BY STEPHEN WITT
Borough President and
Democratic nominee for mayor
Eric Adams unveiled a new
portrait of civil rights icon Ida
B. Wells on Friday, July 16, to
hang on the wall at Borough
Hall.
The portrait, painted by artist
Charles Hearn, will hang in
the Victorian Suite of Adams’
Joralemon Street building. It
will join a number of portraits
of mainly white men and the
groundbreaking late Black
Congressmember Shirley Chisholm.
Harlem Historical Society
President Jacob Morris commissioned
and donated the portrait
and Brooklyn-based art
gallery owner Tekin “Tony”
Akbay donated the frame.
Wells, who was born into
slavery, was a pioneering journalist
and activist who helped
co-found the NAACP.
“Ida B. Wells was a trailblazer
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and a civil rights giant
who fought tirelessly for the
equal rights and justice that
Black Americans were routinely
denied after the Civil
War. Her pioneering activism
forced a moral reckoning
over the evils of lynching, at
great personal risk to her own
safety,” said Adams. “Without
her fearless example, I would
not be here as the fi rst Black
borough president of Brooklyn.
This portrait will serve as
a fi tting tribute to her contributions
and legacy.”
The ceremony comes after
a Downtown Brooklyn street
was co-named for Wells last
March. Adams also declared
July 16 as “Ida B. Wells Day” in
the borough.
Alongside Adams and Morris
were Brooklyn NAACP
President L. Joy Williams,
author Paula J. Giddings, author
and professor Carla Peterson,
and three of Wells’ greatgrandchildren.
Left to right: Brooklyn-based art gallery owner Tekin “Tony” Akbay, Harlem Historical Society President Jacob
Morris, Artist Charles Hearn, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, the portrait of Ida B. Wells and three of
Wells’ great-grandchildren. Photo by Stephen Witt
“It was here in Brooklyn
that an incredible group of very
accomplished black women coalesced
around her to support
her anti-lynching crusade. The
joining together of these great
women who I call ‘Sisters in
Freedom’ led to so many other
tremendously important milestones
and accomplishments
in the history of civil rights
and suffrage in America,” said
Morris. “Honoring Ida here
honors not only her but also
the greatness of Brooklyn’s
history and community.”
Wells has received several
posthumous awards and recognitions,
including a Pulitzer
Prize special citation in 2020.
She became internationally
renowned for her anti-lynching
journalism, as she traveled the
south documenting and eventually
publishing her fi ndings
in a series of pamphlets.
‘Trailblazer’
Eric Adams unveils Ida B. Wells
portrait for Borough Hall
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