Paintings Reproductions Ida B. Wells-Barnett, 1893 by Sallie Evangelica Garrity (1862-1907, United States) | WahooArt.com

Sallie Evangelica Garrity - Silver (i) - 9 x 13 cm - 1893 - (National Portrait Gallery (Washington, United States)) The daughter of former slaves, Ida B. Wells sued the Chesapeake, Ohio, and Southwestern Railway in 1883 after being dragged from her seat for refusing to move to a segregated railcar. Her anger over this incident spurred her to begin contributing articles to black-owned newspapers; she became part owner and editor of the Memphis Free Speech and Headlight in 1889. After three black businessmen were lynched in Memphis in 1892, Wells launched what became a four-decade-long anti-lynching crusade. She vigorously investigated other lynchings and published her groundbreaking treatise on the topic, Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases.