Page:The Afro-American Press.djvu/415

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OUR WOMEN IN JOURNALISM.
407

matter, if only it came the same week. The most successful articles could be put in tract form, and kept for sale by an open letter agency of the syndicate,"

Mrs. Mossell is a telling writer, her thoughts being clear and clean-cut, in the main. We append the following tribute to her from The Indianapolis Freeman: "Mrs. Mossell is one of the most gifted as well as versatile women writers in the country, and rightly does the race honor and appreciate her genius."


Miss Ida B. Wells, (Iola,) General Newspaper Correspondent and Associate Editress.

That "perseverance overcomes all obstacles," is fully verified in the life and character of Miss I. B. Wells, who was born at Holly Springs, Ark., and reared and educated there. Her parents died while she was attending Rust University, which compelled her to leave school in order that she might support her five brothers and sisters, all being younger than herself.

She taught her first school at the age of fourteen, and with this work and journalism she has been an incessant laborer. She has taught in the schools of Arkansas and Tennessee, and has at various times been offered like positions elsewhere; but preferring to teach her people in the South, she has continued to labor there. For six years she has followed her vocation as teacher, in the city of Memphis.

During this time she began to write for the press. Her first article was a "write-up," at the request of the editor, of a suit for damages, in which she was the complainant. This paper was The Living Way, which she contributed to for the space of two years. This engagement introduced her to the newspaper fraternity as a writer of superb ability, and therefore demands for her services began to come in.