"Susan Sumner Revels Cayton"

A daughter of  Hiram Revels,the first U.S. Senator of African descent,arrived in Seattle Washington from Mississippi in 1896.Her reason,she stated,during a 1936 Washington Pioneers Project interview,was " the man she was going to marry was here."He was Roscoe Cayton publisher of The Seattle Republican.The two were married on July 12, 1896.She soon became a leader in Seattle's black community.She was named associate editor and, later,contributing  editor of Cayton's Weekly.She was an active member of cultural and social organizations designed to improve the conditions of African Americans,including the "Sunday Forum,"a group of black Seattleleites that met on a regular basis.Along with three other black women,Susan founded the Dorcus Charity Club in response to an urgent plea to help a set of abandoned twins.The club continued its charitable work for years.Even with her family,newspaper and civil responsibilities she managed to write short stories.Many appeared in the Seattle post-Intelligencer (June 3, 1900)."Sally the Egg [S]he is a splendid short story writer and were able to devote her time and talent to ...writing,she would soon rank among the best short story writers in the country."Shortly after her husband death in 1940,she moved to Chicago where she died.