--- description: The Google Doodle celebrates journalist and activist Ida B. Wells' 153rd birthday. title: Today's Google Doodle Celebrates Journalist Ida B. Wells' Birthday image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde8164797f872e1b/69885b298e060151614616a2/ida-b-wells-153rd-birthday.jpg?branch=production&width=1440&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Newsfeed](/tag/time-section-newsfeed/) ## Newsfeed Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Today's Google Doodle Celebrates Journalist Ida B. Wells' Birthday  by [Tessa Berenson](/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 16, 2015 1:48 PM CUT  Google  by [Tessa Berenson](/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 16, 2015 1:48 PM CUT Today is Ida B. Wells’ 153rd birthday, and the Google Doodle is celebrating her accordingly with a sketch of the famous journalist and activist sitting at her desk working at a typewriter. Wells was a journalist and newspaper editor at the turn of the 20th century who documented civil rights abuses and worked toward women’s suffrage. She was editor of two papers in Memphis by the time she was 25, and later moved to Chicago where she ran the _Chicago Conservator_. Calling her “fearless and uncompromising,” [Google explained](https://www.google.com/doodles/ida-b-wells-153rd-birthday "undefined") its choice to honor her in the Doodle: “We salute Ida B. Wells with a Doodle that commemorates her journalistic mettle and her unequivocal commitment to the advancement of civil liberties.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3960699/google-doodle-ida-b-wells/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3960699/google-doodle-ida-b-wells/"},"headline":"Today's Google Doodle Celebrates Journalist Ida B. Wells' Birthday","datePublished":"2015-07-16T13:48:45.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:22:12.753Z","description":"She was a journalist, newspaper editor and civil rights activist","url":"https://time.com/3960699/google-doodle-ida-b-wells/","keywords":["Newsfeed","History","Internet","Google"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde8164797f872e1b/69885b298e060151614616a2/ida-b-wells-153rd-birthday.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde8164797f872e1b/69885b298e060151614616a2/ida-b-wells-153rd-birthday.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"ida-b-wells-153rd-birthday","caption":"ida-b-wells-153rd-birthday","creditText":"Google","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3960699/google-doodle-ida-b-wells/","name":"Today's Google Doodle Celebrates Journalist Ida B. Wells' Birthday"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"How Google Makes its Doodles","description":"Our videographer went to the Googleplex in Mountain View, California to meet some of the designers and coders who create the special, clever variations on the Google.com logo known as","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/upF0qp1E/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2018-07-07T16:09:57.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/upF0qp1E.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3960699/google-doodle-ida-b-wells/","duration":"PT3M23S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3960699/google-doodle-ida-b-wells/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```