What is Unita Blackwell?
[[File:Unita Blackwell.jpg|thumb|200px|Unita Blackwell]] '''Unita Zelma Blackwell''' (''[[née]]'' '''Brown'''; March 18, 1933 – May 13, 2019) was an [[Americans|American]] [[Civil rights movement|civil rights activist]] and politician. She was the first [[African American]] woman, and the tenth African American, to be elected [[mayor]] in the [[U.S. state]] of [[Mississippi]]. She served as mayor of [[Mayersville, Mississippi]] from 1976 to 2001. She was a project director for the [[Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee]] (SNCC). She was also a founder of the [[US–China Peoples Friendship Association]]. Her [[autobiography]], ''Barefootin{{'}}'', was published in 2006. Blackwell was born in [[Lula, Mississippi]]. She was married to Jeremiah Blackwell. The couple had a son, Jeremiah Blackwell Jr. (born 1957). Blackwell had [[dementia]] in her final years. She died on May 13, 2019 in [[Biloxi, Mississippi]]. She was 86.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://mississippitoday.org/2019/05/13/unita-blackwell-civil-rights-pillar-and-first-black-woman-mayor-in-mississippi-dies-at-86/|title=Unita Blackwell, civil rights pillar and first black woman mayor in Mississippi, dies at 86|work=Mississippi Today|date=May 13, 2019|access-date=May 14, 2019|author=Ganucheau, Adam}}</ref> ==References== {{Reflist}} {{Commons category}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Blackwell, Unita}} [[Category:1933 births]] [[Category:2019 deaths]] [[Category:African-American politicians]] [[Category:American autobiographers]] [[Category:American civil rights activists]] [[Category:American mayors]] [[Category:Deaths from dementia]] [[Category:Disease-related deaths in Mississippi]] [[Category:Democratic Party (United States) politicians]] [[Category:Writers from Mississippi]] {{US-bio-stub}}