Public Domain Photograph via Wikimedia Commons

• ENTREPRENEUR
• Born a slave, she used part of an inheritance from her deceased owner to help buy her own freedom, then began a lifelong search for her daughter, Eliza, who had been sold away as a child
• Moved to Colorado and started a laundry business, becoming one of the RICHEST women in the West
• Used her newfound wealth to help those in need, regardless of race
• Traveled to Missouri to continue her search for her daughter
• Though she didn't find Eliza, Clara helped many freed slaves who had migrated there by paying for lodging and food; several accompanied her back to Colorado (at her expense), and she helped them find work, even allowing some to settle on her own property
• Throughout her life, Brown held fast to the belief that God would someday lead her to her daughter
• Went to Kansas -- in her late seventies -- to assist the thousands of former slaves who were moving there, lured by the abundance of open land but unable to support themselves
• Provided food and support for many, all the while hoping to find word of her daughter
• Finally, three years before her death, she found Eliza in Nebraska, who had thought her mother long since dead, and the two lived together for the rest of Clara's life

Not Your Aunt

Using the term "aunt" or "auntie" in conjunction with Black women is a tradition steeped in racist stereotypes (assuming the Black woman in question isn't actually your aunt!). Many Black women of Brown's day were referred to as either "Aunt" or "Mammy" (like Mary Ellen Pleasant) by white people, a nickname that diminished their individuality and dignity, and imposed on them an image of loyal women happy to serve, as opposed to the captive slaves they were. As a result, most older biographies of these women carry over these tags, but be sure to use their actual names (even though in the case of slaves, these were usually names given to them by their owners and not their real names at all -- but that's a whole other issue altogether!).

Bibliography: Monson, Marianne. Frontier Grit: The Unlikely True Stories of Daring Pioneer Women. Salt Lake City: Shadow Mountain, 2016. Print.

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