Ferdinand Lee Barnett (Chicago)

Ferdinand Lee Barnett
Barnett in 1900
Born(1852-02-18)February 18, 1852
DiedMarch 11, 1936(1936-03-11) (aged 84)
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Resting placeOak Woods Cemetery
Alma materUnion College of Law
Occupations
  • Journalist
  • lawyer
Political partyDemocratic
Other political
affiliations
Republican
Spouses
(m. 1882; died 1890)
(m. 1895; died 1931)
Children6, including Alfreda
RelativesFerdinand L. Barnett and Alfred S. Barnett (cousins)

Ferdinand Lee Barnett (February 18, 1852 – March 11, 1936) was an American journalist, lawyer, and civil rights activist in Chicago, beginning in the late Reconstruction era.

Born in Nashville, Tennessee, during his childhood, his African-American family fled to Windsor, Ontario, Canada, just before the American Civil War. After the war, they settled in Chicago, where Barnett graduated from high school, and then obtained his law degree from what is today Northwestern University School of Law. He was a founding editor of the African-American oriented The Chicago Conservator monthly in 1878. The third black person to be admitted to the practice of law in Illinois, he also became a successful lawyer.[1]

In 1895, Barnett married Ida B. Wells, a fellow journalist and anti-lynching activist. In 1896, he became Illinois' first black assistant state's attorney. He was active in anti-lynching and civil rights causes and was called "one of the foremost citizens Chicago has ever had" by the Chicago Defender.[2]

  1. ^ Lupton, John A. (February 24, 2020). "Illinois Supreme Court History: Ferdinand Barnett". illinoiscourts.gov. Retrieved August 25, 2020.
  2. ^ Finkelman, Paul, ed. Encyclopedia of African American History, 1896 to the Present: From the Age of Segregation to the Twenty-first Century. Oxford University Press, 2009. pp. 137–138.

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