Long before Rosa Parks there was Ida B. Wells, a Civil Rights pioneer. 

At the end of the 19th century, Jim Crow laws were enacted widely throughout the Southern United States. These state and local laws sought to mandate and enforce racial segregation in public transportation, schools, public places, restrooms, restaurants, and drinking fountains. Despite the passage of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Constitutional Amendments, Jim Crow laws persisted for decades, many enforced until 1965. 

In 1883 when Ida B. Wells was traveling in a first-class train car with a ticket she had purchased, she was approached by the conductor to move to a second-class smokers car. Refusing to move, the conductor attempted to drag her from the car, ultimately physically removing her with the assistance of other railroad employees. Wells sued the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad and was initially awarded $500 damage. But the railroad appealed the decision, advancing the case to the Tennessee Supreme Court, where Ida B. Wells lost. This injustice propelled Wells into action, and her resistance became a symbol of African American resistance to the Jim Crow laws as a civil rights pioneer. 

Ida B. Wells became a journalist and owner of the Memphis newspaper Free Speech and Headlight and spent a lifetime working for civil rights and women’s suffrage. She helped to launch the National Association of Colored Women and was one of the founding members of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).