She taught in public schools in Brooklyn for 48 years, and was the second black woman to serve in their system as an assistant principal.

[3] One of the accomplishments of the Women's Loyal Union was to help to fund the printing of an important antilynching pamphlet, Southern Horrors: Lynch Laws in All Its Phases by Ida B.

The Lyons' home on Vandewater Street was attacked several times during the New York City Draft Riots of July 1863.

[15] On October 5, 1892, Lyons and educator and activist Victoria Earle Matthews organized a testimonial dinner in New York’s Lyric Hall for Ida B.

[17] Lyons' memoir and photographs of herself and her family are included in the Harry A. Williamson Papers at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture of the New York Public Library.

[18] Her memoir was never published, but includes a breathtaking account of the sacking and burning of her family's home by a mob during the New York City Draft Riots of 1863.

These riots were so destructive of black neighborhoods in Manhattan that many African Americans left the city permanently, some moving to Brooklyn for safety.

A young adult book was written about Lyons, Maritcha: A Remarkable Nineteenth-Century Girl, based on her memoir and writing.