Robert Sengstacke Abbott and the Black Press : Books

Ida B. Wells

Ida B. Wells-Barnett was a crusader against lynching and racism, a staunch advocate for women's rights, a fearless journalist and a founder of the NAACP. During her lifetime, she was the owner of two publications, Memphis Free Speech and Headlight, and the Free Speech, and she wrote articles for other publications. She was born on July 16, 1862, in Holly Springs, Miss. She died on March 25, 1931, in Chicago.

• Learn more about the journalist and the Ida B. Wells Memorial Foundation.
• Watch a video about Ida B. Wells at Biography.com.
• The Ida B. Wells-Barnett House is a National Historic Landmark.
• Read Ida B. Wells' book, Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All Its Phases (New York Age Print, 1892)

Frederick Douglass

Abolitionist Frederick Douglass was born enslaved in 1817, but escaped to freedom at age 20. His life experience and his talent as a writer and orator helped him rise to become one of the most prominent figures of the Abolitionist Movement and later, the fight against Jim Crow laws. Douglass began publishing his newspaper, The North Star, on December 3, 1847, in Rochester, N.Y. The paper's motto was "Right is of no Sex -- Truth is of no Color -- God is the Father of us all, and we are all brethren." He died in 1895.

• Watch a video about Frederick Douglass at Biography.com.
• Browse the University of Houston's digital exhibit about Douglass.
• See The North Star at American Treasures of the Library of Congress.