Ida B. Wells and the Untold Truth of a Country

By Lesa Cline-Ransome

In the 1890s, Ida B. Wells documented the horrific lynchings of African-Americans and revealed the untold truths of the U.S. Her legacy as a trailblazing journalist and activist is honored in this definitive middle-grade biography from Newbery Honoree Lesa Cline-Ransome.

Decades before Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat, Ida B. Wells was thrown out of her first class train car despite having a ticket. It wasn't the last time Civil Rights activist and journalist Wells would be challenged: in 1892, a white mob burned her printing press and drove her out of town. But no matter what opposition she faced, Ida B. Wells wasn't going anywhere--and in 2020, she won a posthumous Pulitzer Prize for her courageous reporting on the violence against African Americans during the era of lynching.

This biography is the awe-inspiring true story of Ida B. Wells, an activist icon who co-founded the NAACP, published her own newspaper, and fought for intersectionality within the suffragist movement--a trailblazer who was as important in her time as she remains today.

Coretta Scott King Honor author and NAACP Image Award winner Lesa Cline-Ransome brings Ida B. Wells' achievements to life, and to a young audience that recognizes the need to shatter the status quo. Beyond just a biography, this powerful text honors the history of Civil Rights while challenging readers to push back against oppressive forces by being their boldest, bravest selves.

A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0823456234
• ISBN13: 9780823456239
• Release Date: September 2026
• Publisher: Holiday House
• Length: 176 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.
• Age Range: 8 to 12 years
• Grade Range: Grades 3 to 7