ABSTRACT
Armed with that conviction, Ida B.Wells-Barnett2 set the standard not only as a black woman journalist, but also as a journalist during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. This daughter of former slaves championed causes that sought to terminate the horrific conditions under which black people lived and the impediments they faced in the years following the Civil War and into the twentieth century. Through journalistic activism, Wells-Barnett called attention to and sought an end to lynching of black men, women, and children. The muckraking journalist used her investigative skills and her pen to fashion stories, letters, and commentaries that took a nation and its white inhabitants to task for lynching and racial and gender discrimination. Wells-Barnett’s writings prodded both black leaders and the black masses to seek to elevate themselves and the race.
