A statue of anti-lynching crusade activist and journalist Ida B. Wells now accents the corner of Beale St. and Fourth Street as the centerpiece of Ida B. Wells Plaza.
From the basement of nearby First Baptist Church-Beale, the historic church built by freed slaves, Wells, a fear-defying journalist, produced a newspaper documenting and decrying the lynching of African Americans in the United States.
The monument honoring Wells was officially unveiled during a Friday ceremony that punctuated a series of events during Ida B. Wells Celebration Week.
The New Tri-State Defender has been covering the celebration, with more stories to come about the unveiling and other events incorporated into a week of remembrance and of re-dedication to work yet to be done on the civil rights and human rights fronts.
Here is a developing gallery of images:
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- Workers place the statue of Ida B. Wells-Barnett. (Photo: Tyrone P. Easley)
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- A worker puts the finishing touch to the placement of the Ida B. Wells-Barnett statue. (Photo: Tyrone P. Easley)
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- The Ida B. Well-Barnett at Memphis statue. (Photo: Tyrone P. Easley)
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- “How to Stay Awake in the Midst of a Revolution” was the theme of a discussion held at Memphis Theological Seminary the night before the statue’s unveiling. (Photo: Tyrone P. Easley)
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- Yvonne Acey of Africa in April helps sets the tone for Friday’s unveiling. (Dr. Sybil C. Mitchell)
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- On hand for the ceremony. (Photo: Dr. Sybil C. Mitchell)
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- Saluting Ida B. Wells-Barnett. (Photo: Dr. Sybil C. Mitchell)
Think Ida B. Wells and then answer this: ‘What are you willing to suffer?’
Ninety years before the Ida B. Wells statue, Memphians wanted to name a park after her
