Minta Bosley Allen Trotman (February 13, 1875 – May 3, 1949)[1] was an African-American suffragist and community leader,[2] who played a prominent role in "promoting the social welfare and civic participation of black Americans" through her work in Brooklyn.[2] Her daughter Catherine Allen Latimer was the first African-American librarian at the New York Public Library.[3]
Minta Bosley was born in Nashville, Tennessee, on February 13, 1875, the only child of John Beal Bosley (a businessman) and Catherine Harding Bosley.[2] From 1889 to 1893, she attended Fisk University,[2] and later the New York School for Social Work.[4]
Henry W. and Minta Bosley Allen with their daughter, Catherine in 1899
In 1895, she married Henry W. Allen, a railroad mail agent, with whom she had three children: Catherine (b. 1896), Marian (b. 1899), and Henry (b. 1903).[2] Towards the end of 1903, Henry Allen was killed in a train accident,[2] and the widowed Minta spent time in Europe with her children, before moving to Brooklyn, New York in 1908.[2] Time in France and Germany contributed to the children's early – and in many ways exceptional – education, with Catherine Allen noted for speaking both French and German.[5]
In 1911, Minta married William Frederick Trotman, a prominent real estate agent who represented W. E. B. Du Bois.[2] Minta herself became actively engaged in the community, involved in the National Association of Colored Women (NACW), the Young Women's Christian Association, and the Brooklyn Urban League.[2] For two decades, she lectured, fundraised, led, and campaigned for a host of political and social causes.[2] She was closely associated with, and active alongside, her friend and fellow suffragist Addie Waites Hunton, with whom she attended the national meeting of the NACW in 1912.[2] Minta was a founding member, and the inaugural president, of the Urban League's "Big Sister Club", which focused on girls.[2] For this, she traveled extensively throughout the country, lecturing on the organisation's behalf.[4] When women gained the vote in 1917, she continued to work for women's increased participation in civic life as president of the Women's Civic League in Brooklyn.[2]
In 1927, she served on the executive committee of the Women's International Circle of Peace and Foreign Relations,[6] which was largely responsible for organising the fourth Pan-African Congress, held in New York.[7] The committee included Hunton and Nina DuBois.[8]
In addition to her community and activist work, Minta keenly supported the protection and promotion of African-American culture and heritage.[2] She was actively involved in the preservation of the Frederick Douglass House, and was a collector of African folk art.[2]
Minta Bosley Allen Trotman died on May 3, 1949, from a heart attack.[2] She was survived by her husband, and two children (Marian and Henry). Catherine Allen Latimer had died the previous year.[4]
↑Salem, Dorothy C. (1990). To better our world: Black women in organized reform, 1890-1920. Brooklyn, N.Y.: Carlson Pub. ISBN0-926019-20-1. OCLC21035416.
