Civil rights activist Unita Blackwell made history in 1976, becoming Mississippi's first black female mayor. She died on Monday at age 86.
Unita Blackwell may have been born into humble beginnings on March 18, 1933, but her activism and courage helped change the course of history for African-Americans.Her son, Jeremiah Blackwell Jr., told CNN his mother died from a buildup of fluid in her heart and lungs, after a lengthy battle with dementia and Alzheimer's disease. Blackwell was the first black female mayor in Mississippi, elected as mayor of Mayersville 12 years after the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Because she wasn't allowed to go to school in Mississippi, she went to live with a relative,"Aunt Big Eighty," in West Helena, Arkansas.When Blackwell wasn't in school or church, she was in the fields helping pick and chop cotton -- she could pick up to 300 pounds a day. After her schooling finished, she spent most of her time working in the fields and sharecropping.That all changed in the spring of 1964. The Freedom Riders had come to Mayersville, where Blackwell was living.
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