Ida Bell Wells-Barnett (July 16, 1862 – March 25, 1931) was an American journalist, educator, and civil rights leader who fought for equality for African Americans, especially women.  She was one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and was likely the most famous Black woman in America.  She was born into slavery in Holly Springs, Mississippi and was freed by the Emancipation Proclamation within a year of her birth.  She lost both parents and an infant brother to yellow fever in 1878 and went to work to keep the rest of her family together. She eventually moved to Memphis and became a teacher and co-owner of the Memphis Free Speech and Headlight newspaper, where she reported on segregation and inequality.  In the 1890’s, as Southern states began to enact Jim Crow, the practice of lynching alleged Black criminals was condoned and used to intimidate Blacks.  When her reporting on the motives behind the terrorism of lynching was published nationally by Black-owned newspapers, a white mob destroyed her office and printing presses. A target of constant threats, she moved to Chicago, where she met and married Ferdinand L. Barnett and continued writing, speaking and organizing for civil rights and the women’s suffrage, founding several notable women’s organizations. Outspoken and often controversial, she traveled frequently on national and international lecture tours. She was honored with a special Pulitzer Prize in 2020 "for her outstanding and courageous reporting on the horrific and vicious violence against African Americans during the era of lynching."