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Have an Idea for an Overlooked Obituary? We Want Your Suggestions

The series, which recalls the lives of extraordinary people in history whose deaths were not noted by The Times, is seeking your nominations.

A grid of black-and-white portraits of several women.
Credit...Clockwise from top left: Chicago History Museum/Getty Images; National Portrait Gallery, London; Roz Kelly/Michael Ochs Archives, via Getty Images; Lacks Family/The Henrietta Lacks Foundation, via Associated Press; Paul Fearn/Alamy; James Burke/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images

Ida B. Wells was a pioneering investigative journalist who took on racism in the Deep South with powerful reporting on lynchings, but when she died she did not get an obituary in The New York Times.

Her story is one of many we’re telling in Overlooked, our project recalling the lives of extraordinary people in history who never received a Times obit since the newspaper began publishing in 1851.

Overlooked was launched in March 2018 and has since published more than 200 obituaries about dozens of exceptional people who over for generations did not receive obituaries, for whatever reasons. They include Vera Menchik, the first women’s chess champion; Roland Johnson, who fought the institutionalization of people with disabilities; Jobriath, an openly gay glam rocker from the 1970s; and Usha Mehta, a freedom fighter against British rule in India. You can find more Overlooked obits here.

The series is ongoing, and we want to hear from you: Who else have we missed? Tell us in the form below. Your contact information will not be shared.

Nominate Someone for an Overlooked Obituary

Tell us about someone remarkable in history whose death we may not have noted.

Amisha Padnani is an editor on the Obituaries desk and the creator of Overlooked, a series that tells the stories of remarkable people whose deaths were not originally reported on by The Times. More about Amisha Padnani

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