African-American politician (1878–1955)
Mary Cordelia Montgomery Booze (March 1878 – May 17, 1955) was an American political organizer and activist. The daughter of former slaves, she was one of the first African-American women to sit on the Republican National Committee. From 1924 until her death, she was the national committeewoman for her native state of Mississippi.
Biography.
Montgomery was born in 1878 at Brierfield Plantation to Isaiah Thornton Montgomery and Martha Robb Montgomery, former slaves of Joseph Emory Davis, brother of Confederate President Jefferson Davis. She was named for her maternal grandmother Mary Virginia Lewis Montgomery, wife of inventor Benjamin Montgomery. Montgomery grew up in the Mississippi Delta.
In 1924, Booze became a member of the Republican National Committee; she was one of the first African-American women to do so along with Mary Miller Williams of Georgia.
She became a subject of innuendo in fierce state politics during the 1928 presidential campaign that year. On August 10, 1927, Mary and her husband, Eugene P. Booze were arrested and charged with the murder of her father, Isaiah Montgomery. Montgomery had founded Mound Bayou, Mississippi, and died in 1924. When the couple was charged, it was believed Montgomery had been murdered by poisoning, although at the time of his death it was thought his passing was due to natural causes. Supporters of the couple were immediately skeptical of the charges and "further expressed the opinion that Mr. and Mrs. Booze are the victims of a frame-up designed to reflect discredit upon Mrs. Booze as National Republican Committee-woman".
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