Unita Blackwell: Difference between revisions

Blackwell was born '''U.&nbsp;Z. Brown''' on March 18, 1933, in [[Lula, Mississippi]], to [[sharecroppers]] Virda Mae and Willie Brown.<ref name="Birth"/><ref>*{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/183552041/?terms=Unita%2BBlackwell|title=She Got It in Her Head to Change Things|last=Wickenburg|first=Beth|date=March 12, 1978|work=The Clarion-Ledger|access-date=April 9, 2017|location=Mayersville, Mississippi|url-access=subscription}}

*Morrison 1987, p. 99.

 

Blackwell and her parents lived in Lula. Her grandfather had been murdered by a white plantation boss.<ref name="Seelye-2019">{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/17/obituaries/unita-blackwell-dead.html|title=Unita Blackwell, 68, Dies; Rights Crusader and Winner of Historic Election|last=Seelye|first=Katharine Q.|date=2019-05-17|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-05-18|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref> In 1936, when she was three years old, Blackwell's father left the plantation on which he worked and fled to [[Memphis, Tennessee]], fearing for his life after he confronted his boss about speaking to his wife.<ref>Blackwell 2006, pp. 12–13.</ref> Blackwell and her mother left the plantation to live with him soon afterward.<ref name="breakup"/> Blackwell's family traveled frequently in search of work.<ref name="Haskins p.15">Haskins 1999, p. 15.</ref> On June 20, 1938, Blackwell's parents separated due to religious differences. Blackwell and her mother went to [[Helena-West Helena, Arkansas|West Helena, Arkansas]], to live with Blackwell's great aunt so that she could have access to a better education.<ref name="breakup">Blackwell 2006, p. 13.</ref> A quality education in Mississippi was not an option for Blackwell because the schools there were centered on the cultivation of crops and the plantation system. Black children were allowed to attend school for only two months at a time, before they were expected to go back to the cotton fields.<ref name="Seelye-2019" /><ref name="Oral History">{{Cite web |url=https://www.usm.edu/oral-history/oral-history-collections-z#B |title=Oral History with Honorable Unita Blackwell |last=Garvey |first=Mike |website=Mississippi Oral History Program of University of Southern Mississippi |publisher=The University of Southern Mississippi Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage |access-date=October 25, 2013}}</ref> While living in West Helena, Blackwell often visited her father in Memphis. During the summer months she would leave West Helena and live with her grandfather and grandmother in Lula, where she helped plant and harvest cotton.<ref>Blackwell 2006, pp. 13–14.</ref> Blackwell spent a majority of her early years chopping cotton for $3 a day,<ref name="Langer-2019">{{Cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/unita-blackwell-mississippi-mayor-who-turned-nations-eyes-on-her-forgotten-hamlet-dies-at-86/2019/05/15/259cf154-75f1-11e9-b3f5-5673edf2d127_story.html|title=Unita Blackwell, Mississippi mayor who turned nation's eyes on her forgotten hamlet, dies at 86|last=Langer|first=Emily|date=May 15, 2019|newspaper=Washington Post|access-date=May 19, 2019}}</ref> in Mississippi, [[Arkansas]], and Tennessee as well as peeling tomatoes in [[Florida]].<ref name="African American History Online">{{Cite web |url=http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp? |title=Blackwell, Unita |last=Carey |first=Charles W. |website=African-American Political Leaders, Revised Edition, A to Z of African Americans |publisher=Facts on File, Inc. |access-date=October 25, 2013}}</ref> She was 14 when she finished the [[eighth grade]], the final year of school at Westside, a school in West Helena for black children.<ref>Blackwell 2006, pp. 48–49.</ref> Blackwell had to quit school to earn for her family.<ref name="Haskins p.15" />

[[Category:MacArthur Fellows]]

[[Category:Mississippi Democrats]]

[[Category:People from Lula, Mississippi]]

[[Category:People from Mayersville, Mississippi]]