IDA B. WELLS: JOURNALIST, ADVOCATE & CRUSADER FOR JUSTICE (Rise. Risk. Remember. Incredible Stories of Courageous Black Women), by Erica Armstrong Dunbar, Candace Buford, Aladdin, June 3, 2025, Hardcover, $19.99, Paperback, $8.99 (ages 10 and up)
Learn about the inspiring life of a pioneering journalist in Ida B. Wells: Journalist, Advocate & Crusader for Justice, by Erica Armstrong Dunbar and Candace Buford.
Born into slavery, Ida B. Wells (1862–1931) grew up watching her family fight for Black rights during the Reconstruction Era. After receiving her education, Ida worked as an educator before moving to Memphis where she began writing about white mob violence, investigating lynchings and reporting her findings in local newspapers. Ida helped found the NAACP and was a renowned leader in the civil rights movement, but she was also a young woman desperately trying to hold her family together after tragedy with dignity and resolve.
Ida fought to give voice to the people suffering from injustice, racism, and violence. She spoke out against lynchings internationally and refused to cater to the white women leading the suffrage movement. Throughout her life, she devoted her words and deeds to activism. —Synopsis provided by Aladdin
Ida B. Wells: Journalist, Advocate & Crusader for Justice is a middle-grade biography written in first-person voice. Much of the information comes from Wells’ own writing. In fact, the authors include Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases, written and published by Wells in 1892, at the end of the book.
Authors Erica Armstrong Dunbar and Candace Buford note that it’s important to “not only know Ida’s story but also read her own words,” allowing readers to compare and contrast the two.
Ida B. Wells: Journalist, Advocate & Crusader for Justice is a compelling narrative that draws you in from the first pages and holds attention throughout. And at 208 pages (136 pages of biography and the rest Wells’ text), it’s an accessible length for readers of varying levels of confidence.
Dunbar and Buford’s prose is comfortable making for an inviting read. It is a absorbing biography.
Ida B. Wells: Journalist, Advocate & Crusader for Justice is the second book in the Rise. Risk. Remember. Incredible Stories of Courageous Black Women series, which spotlights Black women who left their mark on history. The first book in the series, Susie King Taylor: Nurse Teacher & Freedom Fighter, was released in 2023.
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