Freedom Fighter Ida B. Wells gets s Statue in Chicago’s Bronzeville Community

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Earlier this month, a statue was unveiled honoring Ida B. Wells. The 20-foot-tall sculpture called the “Light of Truth” was designed by Chicago artist and sculptor Richard Hunt. Ida B. Wells was born in Holly Springs, MS, in 1862. She moved to Memphis in 1878 and started a newspaper called Free Speech and Headlight to denounce racial injustice.  

In 1895, she moved to Chicago and married journalist Ferdinand Lee Bartnett. From 1919 to 1929, the couple stayed at 3624 S. Martin Luther King Drive, Chicago. This area now known as the Bronzeville community is now where her statue stands. Her great-grandchildren Dan, and Michelle Duster, were on hand for the dedication ceremony. 

“Rosa Parks was the mother of the Civil Rights Movement, Fannie Lou Hamer, Sojourner Truth were the grandmothers, Ida B. Wells was the great-grandmother, and it goes on and on. To have a monument that can tell people her story and not just her name is powerful,” Dan Duster said. To read more about this story click here.