“She told her mother about seeing
a beautiful lady who kept smiling
at her and who was holding a kind
of necklace in her hand while she
was unconscious.”
As Mabel grew up, that determination and drive
stayed with her, and though the odds of succeeding
were small, she knew she would overcome those
odds and make a difference. She was always taught
that education was key, so she worked many odd
jobs, taking small steps to reach her goal. She
moved to Pittsburgh Pennsylvania to follow an
opportunity to go to beauty school, and recalled
getting up at three o’clock in the morning to get
to one of her jobs as a window washer so she could
finish before her classes started.
She completed beauty school and worked as a
hairdresser until she saved enough money to put
herself through college. She eventually graduated
from college at Ohio State, where she studied
journalism. She went on to be a writer on the
staff of the Baltimore Afro-American newspaper, a
publication that was established in 1892, that crusaded
for racial equality and economic advancement.
She, along with the newspaper’s photographer,
William Scott, risked their lives on many occasions
to expose injustices and to give a voice to the
disenfranchised and had a profound effect on social
change. She took on many issues, often enlisting
the assistance of Thurgood Marshall, the former
Supreme Court justice who was then a civil rights
lawyer who traveled around the country working
on many cases, usually for no pay other than a
place to stay, since many of the towns that they
visited did not have accommodation for blacks
during that time.
She helped enlist and secure the support of first
lady Eleanor Roosevelt to allow African American
ST. JUDE MESSENGER • VOLUME IV , ISSUE I
WACs as they were called, which is the Women
Army Corps, to serve overseas during World War
II. They were previously not allowed to represent
our nation on foreign soil. She took on the mission
of lobbying the War Department, which is now the
Department of Defense, to desegregate Arlington
Cemetery during World War II. Previously all
soldiers of color - including our Native Americans
- were buried in a separate section.
Her perseverance paid off when she was successful
in ensuring that soldiers who died for their country
did not have to bear the indignity of segregation
even in death. It’s quite fitting that she and her
husband - along with one of their sons - now rest
in Arlington Cemetery not too far from the eternal
flame of the gravesite of President Kennedy.
After going through some troubling times, her
“That’s where she learned, after all
those years, what that necklace
was that she saw as a dying child.
That started her lifelong devotion
to Our Lady of the Rosary.”
brother, who was actually the pastor of Berean
Baptist Church, which is right here in Washington
DC, told her one day, very oddly, that she should
talk to a priest. Later he said he didn’t know what
seized him to tell her that. They grew up as a Baptist
family, but he said, “talk to a priest.” And she did,
at Holy Redeemer Church, which is also here in
Washington DC, and that led to her conversion
to Catholicism.
That’s where she learned, after all those years, what
that necklace was that she saw as a dying child. That
started her lifelong devotion to Our Lady of the
Rosary, and her zeal to do more and help others.
After her marriage to a soldier in 1950 and her first
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