Maria Williams-Cole is an American woman who became the first African-American in Prince George's County, Maryland to be inducted into the Daughters of the American Revolution.
In July 1969, when she was thirteen years old, Williams-Cole and her grandmother recorded the names of her father's ancestors on a family tree chart purchased from Montgomery Ward while at her grandmother's home in Findlay, Ohio. [1] Williams-Cole discovered that, through her mother, she is a direct descendent of Absalom Martin, a free black soldier from Beaufort County, North Carolina who served during the American Revolutionary War. [1] She is also a descendent of Revolutionary War patriot Isaac Carter. [2]
In 2004, she and her mother, Arleathia Carter Williams, joined the Hyattsville Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, becoming the first two black members of the society in Prince George's County. [1] She is credited with raising more money for the Daughters of the American Revolution than any other African-American member. [3]
In 2012, Williams-Cole attended the DAR's Continental Congress in Washington, D.C. [4]
In September 2016, Williams-Cole donated an oil painting depicting African-American descendants of American patriots as their Revolutionary War ancestors to the Isaac Carter Chapter of the Sons of the American Revolution. [2] She was instrumental in helping establish the Patriot Isaac Carter Chapter and was named the chapter's honorary "DAR Mother". [2]
The National Society Daughters of the American Revolution is a lineage-based membership service organization for women who are directly descended from a patriot of the American Revolutionary War. A non-profit group, the organization promotes education and patriotism. Its membership is limited to direct lineal descendants of soldiers or others of the American Revolution era who aided the revolution and its subsequent war. Applicants must be at least 18 years of age and have a birth certificate indicating that their gender is female. DAR has over 190,000 current members in the United States and other countries. The organization's motto is "God, Home, and Country".
Mary Hemings Bell was born into slavery, most likely in Charles City County, Virginia, as the oldest child of Elizabeth Hemings, a mixed-race slave held by John Wayles. After the death of Wayles in 1773, Elizabeth, Mary, and her family were inherited by Thomas Jefferson, the husband of Martha Wayles Skelton, a daughter of Wayles, and all moved to Monticello.
Eugenia Scholay Washington was an American historian, civil servant, and a founder of the lineage societies, Daughters of the American Revolution and Daughters of the Founders and Patriots of America.
The National Liberty Memorial is a proposed national memorial to honor the more than 5,000 enslaved and free persons of African descent who served as soldiers or sailors or provided civilian assistance during the American Revolutionary War. The memorial is an outgrowth of a failed effort to erect a Black Revolutionary War Patriots Memorial, which was authorized in 1986 but whose memorial foundation dissolved in 2005. Congress authorized the National Liberty Memorial in January 2013; this authorization expired in 2021 but was renewed in December 2022 in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023. The memorial foundation will now have until September 30, 2027 to raise enough funds to begin construction.
Hannah White Arnett was a Colonial American woman who is known for preventing a group of men in Elizabethtown, Province of New Jersey from proclaiming their loyalty to Great Britain in exchange for "protection of life and property." Discouraged, the men decided not to accept amnesty. She stated why it was important to remain devoted to independence and they changed their minds.
Catharine H. T. Avery was an American author, editor, and educator of the long nineteenth century. Of Revolutionary ancestry and hailing from Michigan, she was founder and regent of the Western Reserve Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), of Cleveland, Ohio; Vice-president General of its National Society; and editor of the National Society's official organ, the American Monthly. She also served two years as a member of the Cleveland School Board, being the first woman in Ohio chosen to an elective office.
Wilhelmena Rhodes Kelly was an African-American genealogist who traced her American lineage to the April 5, 1614, union of Pocahontas and John Rolfe. She was also a member of the Jamestowne Society. In 2019 she became the New York State Regent and a member of the National Board of Management, highest ranking woman of color in the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (NSDAR), since its founding in 1890. She was a pioneer of African-American genealogy. Born and raised in Brooklyn, she was a local Brooklyn historian and member of the Society of Old Brooklynites (SOB), one of the borough's oldest civic organizations. She was the author of books on Bedford-Stuyvesant as well as the Crown Heights and Weeksville sections of Brooklyn, and family genealogy books tracing her family's American roots.
Florence Anderson Clark was an American author, newspaper editor, librarian, and university administrator. She served for 14 years as assistant librarian at the University of Texas (UT), and in honor for her service to the university, she was first woman to have her portrait hung in the university's Main Tower. Clark was affiliated with several organizations, including the Daughters of the American Revolution (D.A.R), Colonial Dames of America, and United Daughters of the Confederacy.
Ann Turner Dillon is an American clubwoman who served as the 44th President General of the Daughters of the American Revolution. She was the first woman from Colorado to be elected as the President General.
Elizabeth Nichols Dyar was born in Malden, Middlesex, Massachusetts Bay Colony, British Colonial America. She is honored with the title of Real Daughter by the organization Daughters of the American Revolution for her participation in the Boston Tea Party.
Eunice Russ Ames Davis was a multiracial abolitionist and one of the founding members of the Boston Female Anti-Slavery Society. In 1896, The New York Times named her the "oldest living female abolitionist in the world".
Hannah Archer Till worked as a paid cook and servant for George Washington. Till accompanied General Washington on his American Revolutionary War campaigns and was present at Valley Forge. She also worked for the Marquis de Lafayette for six months. She was honored as a Patriot by the Daughters of the American Revolution in 2015, in Eden Cemetery, located in Collingdale, Pennsylvania.
Karen Batchelor, formerly Karen Batchelor Farmer, is an American lawyer, community activist, and genealogist. In 1977, she became the first-known African American member of the Daughters of the American Revolution. As a genealogist, she co-founded the Fred Hart Williams Genealogical Society, which researches and preserves African-American family history. Batchelor is also a member of the Winthrop Society, the Associated Daughters of Early American Witches, the National Society of New England Women, and the Association of Professional Genealogists.
Pamela Hilda Edwards Rouse Wright is an American philanthropist, clubwoman, businesswoman, and jewelry designer. Since 2022, she has served as the President General of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution. She is the second Texan to serve as the national society's president general. In 2022, Wright was presented with the Yellow Rose of Texas Award by Governor Greg Abbott for charitable contributions and volunteerism in Texas.
Lena Lorraine Santos Ferguson was an American secretary and Civil Rights advocate. Ferguson was denied membership to a local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1980 due to her race, after applying multiple times. She was admitted to the organization as an at-large member in 1983, becoming the second known African-American member. Ferguson pushed for the Daughters of the American Revolution to revise their national bylaws, leading to the organization banning discrimination based on race. She later founded, and served as chair, of the D.C. DAR Scholarship Committee. Ferguson was honored with a memorial plaque in the garden at DAR Constitution Hall in 2023.
Regina Lynch-Hudson is an American publicist, historian, and travel writer. In 2024, she became the first woman of color descended from Colonel John Hazzard Carson to join the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution and the first black member of the society's Greenlee Chapter.
Johnette Gordon-Weaver is an American historian, genealogist, and activist. She is active in the restoration and historical preservation of black history in Williamsburg, Virginia. In October 2023, she became the first woman of color to join the Williamsburg Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, one of the society's oldest and largest chapters.
Laura W. Murphy is an American lobbyist and civil rights activist. She served as the director of the Washington Legislative Office for the American Civil Liberties Union from 1993 to 2005.
Emily Nelson Ritchie McLean was an American civic leader who served as the 7th president general of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution.
May Faris McKinney was an American clubwoman and non-profit executive. She was the first Kentucky woman to serve as President General of the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC), an honor conferred upon her November 13, 1919, at the national convention at Tampa, Florida. Previously, McKinney was elected Recording Secretary-General at Little Rock, Arkansas in 1910, serving three terms. From October 1905 to October 1907, McKinney was President of the Kentucky Division of the UDC. She was at one time Regent of the Fort Jefferson Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), and also served the Paducah Woman's Club as president for two terms. During World War I, McKinney was prominently identified with Liberty loan sales and other war activities.