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The FBI once named journalist and activist Ida B. Wells one of America’s “most dangerous Negro agitators.” What led to such a nefarious title? A life spent fighting injustice.

Wells was one of the few suffragists of color to call for a woman’s right to vote. She crusaded against lynchings in the South at a time when white mob violence was common. 

Born into slavery in the mid-1860s, Wells watched her parents become activists during Reconstruction and followed in their footsteps. She fought against the white, male power structure of her day, endured constant harassment and death threats and traveled globally to shed light on the pervasiveness of lynching, and pushed white moderates toward action on segregation.  

Wells’ story unfolds in a new book by her great-granddaughter. Friday, MPR News host Kerri Miller talked with Michelle Duster about her iconic ancestor’s life and legacy.

To listen to the full conversation you can use the audio player above.

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To kick off Black History Month, we talk to Michelle Duster, the great-granddaughter of journalist and Black activist Ida B. Wells, about her new intimate biography of her great-grandmother’s legacy.

Author interview: ‘Ida B. The Queen’

A collage of a book cover and the author photo.

Author interview: ‘Ida B. The Queen’

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