Achebe Betty Powell

Betty Jean Kelly was born in Florida, the daughter of Jesse Kelly and Rachel Harris (later known as Rachel Long).^[1] She lived in Germany for several years as a teenager, because her father was in the United States Army and stationed there.^[2] She converted to Catholicism in Germany, and graduated from the College of St. Catherine with a bachelor's degree in French. She earned a master's degree in French language and literature from Fordham University in 1964.^[3]

Powell taught high school French in New York City, and was a French and linguistics professor at Brooklyn College. She was director of the Kitchen Table Press. In 1989, she started a consulting business, Betty Powell Associates, focused on diversity policies and anti-racism training.^[3]

Powell was a founding member of Salsa Soul Sisters and the National Coalition of Black Lesbians and Gays.^[3] She was co-founder of the Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice.^[4][5] She was the first Black lesbian member of the board of the National Gay Task Force.^[6] In 1977, she participated in a White House meeting of LGBTQ leaders with Jimmy Carter. She was featured in a documentary, Word is Out (1977).^[7]

Powell was active in the United Nations World Conferences on Women,^[3] and SAGE, an advocacy organization for LGBTQ elders.^[8] In 2003 she co-founded Queers for Economic Justice with Martin Duberman.^[9] In 2004 she gave an oral history interview for the Sophia Smith Collection of Women's History at Smith College.^[10]

Betty Kelly was briefly married to Bill Powell in the 1960s. Her longterm partners were Virginia Apuzzo^[11] and Linda Fraser. At age 65, Powell changed her named to Achebe Betty Powell.

Powell died from complications of COVID-19 in Brooklyn on February 21, 2023, at the age of 82.^[12][13] Her papers are held in the Sophia Smith Collection of Women's History at Smith College.^[3] Her name was added to the National LGBTQ Wall of Honor in 2023.^[14]