Summary
Mae Mallory
June 9, 1927 – 2007
Notable: Activist
Nationality: American
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Mae Mallory was born on June 9, 1927, in Macon, GA. Mallory’s family was poor and her childhood coincided with Jim Crow. This was a time when Jim Crow was actively used to oppress and instill a sense of inferiority in Black people. Yet, Mallory was surrounded by a Black family and community that built her self-esteem and pride. They did such a great job that Mallory became a fighter, developing a personality that blatantly opposed White supremacy.
There was fear that Mallory’s non-compliant demeanor would make things difficult for her in the South as she got older. When Mallory was 12 years old she relocated to Harlem with her mother as part of the Great Migration. The move was partially motivated by the pursuit of better opportunities and the hope of keeping Mallory safe.
The Harlem of Mallory’s adolescence was regarded as “the Black Mecca”. She enrolled and graduated from high school but much of Mallory’s education would occur at work and in the community. Mallory was first employed as a domestic worker in the homes of White families. The pay was low and the work ranged from menial to degrading with some employers committing microaggressions.
She later found work in factories but the workplace issues continued despite this being a new environment. To begin with, it was often difficult for Black women to find jobs outside of domestic work. Many factories chose not to hire Black women. The Black women who were employed at factories were often limited to the lowest-paying jobs and barred from becoming union members. This meant they earned less, had few opportunities to advance, and did not have access to an organization that would advocate for their employment needs.
Mallory made her first forays into activism as a member of the Communist Party and other local Black organizations. She joined groups and was active in campaigns focused on improving labor conditions and ensuring greater equality for Black people. Much of her activism in the early to mid-1950s focused on workplace issues.
New York City public schools are within zones that are composed of neighborhoods. A child’s local or “zone school” is based on their home address. New York City was (and arguably still is) racially segregated from a residential standpoint. Thus while Black children were not outright banned from attending predominantly White schools based on their race, they could be banned based on their address. As was the case in the South, most schools within Black neighborhoods received less funding and resources in comparison to schools in White neighborhoods.
In 1957, Mallory was a single mother, and securing educational opportunities for her children was a pressing issue. Mallory decided to get involved when she learned about the overcrowding and limited resources at her children’s school. During a public New York City Board of Education meeting, Mallory stood up and compared the school system to the Jim Crow system of the South.
When Mallory tried to enroll her daughter at an integrated school outside of their neighborhood, the school board blocked the enrollment. Mallory joined forces with eight other women in what was referred to as the “Harlem Nine”. With Mallory functioning as their spokesperson, the group advocated for their children to be able to attend integrated schools outside of their neighborhoods.
Despite their protests, the school board refused to implement any meaningful changes. In response, the Harlem Nine withdrew their children from their zone schools for 156 days. Not sending a child to school can be regarded as negligence which gave the school board grounds to file charges against the Harlem Nine. The judge presiding over the case ruled in favor of the Harlem Nine, finding that not only was the New York City school system segregated but parents had the right to transfer their children.
By the 1960s, Mallory had been a full-fledged activist for several years. She was friends with Malcolm X and was in the ballroom when he was assassinated. She also befriended Robert F. Williams an activist based in Monroe, North Carolina, who advocated for Black armed self-defense. When the Freedom Rides began in 1961, Williams agreed to support their campaign scheduled for August 21 to 27. Mallory agreed to help.
Tensions ran high during the days of protest. On August 27th a small group of Riders arrived at the courthouse in preparation for a demonstration and were confronted by a large White mob. The Riders retreated to the town’s Black area. Mallory, Williams, and other residents got together to figure out a plan for defending themselves and the neighborhood if the White mob showed up.
While the group was speaking on the street, a car carrying a White couple, Bruce and Mabel Stegall, arrived in the neighborhood. Given the day’s events, a crowd formed, suspicious that the car’s occupants had been sent as scouts for the mob. The Stegalls explained that they’d made a wrong turn and weren’t involved with the mob. Some members of the crowd weren’t buying this explanation. Out of concern for their safety, Williams invited the Stegalls to wait in his home for the crowd to drift away.
The Stegalls left without further incident sometime later. They arrived home unharmed but filed a false report with the police that they’d been kidnapped and bound, news reports added that they’d been held at gunpoint. Facing kidnapping charges along with the real fear of being lynched by the Ku Klux Klan, Mallory and Williams fled.
Mallory along with Williams and his family fled to New York. There they learned that the FBI had become involved, naming them as fugitives because they’d fled. Deciding to split up, Williams and his family made their way to Cuba. Meanwhile, Mallory fled to Cleveland, Ohio, where she hid for six weeks before 25 FBI agents carried out a raid that ended with her arrest.
Mallory was held at Cuyahoga County Jail in Cleveland while supporters fought against her being extradited to North Carolina. Various groups and individuals such as James Baldwin worked to raise awareness about Mallory’s case. Ohio had a history of being a haven for Black people from Southern persecution going back to slavery. There was a real fear that extradition to North Carolina would result in Mallory being railroaded by an all-White jury or lynched by a White mob.
After spending five months free on bond, Mallory was forced to return to prison to await her fate. She began to write prodigiously about her experience and the injustices experienced by Black people in general. Her writings would help to fuel the dawn of the Black Power Movement and start early conversations about mass incarceration.
In January 1964, North Carolina and Ohio agreed to the terms of Mallory’s extradition. Her trial lasted from February 21 to February 29. The all-White jury deliberated for 30 minutes before finding Mallory guilty and sentencing her to 16 to 20 years in prison. Fortunately, the sentence was overturned on appeal by the North Carolina Supreme Court which found that Black residents had been purposefully and systematically excluded from the jury. Mallory was freed while prosecutors decided if they wanted a retrial.
Despite this harrowing personal experience, Mallory remained committed to activism. She participated in demonstrations against the Vietnam War and the imprisonment of Black activists. Mallory settled in Tanzania as part of a group of Black American activists who sought refuge in Africa after the tumult of the 1960s.
The life of advocacy lived by Mae Mallory is less frequently discussed in the present. As a result, the details of her later life are unclear. However, it is known that Mallory remained an activist until she died in 2007.
Sources
- Boyd, Herb. 2017. “Mae Mallory, an Often Ignored Militant Activist.” New York Amsterdam News. Amsterdam News. June 15, 2017. https://amsterdamnews.com/news/2017/06/15/mae-mallory-often-ignored-militant-activist/.
- Farmer, Ashley D. 2023. “Mae Mallory: Meet the Civil Rights and Black Power Leader Framed by the FBI.” Teen Vogue. Condé Nast. February 28, 2023. https://www.teenvogue.com/story/who-was-mae-mallory-civil-rights-leader-fbi.
- Farmer, Ashley. 2016. “Mae Mallory: Forgotten Black Power Intellectual.” AAIHS. African American Intellectual History Society. June 3, 2016. https://www.aaihs.org/mae-mallory-forgotten-black-power-intellectual/.
- Liu, N. 2021. “She Who Struggles: Mae Mallory.” Breaking the Chains. Party for Socialism and Liberation. August 10, 2021. https://www.breakingthechainsmag.org/she-who-struggles-mae-mallory/.
- Nitz-Ritter, Em Em. 2024. “Black History Month: Mae Mallory.” Northwest Harvest. February 17, 2024. https://www.northwestharvest.org/news-insights/black-history-month-mae-mallory/.
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