Ida B. Wells - Personal Life

Personal Life

In 1895, Wells married her husband, Barnett. She set an early precedent as being one of the first married American women to keep her own last name along with her husband's.

The couple had four children: Charles, Herman, Ida, and Alfreda. In her autobiography, A Divided Duty, Wells described the difficulty she had splitting her time between her family and her work. She continued to work after the birth of her first child, traveling and bringing the infant Charles with her. Although she tried to balance her worlds, she could not be as active in her work. Susan B. Anthony said she seemed "distracted". After having her second child, Wells stepped out of her touring and public life for a time, as she could no longer balance her job with her family.

Read more about this topic:  Ida B. Wells

Famous quotes containing the words personal life, personal and/or life:

    “The dialectic between change and continuity is a painful but deeply instructive one, in personal life as in the life of a people. To “see the light” too often has meant rejecting the treasures found in darkness.”
    —Adrienne Rich (b. 1929)

    “I believe that the highest virtue is to be happy, living in the greatest truth, not submitting to the falsehood of these personal times.”
    —D.H. (David Herbert)

    “Tomorrow in the offices the year on the stamps will be altered;
    Tomorrow new diaries consulted, new calendars stand;
    With such small adjustments life will again move forward
    Implicating us all; and the voice of the living be heard:
    “It is to us that you should turn your straying attention;
    Us who need you, and are affected by your fortune;
    Us you should love and to whom you should give your word.””
    —Philip Larkin (1922–1986)