M. Cravath Simpson

Mary Mahala Cravat, known as Minnie, was born on December 6, 1860, in Cumberland, to Sarah B. (née Eldridge) and John A. Cravat.{{sfn|Rhode Island Births|1860}}{{sfn|Rhode Island Marriages|1882|p=579}} She was the youngest of three children, with a brother, Eldridge, and a sister, Clara. Her father, a mulatto born in Pennsylvania to a French father, was a barber who served in Company A, Regiment 11 of the Union Army's Colored Heavy Artillery Unit from August 10, 1863, to October 2, 1865.{{sfn|Military Service Records|1865|pp=2, 16}} After graduating high school in Rhode Island,{{sfn|Deutsch|2002|p=112}} Cravat married Charles Harry Simpson on October 30, 1882, in Providence{{sfn|Rhode Island Marriages|1882|p=578}} and moved to Boston. She continued her studies, training as a contralto for the next seven years.{{sfn|Deutsch|2002|p=112}}

Simpson debuted as a singer in 1891 and performed at Madison Square Garden before retiring from singing in 1895.{{sfn|Deutsch|2002|p=112}} After leaving performing, Simpson became a public speaker and studied at the Boston College of Chiropody, graduating as a chiropodist in 1911.{{sfn|Deutsch|2002|p=112}} From 1903 to 1940,{{sfn|Williams|2012|p=246}}{{sfn|The Boston Globe|1940|p=18}} she spoke throughout the Northeastern Seaboard and Midwest, on lynching and racial inequality.{{sfn|Dodson|1907|p=2}}{{sfn|The Bridgeport Telegram|1925|p=5}}{{sfn|The Afro American|1933|p=1}}

In addition to her career, Simpson was an active clubwoman, involved in founding organizations such as the Woman's Era Club (1892), where she was secretary for 14 years, and the Harriet Tubman House (1903).{{sfn|Deutsch|2002|p=112}}{{sfn|The Times|1900|p=9}} The Era Club and its founder, Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin, urged the formation of the National Association of Colored Women, which Simpson joined in 1896.{{sfn|The Boston Globe|1939|p=8}} That same year, Simpson became a member of the Northeastern Federation of Women's Clubs (1896) and chaired its anti-lynching committee.{{sfn|Deutsch|2002|p=112}} She became chair of the Federation in 1918.{{sfn|Williams|2012|p=246}}

When William Monroe Trotter formed the Negro American Political League in 1908, splitting from the NAACP over whether the association should be black-led or allow whites to lead and participate, Simpson, along with Pauline Hopkins, Rev. Matthew A. N. Shaw, and Ida B. Wells, supported the organization.{{sfn|Schneider|1997|pp=115, 118}} She was president of the Anti-Lynching Society of Afro-American Women, formed around 1911,{{sfn|Williams|2012|p=246}}{{sfn|The Indianapolis Recorder|1911|p=1}} and led the creation of the Massachusetts State Union of Black Women's Clubs (1914), acting as its inaugural president from 1914 to 1916 and again from 1922 to 1924.{{sfn|Deutsch|2002|p=112}}{{sfn|Leslie|2012|pp=266–267}} In these roles, she worked to protect the human rights of African Americans and ensure respect, equality, and justice.{{sfn|The Indianapolis Recorder|1910|p=1}}{{sfn|The Indianapolis Recorder|1912|p=7}}

In February 1945, Simpson's apartment building caught fire, and she was hospitalized for shock.{{sfn|The Boston Globe|1945a|p=8}} She died three months later on May 19, 1945, in Boston.{{sfn|The Boston Globe|1945b|p=8}} In 1968, she was listed byThe Boston Globe as one of the "Black Brahmins" of Boston, "a remarkable lot, [who] though not revolutionaries themselves, they tilled the ground and prepared the way" for the Civil Rights Movement.{{sfn|The Boston Globe|1968|p=361}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

{{refbegin|30em}}

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• {{cite book |last=Schneider |first=Mark R. |title=Boston confronts Jim Crow, 1890-1920 |url=https://archive.org/details/bostonconfrontsj00schn/page/118?q=%22Cravath+Simpson%22?q=%22Cravath+Simpson%22 |date=1997 |publisher=Northeastern University Press |location=Boston, Massachusetts |isbn=1-55553-296-9}}
• {{cite book |last=Williams |first=Kidada E. |title=They Left Great Marks on Me: African American Testimonies of Racial Violence from Emancipation to World War I |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OY_tCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA246 |date=2012 |publisher=New York University Press |location=New York, New York |isbn=978-0-8147-9537-8}}
• {{cite web |ref={{harvid|U. S. Census|1880}} |author= |title=1880 U. S. Census, Providence, Rhode Island |url=https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GYBL-L2Z?i=7&cc=1417683 |website=FamilySearch |publisher=National Archives and Records Service |access-date=February 24, 2019 |location=Washington, D. C. |page=8 |date=June 4, 1880 |id=NARA microfilm series T9, Roll 1213, lines 44–48}}
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• {{cite web |ref={{harvid|Military Service Records|1865}} |author= |title=Compiled Military Service Records of Volunteer Union Soldiers Who Served with the United States Colored Troops, 1861 – 1866: John A. Cravat/Cravatt |url=https://www.fold3.com/image/267457805 |website=Fold 3 |publisher=National Archives and Records Service |access-date=February 24, 2019 |location=Washington, D. C. |pages=1–17 |date=1865 |id=NARA microfilm series M1818, Roll 0193}}
• {{cite news |ref={{harvid|The Boston Globe|1940}} |author= |title=Groups Form State Peace Council at Meeting Here |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/28810766/the_boston_globe/ |access-date=February 24, 2019 |newspaper=The Boston Globe |date=June 24, 1940 |location=Boston, Massachusetts |page=18 |via = Newspapers.com}} {{open access}}
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• {{cite news |ref={{harvid|The Bridgeport Telegram|1925}} |author= |title=Negro Convention Hears Discourse on Lynching |url=https://newspaperarchive.com/politics-clipping-aug-07-1925-1058713/ |access-date=February 24, 2019 |newspaper=The Bridgeport Telegram |date=August 7, 1925 |location=Bridgeport, Connecticut |page=5 |via = Newspaperarchive.com}} {{open access}}
• {{cite web |ref={{harvid|Rhode Island Births|1860}} |author= |title=Rhode Island Births and Christenings, 1600–1914: Mary Mahala Cravat |url=https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FZB8-GBC |website=FamilySearch |publisher=The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints |access-date=February 24, 2019 |location=Salt Lake City, Utah |page=278 |date=December 6, 1860 |id=FHL microfilm #1822414}}
• {{cite web |ref={{harvid|Rhode Island Marriages|1882}} |author= |title=Rhode Island, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1630–1945 (Marriages): Charles Henry Simpson/Minnie Mahala Cravatt |url=https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-DTX7-9DY?i=577&cc=2146229 |website=FamilySearch |publisher=Rhode Island State Archives |access-date=February 24, 2019 |location=Providence, Rhode Island |pages=578–579 |date=October 31, 1882 |id=FHL microfilm #2027972}}
• {{cite news |ref={{harvid|The Boston Globe|1945b}} |author= |title=Simpson |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/28698422/simpson_the_boston_globe_boston/ |access-date=February 24, 2019 |newspaper=The Boston Globe |date=May 22, 1945 |location=Boston, Massachusetts |page=8 |via = Newspapers.com}} {{open access}}
• {{cite news |ref={{harvid|The Times|1900}} |author= |title=The Color Line in the Federation of Women's Clubs |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/10928604/the_times/ |access-date=February 24, 2019 |newspaper=The Times |date=June 8, 1900 |location=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |page=9 |via = Newspapers.com}} {{open access}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Simpson, M. Cravath}}

Category:1860 births

Category:1945 deaths

Category:People from Cumberland, Rhode Island

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