Alfreda M. Duster^[1] (née Barnett; September 3, 1904  – April 2, 1983) was an American social worker and civic leader in Chicago.^[2][3] She is best known as the youngest daughter of civil rights activist Ida B. Wells and as the editor of her mother's posthumously published autobiography, Crusade for Justice: The Autobiography of Ida B. Wells (1970).

Alfreda Barnett was born in 1904, the youngest daughter^[4] of civil rights activists Ida B. Wells and Ferdinand L. Barnett.^[2][3][5] She graduated from the University of Chicago in 1924 with a bachelor of philosophy degree.^[2][3][5] She married Benjamin C. Duster Jr., who was a clerk in her father's law firm, and worked as a homemaker and mother to her five children until she was widowed at the age of 40 and went back to school for social work.^[2][3]

Duster served as a juvenile delinquency prevention coordinator for the state of Illinois and the administrator of the girls' program for underprivileged city children at Camp Illini.^[2][3] She was also secretary to Democrat Charles Jenkins, a black member of the Illinois legislature.^[3] She was awarded "Mother of the Year" in 1950 and 1970; the Bootstrap Award from the Opportunity Centers of Chicago; Citation for Public Service from the University of Chicago Alumni Association; and honorary doctorate of humane letters from Chicago State University.^[2][3][5]

Duster edited and in 1970 published Ida B. Wells' autobiography, Crusade for Justice: The Autobiography of Ida B. Wells, which she worked on for 25 years after her mother's death.^[2][4][6][7] For this book, Duster won the National Council of Negro Women Award for Literary Excellence and Outstanding Humanitarian Contributions.^[3]

The Alfreda Barnett Duster Apartments, public housing in Chicago, Illinois, are named after Duster.^[4]

Alfreda Duster died from a brain hemorrhage at the age of 78, on April 2, 1983.^[3]

Schultz, Rima Lunin and Adele Hast, "Women Building Chicago 1790-1990: A Biographical Dictionary", Indiana University Press, 2001.