Nellie Peters Black | |
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Born | February 9, 1851 |
Died | August 4, 1919 | (aged 68)
Mary Ellen Peters Black (1851–1919) was a prominent organizer and activist related to women's issues in Georgia.[1] Black also promoted agricultural reform and increasing educational opportunities, especially for women.[2] She was an active member of the Atlanta Woman's Club as well as the Woman's Auxiliary of the Episcopal Diocese of Georgia.[2]
In 1918, Mary Turner, a pregnant Black woman from Valdosta, Georgia, protested the lynching of her husband. Her punishment was brutal torture before being burned alive, her fetus cut from her abdomen. Nellie Peters Black sent a letter condoning the lynching of Mary Turner. In a letter to the Negro Women's Clubs, Black told the group that "until you teach your people not to molest the whites, there could be no adjustment."[3]