Lethia Cousins Fleming
Born
Lethia Cousins

(1876-11-07)November 7, 1876
Tazewell, Virginia, US
DiedSeptember 22, 1963(1963-09-22) (aged 86)
Cleveland, Ohio, US
Burial placeLake View Cemetery
Known forSuffragist, teacher, social worker, civil rights activist, politician
SpouseThomas Wallace Fleming (married 1912)

Lethia Cousins Fleming (November 7, 1876 – September 22, 1963) was an African-American suffragist, teacher, social worker, civil rights activist, and she was active in Republican politics at both local and national levels.[1][2]

Early life and education

She was born as Lethia Cousins on November 7, 1876, in Tazewell, Virginia, to James Archibald Cousins and Fannie Taylor Cousins.[3][2] Her father was Black and born free, he served in the Confederate Army and after was a brick mason.[4] Fleming was the oldest of eight children in her family, she attended high school in Ironton, Virginia.[2][4]

Fleming attended Morristown College in Tennessee; and Bluefield State College in West Virginia; where she studied education.[2][5] She taught in schools in Virginia, then in McDowell and Cabell counties in West Virginia.[4]

On February 21, 1912, Lethia Cousins and Thomas "Tom" Wallace Fleming (1874–1948) married.[3][6] Tom was a lawyer and at that time had served one term as Cleveland city councilman, the marriage to Lethia was his second.[2][7][8][9] The couple never had children, and Thomas had three children from his first marriage which Lethia helped raise.[3][2] She had interest in the Baha'i Faith.[3]

Work

In 1914, Lethia Fleming was chair the Board of Lady Managers of the Cleveland Home for Aged Colored People.[3] She took charge and directed a campaign effort among African-American women to vote for her husband Tom Fleming during the 1915 campaign for a City Council Seat from Ward 11.[9]

Starting in 1920, Fleming directed national campaign efforts among Black women for three Republican presidential candidates, Warren G. Harding (1920), Herbert Hoover (1936), and Alfred M. Landon (1940).[3]

In 1929, Fleming made an attempt to run for a seat in the Cleveland city council, after her husband had been imprisoned.[3]

From 1931 until 1951, she worked as a social worker at the Cuyahoga County Child Welfare Board.[3]

Fleming was member of organizations including Travelers Aid Society, the Cleveland office of National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and the Phillis Wheatley Association.[3] She was on the first board for the Negro Welfare Association (now the National Urban League).[3][10] Fleming was the first female to be a trustee at Mt. Zion Congregational Church in Cleveland.[3][11]

She died on September 22, 1963, in Cleveland and is buried at Lake View Cemetery.[2][12]

References

  1. ↑ "Lethia Fleming born". African American Registry. Retrieved 2020-11-30.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Lasser, Carol (2002). "Biographical Sketch of Lethia Cousins Fleming, 1876-1963". Alexander Street, a ProQuest Company. Retrieved 2020-11-29.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "Fleming, Lethia Cousins". Encyclopedia of Cleveland History, Case Western Reserve University. 2019-03-07. Retrieved 2020-11-29.
  4. 1 2 3 Lasser, Carol (2020). "Fleming, Lethia Cousins (7 Nov. 1876–22 Sept. 1963), suffragist, Republican party organizer and civic activist". American National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/anb/9780198606697.013.369324. ISBN 978-0-19-860669-7. Retrieved 2020-11-30.
  5. ↑ "After Twenty Years". Hoosier State Chronicles, U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services, Indiana State Library. Indianapolis Recorder. July 13, 1940. Retrieved 2020-11-30.
  6. ↑ "Lethia Cousins Marries Thomas W. Fleming at James Cousin's Tazewell Home". Clinch Valley News. 1912-02-23. p. 4. Retrieved 2020-11-30 – via newspapers.com.
  7. ↑ Mather, Frank Lincoln (1915). Who's who of the Colored Race: A General Biographical Dictionary of Men and Women of African Descent ; Vol. 1. p. 104.
  8. ↑ The Postal Alliance. National Alliance of Postal Employees. 1951. p. 6.
  9. 1 2 Lasser, Carol (March 2020). "Celebrating Lethia Cousins Fleming". Ohio History Connection.
  10. ↑ "Living Black History at Lake View Cemetery featuring Lethia Cousins Fleming". ideastream. 2018-01-18. Retrieved 2020-11-30.
  11. ↑ "Mt. Zion Congregational Church". Encyclopedia of Cleveland History, Case Western Reserve University. 2019-05-31. Retrieved 2020-11-29.
  12. ↑ Salem, Dorothy (2013). "Fleming, Lethia C.". Oxford African American Studies Center. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acref/9780195301731.013.36818. ISBN 978-0-19-530173-1. Retrieved 2020-11-30.
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