Ella Barksdale Brown

Last updated

Ella Barksdale Brown (born June 22, 1871) was an American anti-lynching advocate, activist, educator, suffragette and journalist. She was a member of the first graduating class of Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia.

Contents

Life

On June 22, 1871, in Milledgeville, Georgia, Ella Barksdale was born to Jefferson and Julia Lamar Barksdale, both former slaves. [1] She attended college and was a student in the first graduating class from Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia. After marrying John M. Brown in Georgia in 1898, she moved to Jersey City, New Jersey in 1901. [2] John found a job there working for the Pullman Company. Together, Ella and John had four children: Marcia, Jefferson Barksdale, Mildred, and Miriam. [1]

Work

Brown was a journalist who wrote for The Chicago Defender and The New York Amsterdam News [1] and was also a columnist for the Jersey Journal. [3]

Besides writing, she was a well-known educator within the Jersey City high schools and surrounding community. She was given credit for introducing African-American studies into Jersey City public schools. [1] The area schools and community organizations hosted her lectures on African American history due to her dedication to education. She was the first woman to be appointed to the Hudson County Board of Election. [4]

Brown was most involved with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the Circle For Negro War Relief, the New Jersey Civil Rights Bureau, and the National Association of Colored Women. [1] Her involvement in these organizations gained her recognition in community and national activist circles, which gained her personal connections with many leading civil rights and African American leaders including W.E.B. Dubois, Booker T. Washington, Paul Robeson, and James Weldon Johnson. [1]

Along with her journalistic and educational achievements, Brown is credited with advocating for the New Jersey Federation to designate March 5 as Crispus Attucks day in New Jersey, which they did in 1949. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spelman College</span> Private, historically Black womens college in Atlanta, Georgia, US

Spelman College is a private, historically Black, women's liberal arts college in Atlanta, Georgia. It is a founding member of the Atlanta University Center academic consortium. Founded in 1881 as the Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary, Spelman awarded its first college degrees in 1901 and is the oldest private historically Black liberal arts institution for women.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marian Wright Edelman</span> American activist for childrens rights (born 1939)

Marian Wright Edelman is an American activist for civil rights and children's rights. She is the founder and president emerita of the Children's Defense Fund. She influenced leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Hope (educator)</span> African-American educator and political activist

John Hope, born in Augusta, Georgia, was an American educator and political activist, the first African-descended president of both Morehouse College in 1906 and of Atlanta University in 1929, where he worked to develop graduate programs. Both are historically Black colleges.

Xernona Clayton Brady is an American civil rights leader and broadcasting executive. During the Civil Rights Movement, she worked for the National Urban League and Southern Christian Leadership Conference, where she became involved in the work of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Later, Clayton went into television, where she became the first African American from the southern United States to host a daily prime time talk show. She became corporate vice president for Turner Broadcasting.

Tina McElroy Ansa is an African-American novelist, filmmaker, teacher, entrepreneur and journalist. Her work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Newsday,The Atlanta Constitution, Florida Times-Union, Essence Magazine, The Crisis, Ms. Magazine, America Magazine, and Atlanta Magazine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lugenia Burns Hope</span> American activist (1871–1947)

Lugenia Burns Hope, was a social reformer whose Neighborhood Union and other community service organizations improved the quality of life for African Americans in Atlanta, Georgia, and served as a model for the future Civil Rights Movement.

Mary Zoner Hurston Barksdale Lawes was a prominent African-American nurse and businesswoman. She was the owner and administrator, for twenty-seven years, of the Hurstdale Rest Home, the only black-owned rest home in western Massachusetts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ella Gaines Yates</span> American librarian

Ella Gaines Yates is recognized in the library world as being the first African-American director of the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library System in Georgia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Selena Sloan Butler</span>

Selena Sloan Butler (1872–1964) is the founder and first president of the National Congress of Colored Parents and Teachers Association (NCCPT). President Herbert Hoover appointed her to the White House Conference on Child Health and Protection in 1929. During World War II, she organized the Red Cross' first black women's chapter of "Gray Ladies." When Congress merged the NCCPT with the National PTA in 1970, Butler was posthumously recognized as one of the organization's founders. Today, Butler is considered a co-founder of the National Parent-Teacher Association.

Virginia Davis Floyd is an American physician known for her work in public health, foreign policy, and the nonprofit sector.

Maxine (Atkins) Smith born in Memphis, Tennessee, United States, was an academic, civil rights activist, and school board official.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rebecca Stiles Taylor</span>

Rebecca Stiles Taylor was a journalist, social worker, and educator from Savannah, Georgia. She was best known for her contributions to the community as the founder of several charitable outlets in the area and as an activist for women's and civil rights.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Silas X. Floyd</span>

Silas Xavier Floyd was an African-American educator, preacher, and journalist. Active in Augusta, Georgia, he was a writer and editor at the Augusta Sentinel and later wrote for the Augusta Chronicle. In 1892 he co-founded the Negro Press Association of Georgia. He was pastor at Augusta's Tabernacle Baptist Church and was a prominent agent of the International Sunday School Convention. He was also a public school principal and an officer of the National Association of Teachers in Colored Schools.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anna H. Jones</span> Canadian-born American suffragist (1855–1932)

Anna H. Jones was a Canadian-born American clubwoman, suffragist, and educator based in later life in Kansas City, Missouri.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adella Hunt Logan</span> American suffragist

Adella Hunt Logan was an African-American writer, educator, administrator and suffragist. Born during the Civil War, she earned her teaching credentials at Atlanta University, an historically black college founded by the American Missionary Association. She became a teacher at the Tuskegee Institute and became an activist for education and suffrage for women of color. As part of her advocacy, she published articles in some of the most noted black periodicals of her time.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harriet E. Giles</span> American educator

Harriet Elizabeth "Hattie" Giles was an American educator, cofounder in Atlanta, Georgia, of a school for African American women that would eventually become Spelman College.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clara Ann Howard</span> American educator and missionary

Clara Ann Howard was an American educator and, from 1890 to 1895, a Baptist missionary in Africa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Angelou Ezeilo</span> American entrepreneur and activist

Angelou Ezeilo is an American social entrepreneur and environmental activist. She is the founder of Greening Youth Foundation, a nonprofit that connects underrepresented youth to the outdoors and conservation careers. She received an Ashoka Fellowship in 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ethel McGhee Davis</span> American educator, social worker, and college administrator

Ethel Elizabeth McGhee Davis was an American educator, social worker, and college administrator. She served as the student adviser (1928–1931) and as the Dean of Women (1931–1932) for Spelman College in Atlanta.

Estelle Hall Young (1884-1938) was a leader of the African-American women's suffrage movement in Baltimore, Maryland. She founded the Colored Women's Suffrage Club and worked tirelessly to support suffrage for African-American people.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Collection: Ella Barksdale Brown Papers | Archives at Yale". archives.yale.edu. Retrieved 2020-10-27.
  2. Morgan, Earl (20 February 2013). "Morgan's Corner: Remembering Ella Barksdale Brown" . Retrieved 24 December 2017.
  3. Journal, Earl Morgan | For The Jersey (2013-02-20). "Morgan's Corner: Remembering Ella Barksdale Brown". nj. Retrieved 2020-10-27.
  4. DuBois, WEB. "Politics". The Crisis Volumes 22-24.