"Mother Mathilda"Beasley.(November 14,1832-December 20,1903)

By 1859,records indicate that she had been operating a secret school for African American

children at a time when "punishment for teaching slaves or free persons of color to "read" was a fine" and whipping." Facing great personal risks,she was committed to educating children who otherwise would have no opportunity for schooling and because there is little information about her school,Mathilda seems to have achieved her goal of keeping her efforts from the authorities.
Mother Mathilda donated her husband's estate to the Sacred Heart Catholic Church of Savannah in order to establish an orphanage,the St.Francis Home of Colored Orphans,the first facility of its kind for African American girls.Originally located near the Sacred Heart Church,the orphanage started taking girls in 1887 and was moved in the late 1890s to East Broad Street,the site of the new erected St.Benedict's Parish.
Mathilda also traveled to London in the 1880s to serve as a novitiate for a year.She returned to Savannah to run the orphanage and created the first group of African American nuns.During the 1860's she worked at a Bryan Street restaurant in Savannah,the Railhouse restaurant,which was owned by a free African American named Abraham Beasley was a prosperous widower who owned,land,a produce market,a saloon and boarding house as well as the restaurant.Ironically,he also had earned part of his money in the slave trade.He and Mathilda married in 1869 and when he died in September 1877,Abraham left her a childless widow with five acres of land worth $300 and property holdings on the Isle of Hope,Skidaway Island and inside the Savannah city limits.
In the 1880s,she became a pioneer within the Catholic Church when she went to England to train as a Catholic nun.Upon her return to Savannah Mathilda became known as Mother Mathilda,and later mother Beasley ,and Georgia's first African-American nun.
It has been speculated that Mother Mathilda donated her estate to atone for her late husband's financial gain from slavery,the very institution that she was born into and later escaped,from,with her pure heart willingness to sacrifice for others,it would be surprising if this was true.
She founded the Third Order of St.Francis in 1889,Georgia's first group of African American nuns.During this time,the orphanage faced financial troubles and arson attacks and Mother Mathilda did not hesitate to do whatever she could to keep the orphanage going,infludraising and taking in sewing to support her cause.She operated the orphanage until her death.
"Protestants spoke in the highest terms of her life and character,and among the negroes the feelings prevails that they have lost the the best and truest friend and benefactors."