Thus, Ida seized the offer handed to her on the condition that she, too, would assume part ownership of Free Speech and Headlight. Nightingale and Fleming agreed, and Ida, as editor, took the responsibility of handling the production of the paper.

ThingIn 1891, she wrote a particularly poignant article for Free Speech regarding the Memphis schools. Ida knew that by law facilities for whites and blacks, though set apart by segregation, were supposed to be equal. However, in reality, this simply was not the case. Ida berated the ill-equipped public schools for the black children and pointed out that some of the novel teachers had "little to recommend them save an illicit friendship with members of the school board." In essence, the black schools were grossly inferior to the white ones, and nothing was being done about it. Not for the last time, Ida found out just how powerful her pen could be. Seeing the potency of her piece, Ida asked her partner, Reverend Nightingale, to sign it. He feared the worst and refused. In the end, Ida decided that her words needed to be read.

ThingJust as the two had suspected, when the article was published, all of Memphis was scandalized. Members of the board of education as well as other white and black parents were infuriated and verbally attacked Ida in return. When the new school year began Ida's teaching license was not renewed, and she discovered out later, after it was too late for her to seek another position, that she had been dismissed. Her article had rendered her without a job. Perhaps, however, this was a blessing in disguise. Ida had a good deal of free time now, which she used to tour neighboring towns to both acquire new subscriptions and increase the paper's circulation. Eventually, she was able to earn close to what she had made on a teacher's salary.

ThingIda's life had taken a sharp turn, and now she would completely immerse herself in journalism. Ida would have had the situation turn out no other way. As she herself saw it, "I thought I was right to strike a blow against a glaring evil, and I did not regret."