Ida B. Wells gets her street — City Council approves renaming Congress in her honor | Chicago Tribune

[dropcap]An[/dropcap] African-American journalist, Ida B. Wells-Barnett worked to expose lynching, pushed for women’s right to vote and started numerous organizations to help African-Americans gain economic and political power across the country. [mc4wp_form id=”6042″]

For many years, Wells’ work was overlooked, even in her own time. When she died in 1931, The New York Times failed to write an obituary, an error in judgment the newspaper tried to address with a story earlier this year.

A car moves Eastbound on Congress Parkway at Michigan Aveune in Chicago, on Wednesday, July 25, 2018. Chicago City Council voted to rename the street to honor civil rights activist Ida B. Wells. Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune

Near the end of her life, Wells attended a Negro History meeting but left disappointed because her storied career went unacknowledged among her contemporaries, according to her biographer, Paula Giddings, author of “Ida: A Sword Among Lions.”

But now with a major street renamed in her honor and plans to construct a monument to her in Bronzeville, the pioneering civil and women’s rights icon’s memory lives.