Emma V. Kelley

Emma V. Kelley
Emma V. Kelley
	Kelley in 1921 publication
Born	Emma Virginia Lee; February 8, 1867; Barrett's Neck, Nansemond County, Virginia, U.S.
Died	December 14, 1932 (aged 65)
Resting place	Calvary Cemetery; Norfolk, Virginia, U.S.
Alma mater	Hampton Normal Institute
Occupations	Educator; community organizer;
Spouse	Robert Kelley (m. 1893)
Children	1

Emma Virginia Kelley (February 8, 1867 – December 14, 1932) was an American educator and community organizer. She founded a women's organization, Daughters of the Improved Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks of the World.

Early life

Emma Virginia Lee was born as Emma Virginia Lee in Barrett's Neck, Nansemond County, Virginia, the daughter of John Lee and Agnes Walker Lee. She trained as a teacher at Hampton Normal Institute.[1][2]

Career

Lee taught as a young woman, before she married. In widowhood, she moved to Norfolk, Virginia, where she founded the "Daughters of the Improved Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks of the World", the first women's auxiliary to the Improved Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks of the World (IBPOEW), a black fraternal organization, in 1903.[3] The organization was affiliated with the National Council of Negro Women. She wrote a short history of the organization, published posthumously in 1943.[4]

Personal life

Lee married Robert Kelley in 1893. They had a daughter, Buena Vista Kelley.[5] Kelley was widowed in 1900. She died in 1932, aged 65 years.[1] Her grave in Calvary Cemetery in Norfolk is included on historical tours of the cemetery.[6] The Daughters of Elks national organization presents an annual Emma V. Kelley Achievement Award, named in her memory.[7]

References

Emma V. Kelley, Calvary Cemetery, Historic Forrest website.
A. B. Caldwell, History of the American Negro and his Institutions, Virginia Edition (A. B. Caldwell Publishing 1921): 499-501.
Theda Skocpol, Ariane Liazos, Marshall Ganz, eds., What a Mighty Power We Can Be: African American Fraternal Groups and the Struggle for Racial Equality (Princeton University Press 2006): 71-72. ISBN 9780691122991
Kelley's history of the Daughters of I.B.P.O.E.W. : organized June 13, 1902, Norfolk, Va. (1943).
National Council of Negro Women, The Historical Cookbook of the American Negro (Beacon Press 2000): 58. ISBN 9780807009642
"A Tour of Historic Calvary Cemetery" (PDF). Norfolk Department of Recreation, Parks, and Open Space. February 14, 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 26, 2018.
"Female Evangelists" The Crisis (November 1982): 38.

External links

Media related to Emma V. Kelley at Wikimedia Commons
Letter from W. E. B. Du Bois to Emma V. Kelley (December 27, 1926), W. E. B. DuBois Papers, University of Massachusetts Amherst Special Collections and University Archives.

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[Calvary-1] Emma V. Kelley, Calvary Cemetery, Historic Forrest website.

[Caldwell-2] A. B. Caldwell, History of the American Negro and his Institutions, Virginia Edition (A. B. Caldwell Publishing 1921): 499-501.

[3] Theda Skocpol, Ariane Liazos, Marshall Ganz, eds., What a Mighty Power We Can Be: African American Fraternal Groups and the Struggle for Racial Equality (Princeton University Press 2006): 71-72. ISBN 9780691122991

[4] Kelley's history of the Daughters of I.B.P.O.E.W. : organized June 13, 1902, Norfolk, Va. (1943).

[5] National Council of Negro Women, The Historical Cookbook of the American Negro (Beacon Press 2000): 58. ISBN 9780807009642

[6] "A Tour of Historic Calvary Cemetery" (PDF). Norfolk Department of Recreation, Parks, and Open Space. February 14, 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 26, 2018.

[7] "Female Evangelists" The Crisis (November 1982): 38.