Jessie Daniel Ames

WOMEN'S & CIVIL RIGHTS ACTIVIST
Born Jessie Daniel, she graduated from Southwestern University at 19 years old, and had three children with her husband, Roger Post Ames
When Roger died in 1914, she became an active member of the suffrage movement, eventually becoming president of the Georgetown Equal Suffrage League, and treasurer of the Texas Woman Suffrage Association
After the 19th Amendment passed, she worked with the Texas League of Women Voters, and then became president of the state American Association of University Women and the Texas Federation of Women's Clubs
Served as a member of the Board of Education of the Methodist Church, and considered her support of Black rights -- particularly anti-lynching -- as a necessary extension of her faith
Became director of the Texas Council of the Commission on Interracial Cooperation (CIC) in 1924, and five years later moved to Atlanta to serve as the national director of the CIC Women's Committee
Worked to convince other white churchwomen to fight against racism, forming the Association of Southern Women for the Prevention of Lynching (ASWPL), and joining the fight -- led by Ida B. Wells and others -- to make lynching a federal crime
Traveled throughout the South to teach ASWPL members how to investigate suspected racial crimes
Worked with the CIC and the ASWPL until retiring in 1942

Photo via the Williamson County Historical Commission

Bibliography: Murray, Gail S. "Ames, Jessie Daniel." The Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History, Vol. 1, Oxford University Press, 2008, 100-101.

Support these organizations dedicated to preserving her story & mission:

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Williamson County Historical Commission

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Toward Lynchless America

Revolt Against Chivalry: Jessie Daniel Ames and the Women's Campaign Against Lynching

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