Carrie Belle Kearney (March 6, 1863February 27, 1939) was an American

temperance Temperance may refer to: Moderation *Temperance movement, movement to reduce the amount of alcohol consumed *Temperance (virtue), habitual moderation in the indulgence of a natural appetite or passion Culture *Temperance (group), Canadian danc ...

reformer,

suffragist Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to v ...

, teacher,

white supremacist White supremacy or white supremacism is the belief that white people are superior to those of other Race (human classification), races and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any Power (social and polit ...

, and the first woman elected to the

Mississippi State Senate The Mississippi Senate is the upper house of the Mississippi Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Mississippi. The Senate, along with the lower Mississippi House of Representatives, convenes at the Mississippi State Capitol ...

Early life

Kearney was born on her family's plantation in

Flora, Mississippi Flora is a town in Madison County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 1,886 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Jackson Metropolitan Statistical Area. The town is named after Flora Mann Jones, an early resident. History Graves in ...

. Her father, Walter Guston Kearney, was a slave-owning planter who suffered significant financial losses after the Civil War. Belle Kearney attended Canton Young Ladies' Academy, but was forced to leave due to the cost of tuition. She educated herself, and opened a private school in a spare bedroom of the plantation house. She later began teaching in the public school system.

Activism, beliefs and works

Kearney was a

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...

, and a member of the

Woman's Christian Temperance Union The Woman's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) is an international temperance organization, originating among women in the United States Prohibition movement. It was among the first organizations of women devoted to social reform with a program th ...

. She was also active in the American suffrage movement, and was hired as a speaker and lobbyist by the

National American Woman Suffrage Association The National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) was an organization formed on February 18, 1890, to advocate in favor of women's suffrage in the United States. It was created by the merger of two existing organizations, the National ...

. In this role, she traveled throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe, and was a respected orator. Kearney was a white supremacist, and used her public speaking events to advocate her racial views. While delivering an address at the National American Woman Suffrage Association Convention in 1903,Program of the Thirty-Fifth Annual Convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association
p. 16. she said that women's suffrage would bring about "immediate and durable white supremacy, honestly attained". Kearney authored two novels: ''A Slaveholder's Daughter'' (1900), and ''Conqueror or Conquered: Or, the Sex Challenge Answered'' (1921). She also edited ''Mama Flower'' (1918).

Elected office

In 1922, Kearney ran unsuccessfully for the office of U.S. Senator from Mississippi. In 1924, she was elected to the Mississippi State Senate as a Democrat representing Madison County, the first woman in Mississippi to hold that office.

Death

Kearney never married and had no children. She spent her last years on the family plantation in Flora, and died of cancer in 1939 at the home of a friend in

Jackson Jackson may refer to: People and fictional characters * Jackson (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the surname or given name Places Australia * Jackson, Queensland, a town in the Maranoa Region * Jackson North, Q ...

. She was buried in Kearney Cemetery near the family plantation.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kearney, Belle 1863 births 1939 deaths People from Flora, Mississippi Methodists from Mississippi Democratic Party Mississippi state senators American suffragists American temperance activists American white supremacists 20th-century American politicians 20th-century American women politicians Woman's Christian Temperance Union people

Early life

Activism, beliefs and works

Elected office

Death

See also

References