Lethia Cousins Fleming

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]

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)

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. Lasser, Carol (2002). "Biographical Sketch of Lethia Cousins Fleming, 1876-1963". Alexander Street, a ProQuest Company. Retrieved 2020-11-29.
  3. "Fleming, Lethia Cousins". Encyclopedia of Cleveland History, Case Western Reserve University. 2019-03-07. Retrieved 2020-11-29.
  4. 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. 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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