This book examines, acknowledges and records the journalism careers and contributions of the four women within the context of the period in which they lived and worked. Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Mary Church Terrell, Alice Dunbar-Nelson and Amy Jacques Garvey were among a group of approximately twenty black women journalists who wrote for newspapers, magazines and other media during the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. Despite journalism careers that spanned decades, these women are virtually ignored in the history of the black and mainstream press. The women called attention to the failure of American society to recognize the rights of African Americans. Collectively, they worked for dozens of black publications, owned newspapers, and were editors, correspondents, columnists and editorial writers. Some contributed to the mainstream press. Through their work as journalists, they informed, persuaded, entertained and advocated as they sought to enlighten and elevate their race and sex. Significantly, the body of their journalism work advanced their activist agendas. With the goal of lifting the veil of obscurity and placing these women in journalism history, this book explores their lives, the publications for which they wrote, their audiences and the themes in their writings.