Emma V. Kelley
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February 8, 1867
Norfolk, Virginia, U.S.
Emma V. Kelley | |
|---|---|
 Kelley in 1921 publication | |
| Born | Emma Virginia Lee February 8, 1867 Barrett's Neck, Nansemond County, Virginia, U.S. |
| Died | December 14, 1932 (aged 65) |
| Resting place | Calvary Cemetery Norfolk, Virginia, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Hampton Normal Institute |
| Occupations |
|
| Spouse |
Robert Kelley (m. 1893) |
| Children | 1 |
Emma Virginia Kelley (February 8, 1867 – December 14, 1932) was an American educator and community organizer. She founded a women's organization, Daughters of the Improved Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks of the World.
Emma Virginia Lee was born in Barrett's Neck, Nansemond County, Virginia, the daughter of John Lee and Agnes Walker Lee. She trained as a teacher at Hampton Normal Institute.[1][2]
Career
Lee taught as a young woman, before she married and became known as Emma Virginia Kelley. In widowhood, she moved to Norfolk, Virginia, where she founded the "Daughters of the Improved Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks of the World," the first women's auxiliary to the Improved Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks of the World (IBPOEW), a black fraternal organization, in 1903.[3] The organization was affiliated with the National Council of Negro Women. She wrote a short history of the organization, published posthumously in 1943.[4]
She served as the President of the Missionary Society at her church, Queen Street Baptist Church in Norfolk, Virginia, from 1902 to 1932 and as the Superintendent of Sunday School for over two decades.[5] Kelley also was the director of the Norfolk Metropolitan Bank and Trust Company, treasurer of the Colored United Charities, and a trustee of the Norfolk Community Hospital.[6]
