Civil Rights activist Ida B Wells

Witness History: Black history

31-05-2022 • 9 Min.

In March 2022 a law was passed in the United States making lynching a federal crime - nearly 120 years after the first attempts to introduce legislation. The pioneering African-American journalist Ida B Wells first campaigned for the change in the 1890s after realising the horror of lynching taking place across the country. Laura Jones has been speaking to her great-granddaughter Michelle Duster.

PHOTO: Ida B Wells in 1920 (Chicago History Museum/Getty Images)