Crusaders of Black History: The millionairess and the grifters

& Annie Turnbo Malone & by Stephanie Gadlin, Chicago Crusader By the time she died at Chicago’s Provident Hospital in 1957 from a stroke, 87-year-old Annie Turnbo Malone was nearly broke, a former business titan, twice scorned,& who was slowly becoming a fading memory. The millionaire philanthropist joins numerous Black women of her time – some famous, others infamous – who represent the ancient landmarks; each now covered in dust kicked about by the heels of Black America’s traveling shoes. These powerful women, along with the men who preceded, accompanied or followed them, carved their places in history. Like Turnbo, they thrived despite the Black Codes, Jim Crow, legalized segregation, and systemic poverty, while also facing crazed, white lynch mobs that could spring up at any time.& According to the NAACP, between 1882 and 1968, more than 4,743 documented lynchings occurred in the U.S. In 1860, the Black population in the U.S. stood at roughly 4.5 million (16.5%) people, most of whom were enslaved. The Reconstruction period began in 1865 until 1877, following the Civil War which freed most of the enslaved Blacks, and was the starting process of readmitting 11 states back into the Union. White plantation owners and...