Ida B. Wells was born in Holly Springs, Mississippi on July 16, 1862. The daughter of former slaves, Wells moved with several of her siblings to Memphis in 1883 to teach in the Shelby County school system.

Shortly after moving, Wells was traveling on a Memphis & Charleston Railway train when she was ordered to give up her seat to a white man. After refusing, sparking an angry reaction from the conductor, she was forcibly removed from the train. Wells used the incident to bring attention to the massive societal injustices facing women and people of color at the time. In 1889, she began writing for the Free Speech and Headlight newspaper, an anti-segregationist publication that gave Wells an outlet for her work and advocacy. 

After three of Wells’ friends were lynched in 1892, Wells left Memphis for Chicago. There, she teamed with Jane Adams in blocking the establishment of segregated schools in the city and helped form numerous reform organizations to improve conditions for women and people of color. Wells helped form the NAACP and was one of the first African-American women to run for public office in the country when she ran for the Illinois state legislature in 1930.

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Jim Crow Stories – Ida B. Wells
Today’s Google Doodle Celebrates Journalist Ida B. Wells’ Birthday - Time.com

Recent college graduates have a host of small cities in Illinois to choose from that are great places to pursue a law career, according to a new study by the internet site GoodCall.com.

The study looked at a number of criteria in coming up with their Top 100 Small Cities for Law School Graduates, including the region’s average lawyer salary, housing affordability, art, entertainment and recreation amenities and employment attractiveness.

The list included the Illinois cities of Canton (8th), Lincoln (11th), Rochelle (51st), Centralia (55th), Quincy (68th), Macomb (69th), Charleston (73rd), Taylorville (77th), Galesburg (88th) and Jacksonville (89th).

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For a full ranking of cities, click here

Jane Lynch, who is best known for her role as Sue Sylvester in the hit TV series “Glee,” was born on July 14, 1960 in Evergreen Park. Lynch, who was raised in Dolton, found her love for acting early in life while playing the important role of a candle in her 3rd-grade school play. Her love for acting would follow her through high school and on to college.

Lynch studied at Illinois State University before attending Cornell University’s graduate program for acting. After school, Lynch spent time in New York before moving to Chicago, where she embedded herself in the theater scene.

Lynch’s big success began with her early role in “Vice Versa.” She would go on to do voice-over work, commercials and many other films. In 2000, she got her next big break playing the part of Christy Cummings in “Best in Show,” a film about the dog-show world. It wasn’t until 2009 that Lynch began her most notable role as Sue Sylvester in “Glee.”

In 2005, Lynch was named one of Power Up’s “10 Amazing Gay Women in Showbiz.”

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Want to know more? Check out her biography
Jane Lynch on IMDb

Mavis Staples is a famous rhythm and blues, soul and gospel singer. She is best known for her work with the Staples Singers. She started her career singing at local churches and on weekly radio shows with her family group. After high school, she and the Staple Singers took their show on the road.

During the mid-1960s, the Staples Singers became influenced by their father’s close relationship with Martin Luther King, Jr. In turn, they channeled their music to reflect their spiritual beliefs and the Civil Rights Movement. In the ‘70s, the Staple Singers hit it big. They hit the “Top 40” 8 times, and had two No.1 hit singles – “I’ll Take You There” and “Let’s Do It Again.”

Mavis Staples is a “staple” of soul and gospel music and was noted for her work in 2011 when she won her first Grammy.

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Mavis Staples
Mavis Staples biography

Clyde Tombaugh was born in Streator in 1906. His interest in astronomy developed from looking through his uncle’s telescope as a child. Unsatisfied with store-bought telescopes, Tombaugh began building his own telescopes, one of which helped him accurately describe Jupiter and Mars.

Tombaugh earned a job at the Lowell Observatory in Arizona where he was tasked with photographing the night sky over several months and examining the photographs to try and find an unidentified moving point of light. After ten months of detailed research, Tombaugh discovered the planet on February 18, 1930 and named it Pluto. It was determined that Pluto was the ninth planet in our solar system and was classified so until 2006 when the plant was re-classified as a dwarf planet. In addition to discovering Pluto, Tombaugh also discovered 15 different asteroids and named them after himself, his wife, his children and grandchildren.

While Tombaugh passed away in 1997, his ashes joined NASA’s New Horizons Spacecraft in 2006. The spacecraft is currently scheduled to pass Pluto at its closest point early next week before leaving the solar system.

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Pluto’s discoverer’s ashes will be the first human remains to leave the solar system – glued to the side of a space probe: Business Insider
NASA’s New Horizons Spacecraft