Kizziah Jones Bills (c. January 19, 1860 – February 24, 1924), also known as Mrs. K.J. Bills, Kizziah J. Stith, Kizzie J. Bills, was a Black American

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 ...

, a

correspondent A correspondent or on-the-scene reporter is usually a journalist or commentator for a magazine, or an agent who contributes reports to a newspaper, or radio or television news, or another type of company, from a remote, often distant, locati ...

and

columnist A columnist is a person who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Column (newspaper), Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs. They take the fo ...

for

Black press Black Press Group Ltd. is a Canadian publisher of prominent daily newspapers in Hawaii and Alaska and numerous non-daily newspapers in Alberta and British Columbia, Canada, and (via Sound Publishing) the U.S. state of Washington. Black Press M ...

in Chicago, and a

civil rights activist Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life o ...

. She is known as an early member of the Ida B. Wells Club, the

Alpha Suffrage Club The Alpha Suffrage Club was the first and most important black female suffrage club in Chicago and one of the most important in Illinois. It was founded on January 30, 1913 by Ida B. Wells with the help of her white colleagues Belle Squire and Vir ...

and served as president of the Civic League.

Biography

Her name at birth was Kizziah Jones, she was born January 19, 1860 (or 1862), in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

, to Patsey (née Hendricks) and Poindexter Jones. She was raised in Davidson County,

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

in a cabin. Starting at a young age she worked as a

seamstress A dressmaker, also known as a seamstress, is a person who makes custom clothing for women, such as dresses, blouses, and evening gowns. Dressmakers were historically known as mantua-makers, and are also known as a modiste or fabrician. Nota ...

. In c.1880, she married Dr. Nathan J. Stith and together they had a son, Andrew Haydn Stith (born 1889). By 1891, she was a widow and started using the name "Kizzie". She worked in 1891–1892 at

Meigs School Meigs School (or currently Meigs Academic Magnet Middle Prep) is a public magnet school located in Nashville, Tennessee. History The school is named in honor of James L. Meigs, Nashville's second superintendent of public schools. In a report b ...

, a segregated public school in

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...

Women's clubs

In 1893, she married Satto Bills and they moved to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. She worked as a seamstress and Satto Bills worked as a cook and later as a

railroad worker Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a prep ...

. She joined many

women's clubs The woman's club movement was a social movement that took place throughout the United States that established the idea that women had a moral duty and responsibility to transform public policy. While women's organizations had always been a par ...

in Chicago and was an early member of the Ida B. Wells Club (previously named the Women's Era Club'')'' and Bills was the first president of the Julia Gaston Club. Satto Bills died in 1901, leaving her as a window again. In 1905, she served as the president of the Civic League, served as the recording secretary of the Tennesseans, and joined as a member, the Grand Foundation United Order of True Reformers. In 1913 she joined the Alpha Suffrage Club, which is thought to be the first black female suffrage club. Starting in 1914, Bills served as the editor of the club newspaper, ''The Alpha Suffrage Record''. She later served as a writer in the 1930s for ''The Alpha Suffrage Record''s "Clubs and Society" column.

The Chicago Defender

Between 1910 until 1915, under the name "Mrs. K.J. Bills", she wrote for ''

The Chicago Defender ''The Chicago Defender'' is a Chicago-based online African-American newspaper. It was founded in 1905 by Robert S. Abbott and was once considered the "most important" newspaper of its kind. Abbott's newspaper reported and campaigned against Jim ...

'' newspaper. Her most famous publication was in 1915 on the film premiere of ''

The Birth of a Nation ''The Birth of a Nation'', originally called ''The Clansman'', is a 1915 American silent epic drama film directed by D. W. Griffith and starring Lillian Gish. The screenplay is adapted from Thomas Dixon Jr.'s 1905 novel and play ''The Cla ...

'' in Chicago, an American silent

epic Epic commonly refers to: * Epic poetry, a long narrative poem celebrating heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation * Epic film, a genre of film with heroic elements Epic or EPIC may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and medi ...

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

which is part fiction and part history, chronicling the

assassination of Abraham Lincoln On April 14, 1865, Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States, was assassinated by well-known stage actor John Wilkes Booth, while attending the play ''Our American Cousin'' at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. Shot in the hea ...

John Wilkes Booth John Wilkes Booth (May 10, 1838 – April 26, 1865) was an American stage actor who assassinated United States President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., on April 14, 1865. A member of the prominent 19th-century Booth th ...

and the relationship of two families in the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

and

Reconstruction Reconstruction may refer to: Politics, history, and sociology *Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company *''Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Union ...

eras over the course of several years. Bills reviewed the film with a critical lens and debunked much of the storyline for a lack of historical facts, while reflecting on her own experiences as a Black women living during the Reconstruction era in the American South. She died in Chicago on February 24, 1924, after an illness.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bill, Kizziah J. 1860 births 1924 deaths African-American suffragists American suffragists African-American activists People from Florence, Alabama Writers from Chicago African-American journalists 19th-century American journalists Clubwomen American columnists American women columnists 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women