MEMPHIS — A ribbon-cutting ceremony for the redesigned Ida B. Wells Plaza was held on July 16. The event coincided with the 164th anniversary of Ida B. Wells-Barnett's birth and marked the opening of a revitalized public space honoring the civil rights icon.

The redesigned plaza is located at the eastern end of Beale Street, near FedExForum and the historic First Baptist Church-Beale. The space serves as a new entrance to Church Park. City capital records list appropriations for the plaza renovation. The renovation includes new paving, landscaping, lighting, seating, and displays.

A bronze statue of Ida B. Wells-Barnett stands in the plaza. The statue has been elevated to increase its visibility from a distance. The statue was created by Andrea and Larry Lugar of Lugar Bronze Foundry.

It was initially installed at the intersection of Beale and Fourth streets in 2021. Fourth Street in Memphis has been renamed Ida B. Wells-Barnett Street. Nixon General Contractors, landscape architecture firm JPA Inc., and Lugar Bronze Foundry contributed to the completion of the redesigned space.

Memphis Mayor Paul Young attended the ribbon-cutting ceremony. "This is an important public space in our city, and public spaces tell the story of the city," Young said. "The names that we choose, the places we preserve, the people we honor — those things reflect our values and shape how future generations of Memphians understand our great city." "Now what we have today is a project where we have a plaza that actually reflects the beauty and the dignity that Ida B. Wells deserves," Young said.

Rev. Dr. L. LaSimba M. Gray Jr. and Justice Bolden, Memphis Parks Director, also attended the ceremony. Gray helped organize the Ida B. Wells Memphis Memorial Committee. When I learned that there was a systematic effort to erase her contribution, then I became more determined to make sure that it didn’t happen, Gray said.

"I think the blues always have been an expression of pain, but this is the crucible," Gray said. "Beale Street meets history and culture in a real meaningful way that cannot be ignored." Bolden spoke on the educational role of the site. "We can’t forget about the past," Bolden said. "Any time you install monuments or signage, it’s a reminder to educate those about what has happened in our past, but it’s also an opportunity to look over and see a statue and landscaping and beautiful paver brick that reminds you of what our future looks like."

The plaza features an installation titled The Tree of Strange Fruit. It also features an installation recalling the printing press Wells-Barnett used. Scholar and civil rights activist Miriam DeCosta-Willis, who is deceased, edited The Memphis Diary of Ida B. Wells.""

Ida B. Wells-Barnett was born into slavery in Holly Springs, Mississippi, in 1862. She moved to Memphis after losing her parents and a younger brother during the 1878 yellow fever epidemic. Wells-Barnett worked as a teacher, journalist, and newspaper editor in Memphis.

Thomas Moss, Calvin McDowell, and Will Stewart were associated with People’s Grocery, a Black-owned store. Moss was a friend of Wells-Barnett. The three men were lynched by a white mob in 1892. A white mob destroyed Wells-Barnett's newspaper office in Memphis. She left Memphis and never returned to live in the city. Wells-Barnett continued her anti-lynching campaign through writing, public lectures, and international speaking tours after leaving Memphis.