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Primary sourceBook1893

The Reason Why the Colored American Is Not in the World's Columbian Exposition

Ida B. Wells · 1893

Wells's 1893 pamphlet protesting the exclusion of Black Americans from the Chicago World's Fair.

Wells wrote this pamphlet to protest the exclusion of Black Americans from the 1893 Chicago World's Fair.

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Scan of a book page showing a printer's credit at the bottom reading 'Printed by KING, SELL, & BAILTON, Ltd., 12, Gough Square, and 4, Bolt Court, 151, Fleet Street, London, E.C.' with a decorative label at left reading '167 Fleet Street London' and a color calibration chart on the page. The image is cropped and set against a dark background.
Ida B. Wells, The Reason Why the Colored American Is Not in the World's Columbian Exposition, 1893.

About this source

What it is

This is a 1893 pamphlet written by Ida B. Wells protesting the exclusion of Black Americans from the World's Columbian Exposition held in Chicago. The scanned page shown here includes a printer's credit from a London printing firm.

Why it matters

The pamphlet is a primary document of Wells's activism, showing how she used print to challenge racial discrimination at a major national event. It reveals the era's exclusion of Black Americans from public celebration of American achievement, and how Wells fought back with her pen.

Look closer

  • Why might Wells have chosen a pamphlet rather than another form of protest?
  • What does the printer's information tell you about how the pamphlet was produced and distributed?
  • What is left out of this fragment that a reader might want to know?

This book 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.

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