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Secondary sourcePhotograph13 May 2012

Sign Commemorating Ida B. Wells, Memphis

Adam Jones, Ph.D. · 13 May 2012

A 2012 photograph of a historical marker in downtown Memphis honoring Ida B. Wells's anti-lynching activism.

This marker commemorates Wells's anti-lynching campaign and her 1892 newspaper office in Memphis.

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A Tennessee Historical Commission marker reading Ida B. Wells 1862-1931, with text about her anti-lynching campaign and her 1892 Memphis newspaper office. Pedestrians stand on a downtown sidewalk nearby, with a Wet Willie's sign in front.
Historical marker commemorating Ida B. Wells, downtown Memphis, Tennessee. Photograph by Adam Jones, Ph.D., 2012.

About this source

What it is

This photograph shows a Tennessee Historical Commission marker in downtown Memphis, Tennessee, describing Ida B. Wells as an anti-lynching activist and noting her 1892 Memphis newspaper office. The photo was taken in 2012.

Why it matters

The marker preserves public memory of Wells's courageous journalism in Memphis, where she investigated and exposed lynching through her newspaper work in 1892. It shows how cities commemorate activists whose work challenged racial violence and injustice.

Look closer

  • Why do you think the city chose to place this marker in a busy downtown area?
  • What does the marker's wording emphasize about Wells's activism?
  • What more would you want to know about Wells's 1892 newspaper work that isn't shown here?

This photograph is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Ida B. Wells on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

More Ida B. Wells sources

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Title page of the 1892 pamphlet 'Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases' on aged, stained paper. Below the title is an engraved portrait of a woman with hair piled high, and the caption 'Miss IDA B. WELLS'. Text reads 'Price, Fifteen Cents' and 'The New York Age Print, 1892'.Book

Primary source

Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases

Ida B. Wells · 1892

Book

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The Red Record

Ida B. Wells-Barnett · 1895

Sepia-toned studio portrait of a woman in three-quarter view facing left, with hair piled high in an updo and a small ornament on top. She wears a dark lace dress with a high ruffled collar and a light decorative pin at the neck.Photograph

Primary source

Ida B. Wells-Barnett Portrait

Mary Garrity · c. 1893

Sepia-toned studio portrait of a woman with voluminous hair piled high on her head, turned three-quarters to the right. She wears a high-necked dark dress with beaded and embroidered trim at the collar.Photograph

Primary source

Ida B. Wells Portrait by Cihak and Zima

Cihak and Zima · c. 1895

Black-and-white newspaper photograph of women in white sashes at a 1913 suffrage parade. Sashes read 'Vote No Tax' and a banner reads 'Illinois'. Caption names Virginia Brooks, Mrs. Belle Squire, and Mrs. Ida Wells Barnett. Inset below shows a smaller figure.Newspaper article

Primary source

Ida B. Wells at 1913 Suffrage Parade

May 1913

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