Lillie Anna "Mother" James (June 1876 – November 3, 1957) was an American educator who established a school for African American children in Pensacola, Florida. Her son, Daniel James Jr., became the first black full general in U.S. history.[1] She is listed as a Great Floridian.

Biography

She was born as Lillie Anna Brown to William and Hattie (Crenshaw) Brown[2] in June 1876,[3] in Pensacola, where she lived her entire life. On December 23, 1894, she married Daniel James, a native of Alabama. They had 17 children, many of whom died young. Her son Daniel James Jr. would become a U.S. Air Force four star general.[4]

James established the Lillie Anna James Private School for her own children and other black youths in her community; it would become a prestigious middle school and junior high school.[1] Her 11th commandment was: "Thou shalt not quit", a call for her children to prove they could compete on an equal basis.[5] She died in 1957.[6]

Her former home, where she ran the school, is located at 1606 Martin Luther King Boulevard. Pensacola's Memorial Garden includes a marker in her honor.[7]

References

  1. 1 2 Encyclopedia of African American History, 1896 to the Present: "From the Age of Segregation to the Twenty-First Century.' 2009 Paul Finkelman, Cary D. Wintz
  2. ↑ U.S. Census, 1880, Supervisor's District 18, enumerator's district 45, page 15, Pensacola, Florida
  3. ↑ U.S. Census, 1900, supervisors district 1, enumerators district 21. sheet11
  4. ↑ Treaster, Joseph E. (February 26, 1978). "Daniel James, First Black to Be a Full General, Dies; Arrested for Sit-In Statement of Brown". The New York Times. Retrieved July 4, 2017.
  5. ↑ Gates Jr., Henry Louis; Higginbotham, Evelyn Brooks (2004). African American Lives. Oxford University Press. p. 443. ISBN 9780199882861. Retrieved 4 July 2017.
  6. ↑ "Industry" (PDF).
  7. ↑ Visit Florida


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