Holly Springs: A Personal Narrative Of My Life

I was born in Holly Springs, Mississippi on July 16, 1862, as the eldest of eight children. Both of my parents, Jim and Lizzie Wells, were slaves at the time. After Emancipation, my father became a first board member of trustees at Rust College in Holly Springs; Rust College was founded by the Freedman’s Aid. My mother learned basic education there and I attended the school for the rest of my childhood. When I was a teenager, both of my parents and my youngest brother died in a yellow-fever epidemic. In order to support my family of younger siblings, I put a hold on going to Rust and got a job at a rural school; I had to lie about my age. Later, I moved to Memphis, Tennessee to continue my education. I attended Fisk University and Lemoyne Institute. …show more content…
It had been alright up until one day in 1884 when a conductor asked me to give up my seat for a white man, but I refused, because the forward car was a smoker car, and as I was in the ladies' car. Then the conductor tried to pull me out of the seat, but as he took hold of my arm, I bit the back of his hand. He thand got then got the baggageman and another man to help him remove me and of course they succeeded. I was forcefully removed from the train and the other white passengers applauded. When I returned home, I immediately hired an attorney to sue the railroad. I won the case in the local circuit courts, but the railroad company appealed to the Supreme Court of Tennessee, and it reversed the lower court's ruling. This was the first of the many struggles I encountered, and from that moment on, I worked endlessly and fearlessly to stop the injustices against women and other people of …show more content…
The first thing that I accomplished in my life as a reformer was landing a job as a partner at the Free Speech and Headlight paper. After working at this paper for awhile, I became the owner of it and then the owner of Free Speech. These papers allowed me to distribute my message and my passion for reform to many people. I published many works that described the injustice, one notable one being, A Red Record which was a piece that listed all of the lynchings for a three year period. Another big accomplishment for me was when I led a protest at the white house which called for President McKinley to make reform. In my late career, I had the privilege of creating various organizations that stood for African Americans and women’s right, one of which being, the African American Women’s Club of