25 (non-Bravo) real life housewives who are pretty badass

Ida B. Wells

Ida B. Wells was a suffragist, abolitionist, feminist, sociologist, journalist, civil rights leader and a founding member of the NCAAP. She has done more single-handedly for both women of color and people of color in general than all of her male counterparts, put together. Her story, and her sheer existence, is so inspiring that she has gone on to appear (in name and spirit) in art far into the 21st century.

It’s practically impossibl  to imagine how hard Wells’ life must have been as a black woman fighting injustice. As one of the only female journalists, she began documenting lynching in the South in the 1890s. Although it was very dangerous for her to do so, she spoke openly to the African American community about the blight, urging them to flee the South for safer parts North.

Wells wrote in Free Speech and Headlight, urging black people to leave Memphis altogether: “There is, therefore, only one thing left to do; save our money and leave a town which will neither protect our lives and property, nor give us a fair trial in the courts, but takes us out and murders us in cold blood when accused by white persons.”

She was so well respected and well regarded among her peers that Frederick Douglass, Irvine Garland Penn and W.E.B DuBois often sought collaboration with her. She was kind of a rockstar in her own time, and she was revered by her husband and all of her contemporaries.