"Victoria Earle Matthews"(May 27,1861-March 10,1907)

Writer,educator,and activist,was the youngest of nine children born to Caroline Smith,a former slave ,in fort Valley,Georgia.Oral family history has it that Victoria's daddy was her mama's owner.Her mama migrated to New York with her daughters Victoria and Anna around 1873.Victoria attended the Grammar school 48 in New York City until she was compelled to leave because of poverty;she took work as a domestic servant,the only employment available to many African American women at that time.Hallie Quinn Brown's Homespun Heroines and Other Women Distinction (1926) notes of Victoria,that she "never lost an opportunity to improve her mind."Victoria developed her own literacy program,acquiring knowledge from independent study,lectures,and contact with educated people.Marriage at the age of eighteen to William Mattthews, a carriage driver, enable her to escape her home life,it led to an unhappy and perhaps a lonely domestic situation.During the early the early years of  her marriage,Victoria contributed ariticles about her childhood to Waverly Magazine,the New York Weekly,and Family Story Paper.She was also a news correspondent for the New York Times,the New York Age,the Brooklyn Eagle,the Boston Advocate, the Washington Bee,and the Richmond Planet In 1893, under the pen name Victoria Earle,she published her most ambitious work,the short story "Aunt Lindy." Five years later,with encouragement from the New York Age editor Timothy Thomas Fortune,she edited Black Diamonds:The Wisdom of Booker T.Washington, a selection of his speeches and talks to students.Victoria's writing brought her into contact with prominent white & African American women and led to membership in the Women's National Press Association.Linking the written word and action,she organized a dinner to honor the achievements of the antilynching