Z 0778.000 Kearney (Belle) Papers

Letters, newspaper articles and pictures that belonged to Belle Kearney, Vernon. Kearney was a member of the World's Woman's Christian Temperance Union, and she played an active roll in the woman suffrage movement in Mississippi during the early 1900s. She was the first woman to serve in the state legislature as a Senator and was an unsuccessful candidate for the United States Senate in 1921. She was the author of two books, A Slaveholder's Daughter and Conqueror or Conquered? In 1895, Kearney was appointed Round-the-World Missionary in England by the WWCTU.

Items of particular interest include the following: a certificate of medical examination of a slave, dated Canton, March 15, 1865; a teacher's certificate for the Madison County Schools, dated August 1, 1884; a letter from Frances E. Willard, President, WWCTU, and dated December 10, 1892; a letter dated November 21, 1893, also from Frances E. Willard, inquiring if Kearney would be interested in undertaking an around the world trip and lecturing for the WWCTU; a letter of introduction for Kearney from Earl Brewer, Governor of Mississippi, dated November 22, 1915; numerous newspaper articles pertaining to the WCTU and to the woman suffrage movement in Mississippi in the early 1900; and a copy of The Mississippi White Ribbon, dated Jackson, October 30, 1891. Other information includes the Kearney, Owen, Masterson, Alston, Lindsay and Walter genealogy and coats-of-arms.