Ida B. Wells

• Wells started campaigning against discrimination in 1884 when she refused to give up her seat on a train for a white man.
• Wells challenged the myths that alleged rape was often not the cause of lynching and that there wasn’t a total white innocence in some of the allegations.
• Wells continued her message in the National Association of Coloured Women (formed in 1896).
• Wells failed to gain any commitment from Congress or President for a federal anti-lynching law. Such a law would have interfered with state rights.