Mississippi Press Hall of Fame to induct Ida B. Wells and Tim Kalich in June

The Mississippi Press Association announced plans to induct civil rights advocate Ida B. Wells and former publisher Tim Kalich into the Mississippi Press Hall of Fame in June.

Wells, a Holly Springs native, began documenting lynchings of Black Americans after three friends were killed by a white mob in Memphis in 1892. After her presses were destroyed and she was threatened, she moved to Chicago and continued her reporting. Wells helped found the NAACP and became a leader in the early civil rights movement, working with figures such as W. E. B. Du Bois, Madam C. J. Walker, and Frederick Douglass. She also advocated for women’s suffrage alongside Susan B. Anthony.

The National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, Alabama, opened in 2018, features a reflection space honoring Wells. She will be recognized during the Mississippi Press Association’s 160th annual meeting on June 26 in Biloxi.

Tim Kalich retired in 2025 after more than 40 years in journalism. He served as editor and publisher of The Greenwood Commonwealth and received numerous awards, including seven Emmerich Awards for Editorial Excellence. Kalich also served as MPA president and led the Mississippi Press Foundation. In 2024, he received the Silver Em Award from the University of Mississippi School of Journalism and New Media for his contributions to journalism. Since 2025, he has coordinated statewide editorial projects for Press Forward Mississippi, a nonprofit initiative aimed at strengthening local journalism.

“We are very excited by the committee’s choices for induction into the Hall of Fame this year,” said MPA President George Russell Turner. “We feel these are worthy recognitions of journalism’s significance in our state and very appropriate for our 160th year.”

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