Ida B. Wells ( 1862-1931 )—a Chicago investigative journalist, educator and an early leader in the civil rights movement—received a special citation when the 2020 Pulitzer Prize winners were announced May 4, according to the awards's website.
Wells received the honor for her reporting on the horrific and vicious violence against African Americans during the era of lynching.
The citation comes with a bequest by the Pulitzer Prize board of at least $50,000 in support of her mission. Recipients will be announced at a later date.
Previous special citations have been given to individuals such as singer Aretha Franklin, writers Ray Bradbury and Theodor Seuss Geisel ( Dr. Seuss ), and musician Bob Dylan.
Also, poet Jericho Brown and playwright Michael R. Jackson—both gay Black men—were among the 2020 Pulitzer Prize winners, NewNowNext.com noted. Brown, a prolific Atlanta-based poet, former National Endowment for the Arts ( NEA ) fellow, and professor at Emory University, took home the Pulitzer in Poetry for The Tradition. Jackson—a New York City-based playwright, composer and lyricist—was awarded the Pulitzer in Drama for A Strange Loop, a metafictional musical.
