May 1892

After Ida B. Wells published editorials in the Memphis Free Speech challenging the rape justification for lynching, a white mob destroyed the newspaper's offices on May 27, 1892, and threatened her with death if she returned to Memphis. She was in Philadelphia at the time. Wells never returned to the South to live. She continued her anti-lynching campaign from New York and later Chicago, building an international movement.

While Wells is traveling in New York, a white mob destroys the Memphis Free Speech office and printing equipment. White Memphis newspapers publish her home address and warn she will be killed if she returns. Wells, who had written that the rape pretext for lynching was 'a thread-bare lie,' is forced into permanent exile. She settles in New York and begins her national anti-lynching campaign.

While Wells is in New York, a mob destroys the Memphis Free Speech office and printing equipment. White newspapers publish her address and warn she will be killed if she returns. Wells — who called the rape pretext for lynching 'a thread-bare lie' — settles permanently in New York and launches her national anti-lynching campaign.