Mother

Mathilda Beasley

OSF
Mother Superior
Mother Mathilda Beasley, OSF, foundress of the first order of Black Catholic nuns in Savannah, Georgia.
ChurchCatholic Church
Personal details
Born
Mathilda Taylor

November 14, 1832
New Orleans
DiedDecember 20, 1903(1903-12-20) (aged 71)
NationalityAmerican
OccupationFoundress and caregiver

Mathilda Taylor Beasley, OSF (November 14, 1832 - December 20, 1903) was a Black Catholic educator and religious leader who was the first African American nun to serve in the state of Georgia. She founded a group of African-American nuns and one of the first U.S. orphanages for African-American girls.

In 2004, she was posthumously named a Georgia Woman of Achievement.

Biography

She was born in New Orleans, Louisiana on November 14, 1832.[1] She was baptized as a Catholic in 1869, possibly in preparation for her marriage to Abraham Beasley, a wealthy free black restaurant owner in Savannah, who died in 1877.

With Catherine and Jane Deveaux, Beasley educated slaves in her home in Savannah, Georgia before the Civil War although this was illegal at the time.[2]

Later in life, after becoming a Franciscan nun in England, Beasley returned to the United States and founded a group of African-American sisters in Georgia, called the Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis.[3] Beasley attempted to affiliate her group with the Franciscan Order but was ultimately unsuccessful.[4]

She also started one of the first orphanages in the United States for African-American girls,[3] the St. Francis Home for Colored Orphans.[5]

She died on December 20, 1903.[1]

Legacy

In 1982 the Mother Mathilda Beasley Park was dedicated in Savannah on a tract of land east of East Broad Street. A Georgia Historical Marker documenting her life was erected in 1988 at her home in Savannah.[6] In 2014 her cottage, formerly located at 1511 Price Street, was relocated into Mother Mathilda Beasley Park as an interpretive center.

In 2004, Beasley was inducted into the Georgia Women of Achievement hall of fame.[1]

Further reading

  • "Mathilda Beasley and the Catholic Church". Georgia Historical Society. Retrieved November 27, 2018.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Honorees: Mathilda Taylor Beasley". Georgia Women of Achievement. Archived from the original on May 4, 2009. Retrieved 7 February 2015.
  2. ↑ Wells-Bacon, Mary (May 26, 1987). "The Life of Mathilda Beasley" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on September 19, 2015.
  3. 1 2 Berend, Stephen (February 21, 2004). "Teacher, nun, hero - Savannah's Mother Mathilda will be honored as one of Georgia's 'Women of Achievement.'". Savannah Morning News. Archived from the original on December 22, 2017.
  4. ↑ Black Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia. First Indiana University Press Edition. 1994. pp. 99–100. ISBN 0-253-32774-1.
  5. ↑ "Marker Monday: Mother Mathilda Beasley, O.S.F.: Georgia's First Black Nun". Georgia Historical Society. 2018-08-13. Retrieved 2020-05-21.
  6. ↑ "Mother Mathilda Beasley, O.S.F. Historical Marker". www.hmdb.org. Retrieved 2020-05-21.
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