Michelle Duster is an author, public historian, professor, and champion of racial and gender equity. She has led and supported dozens of local, state and national initiatives to have street names, markers, murals, statues, and monuments honor her paternal great-grandmother, Ida B. Wells, and other African American female historical figures.
Michelle has worked on PBS documentary films and has written articles for publications including Ms. Magazine, TIME, Essence, HuffPost, The Hill, Teen Vogue, People, Glamour, Daily Beast, and the North Star. She has appeared on MSNBC, CNN, WTTW, CBS & CW as well as numerous radio shows. She has written, edited, or contributed to sixteen books, including Ida B. Wells, Voice of Truth and Ida B. the Queen: The Extraordinary Life and Legacy of Ida B. Wells. Her forthcoming children’s picture books You Dared will be published in 2024.
In her efforts to preserve the history of other African Americans and women, Michelle served as a member of the board of directors of the Chicago Women’s History Center for a decade and was secretary for several years. She has also been a member of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History since 2009.
Michelle speaks around the country at universities, churches, museums and other organizations about the importance of women telling their stories, the importance of representation in public history pieces, and the contributions that African Americans, including her great-grandmother, made to the United States. She has received numerous awards for her activism including the 2022 Ripple Effect Award from Public Narrative; 2020 Ida B. Wells-Barnett Award from Illinois NOW; 2019 Multi-Generational Activist Award from the Illinois Human Rights Commission; and the 2019 Martin Luther King Jr. Social Justice Award from Dartmouth College.
