Idella Jones Childs (June 21, 1903 – August 8, 1998) was an American educator, historian and civil rights activist.

Childs was born in Perry County in Alabama on June 21, 1903, and would live her entire life there.

[4] Childs taught in segregated schools for over 35 years, teaching biology, algebra, history and social studies.

[6] In 1979, she was named an honorary member of the National Commission on the International Year of the Child by Jimmy Carter.

[9] She helped add the First Congregational Church Building and the Mary Elizabeth Phillips Thompson Auditorium of the Lincoln Normal School to the National Register of Historic Places.

[10] Hundreds attended a memorial service held in her honor at Lincoln Normal School.