July 16 - Ida B. Wells-Barnett is Born

On this day in Labor History the year was 1862. That was the day that black-rights activist Ida B. Wells-Barnett was born in Holly Springs, Mississippi. She was the oldest of eight children. Wells went to college, and then became a teacher in Memphis, Tennessee.  In Memphis, Ida B. Wells became active in speaking out against black oppression in the Jim Crow South.