American journalist and reformer Ida B. Wells-Barnett
Credit: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution

On May 4, 2020, the American journalist and reformer Ida B. Wells-Barnett was awarded a special citation by the board that awards the Pulitzer Prizes. Pulitzer Prizes are given in the United States each year for distinguished achievement in journalism, literature, drama, and music. Wells-Barnett was known chiefly for her campaign against the lynching (lawless killing) of African Americans during the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. The Pulitzer citation honored her “outstanding and courageous” reporting during the era of lynching.

Ida B. Wells was born a slave in Holly Springs, Mississippi, on July 16, 1862. She moved to Memphis in 1884. In 1889, she became part-owner and a reporter for Free Speech, a Memphis newspaper. In 1892, after three of her friends were hanged in Memphis, she began to investigate lynchings and other violence against African Americans. Her work led to the founding of many antilynching organizations.

In 1894, Wells moved to Chicago to continue her efforts. She married in 1895, becoming Ida B. Wells-Barnett. In 1909, Wells-Barnett helped found the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). She also took part in the campaign to give women the right to vote. Until her death in 1931, Wells-Barnett continued to fight for the rights of African Americans.

The Pulitzer Prize medal
Credit: © 2020 The Pulitzer Prizes

Wells-Barnett was far from the first African American to be recognized by the Pulitzer Prize board. In 1950, the American poet Gwendolyn Brooks became the first African American to win a Pulitzer Prize. Also in 2020, the American author Colson Whitehead became one of a very few authors to have received the Pulitzer Prize for fiction twice.