In a striking example of how misinformation can spread during a developing news story, a viral Facebook post claimed that Nolan Wells, the Black Mississippi teenager whose death after visiting a Gulf Coast island with a group of white friends remains under investigation, was related to the legendary journalist and anti-lynching activist Ida B. Wells. But Michelle Duster, a verified descendant of Ida B. Wells, says that there is no historical or genealogical evidence linking the two and that she does not know of anyone alive today with the last name Wells who can claim a familial connection to her great-grandmother.
“It is important during this incredibly sensitive time to validate with credible sources any information that is shared,” Duster told me. “Despite viral social media posts implying a connection, Nolan Wells is not related to my great-grandmother Ida B. Wells. They simply share the same last name, as many others do.”
Nolan Wells is not related to my great-grandmother Ida B. Wells. They simply share the same last name, as many others do.
michelle duster
As the investigation into the death of the athletically talented 18-year-old college student continues, social media has been rife with misinformation, including doctored images, fabricated audio recordings and unsubstantiated claims about what happened that weekend. Some of those unsubstantiated claims include the role race may have played in Wells’ death, including claims that he might have been killed by white people.
Again, we do not yet know how or why Nolan Wells died, and there is no evidence to date to prove any of those claims, including those alleging that race played a role in his death. But for many reasons, including ones related to race, history and geography, discussions about his death are especially susceptible to misinformation. The tragedy evokes powerful emotions and invites people to search for a larger historical narrative to help make sense of the moment. Yet it’s precisely because it would be so symbolically powerful — a link between him and a journalist who documented white mobs killing Black people — that we should be skeptical.
The earliest widely shared Facebook post linking Nolan Wells to Ida B. Wells appears to have been written by a woman from the county where Wells grew up, who described him as family and who may sincerely believe the two families are related. Regardless of her intent, the claim spread rapidly online without any evidence to support it. Her July 23 Facebook post had approximately 2,400 likes, more than 300 comments and 1,500 shares within five days. Thousands of social media users, along with several advocacy-oriented accounts, subsequently amplified the claim that a relative of America’s most famous anti-lynching crusader may have been wrongly killed by white people.
Duster responded with a Facebook post on July 25, noting that no one in her family is “familiar with the people making these claims, so if we are related, we are unaware of that.” As of Tuesday, her post had received only 32 likes, 6 shares and 10 comments, including one asking, “Why is this post not viral?”
Even before the Facebook post linking Nolan Wells to Ida B. Wells, some social media accounts claimed that Nolan’s mother, Christine Wonsley, bore an uncanny resemblance to Mamie Till-Mobley, whose son Emmett Till was lynched in Mississippi in 1955. Even people who rejected that comparison may have been more inclined to believe the claim that Nolan Wells was related to Ida B. Wells because it fit a familiar historical narrative.
But the historical record tells a different story. Ida B. Wells was born in July 1862 in Holly Springs, Mississippi. Nolan Wells, who was born in August 2007, grew up in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, more than five hours away by car. After marrying Ferdinand Barnett in 1895, Ida B. Wells became Ida B. Wells-Barnett, and the couple’s four children carried the Barnett surname. Their youngest child, Alfreda Barnett, married Benjamin Duster, and their descendants have carried the Duster name.
If we want to be given the truth, we have to use the truth to get it.
Journalism professor Deborah Douglas
Descendants of Ida B. Wells are well known and have worked for decades to preserve her legacy, including through the Ida B. Wells Memorial Foundation. Troy Duster, Wells’ grandson, is a distinguished sociologist who taught at the University of California, Berkeley, for more than four decades and authored influential books on race, biotechnology, public policy and inequality. Michelle Duster, a writer, educator and public historian, has written several books about her great-grandmother and has been one of the leading interpreters of her life and work. Dan Duster, a great-grandson, is a motivational speaker and author who works with schools and community organizations on restorative justice initiatives. Tiana Ferrell, a great-great-granddaughter, is a community advocate, writer and filmmaker.
As an anti-lynching crusader and a fearless journalist, Ida B. Wells devoted her life to uncovering truth and exposing what others preferred to ignore. We should embody that same commitment when discussing Nolan Wells’ case by asking difficult questions, demanding answers and prioritizing evidence above rumor. Misinformation will not bring us closer to the truth. It will only move us farther away from it.
Deborah Douglas, a clinical associate professor of journalism at Northwestern University, told me, “We can invoke the spirit and ethos of Ida B. Wells while championing Nolan’s parents, Elmore Wonsley and Christine Wells-Wonsley. But if we want to be given the truth, we have to use the truth to get it.”
Ida B. Wells dedicated her life to exposing falsehoods and documenting uncomfortable truths. She believed that justice begins with evidence, not rumor. That lesson is as urgent today as it was more than a century ago.
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