Here’s a great heroine for Black History Month. Ida B. Wells (1862-1931) is an extraordinary model for justice from whom we can continue to draw energy and inspiration. She was an American investigative journalist, sociologist, and leader for women’s rights and civil rights.

Born a slave and freed by the Emancipation Proclamation, she co-founded the NAACP and dedicated her life to fighting racial violence, segregation, and Jim Crow policies. Her articles and pamphlets exposed the brutality of lynching and its underlying economic and psychological principles.

Despite meeting regular public opposition, Wells came to co-own and edit a Black-owned newspaper in Memphis, TN, and wrote investigative pieces for Black-owned newspapers all across America. A persuasive speaker, she traveled both nationally and internationally. After her death, she was honored with a Pulitzer Prize.