Mary Cordelia Montgomery Booze (1878–1955) was an American political organizer and activist. The daughter of former

slaves Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

, she was the first

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American ...

woman to sit on the

Republican National Committee The Republican National Committee (RNC) is a U.S. political committee that assists the Republican Party of the United States. It is responsible for developing and promoting the Republican brand and political platform, as well as assisting in fu ...

. From 1924 until her death, she was the national committeewoman for her native state of

Mississippi Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Miss ...

Biography

Born Mary Montgomery in March 1878 to parents who had been enslaved when young, she grew up in the

Mississippi Delta The Mississippi Delta, also known as the Yazoo–Mississippi Delta, or simply the Delta, is the distinctive northwest section of the U.S. state of Mississippi (and portions of Arkansas and Louisiana) that lies between the Mississippi and Yazoo ...

. Despite state restrictions that effectively disenfranchised most blacks, Booze joined the Republican Party. Beginning in 1924, she served as a committeewoman from Mississippi to the Republican National Committee, the first African-American woman to hold that position. She became a subject of innuendo in fierce state politics during the 1928 presidential campaign that year.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Booze, Mary 1878 births 1955 deaths Straight University alumni African-American people in Mississippi politics Women in Mississippi politics Mississippi Republicans Activists for African-American civil rights People from Mound Bayou, Mississippi Activists from New York City Republican National Committee members African-American women in politics African-American activists 20th-century African-American women 20th-century African-American people Black conservatism in the United States