# Mathilda Beasley

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American teacher (1832-1903)

Mother Mathilda Beasley OSF Mother Superior Mother Mathilda Beasley, OSF, foundress of the first order of Black Catholic nuns in Savannah, Georgia. Church Catholic Church Personal details Born Mathilda Taylor November 14, 1832 New Orleans Died December 20, 1903(1903-12-20) (aged 71) Occupation Foundress, caregiver

**Mathilda Taylor Beasley**, [OSF](/source/Franciscans) (November 14, 1832 – December 20, 1903) was a [Black Catholic](/source/Black_Catholicism) educator and religious leader who was the first [African American](/source/African_American) [nun](/source/Nun) to serve in the state of [Georgia](/source/Georgia_(U.S._State)). She founded a group of African-American nuns and one of the first U.S. orphanages for African-American girls.

In 2004, she was posthumously named a [Georgia Woman of Achievement](/source/Georgia_Woman_of_Achievement).

## Biography

She was born in [New Orleans, Louisiana](/source/New_Orleans%2C_Louisiana) on November 14, 1832.[1] She was baptized as a [Catholic](/source/Roman_Catholicism) in 1869, possibly in preparation for her marriage to Abraham Beasley, a wealthy [free black](/source/Free_negro) restaurant owner in Savannah, who died in 1877.

With [Catherine and Jane Deveaux](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Catherine_and_Jane_Deveaux&action=edit&redlink=1), Beasley educated slaves in her home in [Savannah, Georgia](/source/Savannah%2C_Georgia) before the Civil War although this was illegal at the time.[2]

Later in life, after becoming a Franciscan nun in England, Beasley returned to the United States and founded a group of African-American sisters in Georgia, called the [Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sisters_of_the_Third_Order_of_St._Francis_(Georgia)&action=edit&redlink=1).[3] Beasley attempted to affiliate her group with the [Franciscan Order](/source/Franciscan_Order) but was ultimately unsuccessful.[4]

She also started one of the first orphanages in the United States for African-American girls,[3] the St. Francis Home for Colored Orphans.[5]

She died on December 20, 1903.[1]

## Legacy

In 1982 the Mother Mathilda Beasley Park was dedicated in Savannah on a tract of land east of East Broad Street. A [Georgia Historical Marker](/source/Georgia_historical_markers) documenting her life was erected in 1988 at her home in Savannah.[6] In 2014 her cottage, formerly located at 1511 Price Street, was relocated into Mother Mathilda Beasley Park as an interpretive center.

In 2004, Beasley was inducted into the [Georgia Women of Achievement](/source/Georgia_Women_of_Achievement) hall of fame.[1]

## References

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-GWoA_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-GWoA_1-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-GWoA_1-2) ["Honorees: Mathilda Taylor Beasley"](https://web.archive.org/web/20090504011512/https://www.georgiawomen.org/_honorees/beasleym/index.html). Georgia Women of Achievement. Archived from [the original](http://www.georgiawomen.org/_honorees/beasleym/index.html) on May 4, 2009. Retrieved 7 February 2015.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Wells-Bacon, Mary (May 26, 1987). ["The Life of Mathilda Beasley"](https://web.archive.org/web/20150919025551/http://library.armstrong.edu/Beasley_Mathilda.pdf) (PDF). Archived from [the original](http://library.armstrong.edu/Beasley_Mathilda.pdf) (PDF) on September 19, 2015.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-berend_3-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-berend_3-1) Berend, Stephen (February 21, 2004). ["Teacher, nun, hero - Savannah's Mother Mathilda will be honored as one of Georgia's 'Women of Achievement.'"](https://web.archive.org/web/20171222053330/http://savannahnow.com/stories/022104/LOC_nun.shtml#.WjyZPZP7TOQ). *[Savannah Morning News](/source/Savannah_Morning_News)*. Archived from [the original](http://savannahnow.com/stories/022104/LOC_nun.shtml#.V-vikBTLS2w) on December 22, 2017.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** *Black Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia*. First Indiana University Press Edition. 1994. pp. 99–100. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0-253-32774-1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0-253-32774-1).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** ["Marker Monday: Mother Mathilda Beasley, O.S.F.: Georgia's First Black Nun"](https://georgiahistory.com/marker-monday-mother-mathilda-beasley-o-s-f-georgias-first-black-nun/). *Georgia Historical Society*. 2018-08-13. Retrieved 2020-05-21.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** ["Mother Mathilda Beasley, O.S.F. Historical Marker"](https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=6009). *www.hmdb.org*. Retrieved 2020-05-21.

## Further reading

- ["Mathilda Beasley and the Catholic Church"](http://georgiahistory.com/education-outreach/online-exhibits/featured-historical-figures/mother-mathilda-beasley/mathilda-beasley-and-the-catholic-church/). *[Georgia Historical Society](/source/Georgia_Historical_Society)*. Retrieved November 27, 2018.

## External links

- [Mathilda Beasley](https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/83864744) at [Find a Grave](/source/Find_a_Grave)

v t e Georgia Women of Achievement 1990s 1992 Martha Berry Lucy Craft Laney Juliette Gordon Low Flannery O'Connor 1993 Dicksie Bradley Bandy Mary Musgrove Cassandra Pickett Durham Viola Ross Napier Ma Rainey 1994 Julia Flisch Carson McCullers Margaret Mitchell Ruth Hartley Mosley Emily Harvie Thomas Tubman 1995 Selena Sloan Butler Anna Colquitt Hunter Hazel Jane Raines 1996 Susan Cobb Milton Atkinson Nellie Peters Black Ellen Craft Corra Harris Lugenia Burns Hope 1997 Rebecca Latimer Felton Mary Ann Harris Gay Nancy Hart Lucy Barrow McIntire 1998 Lettie Pate Whitehead Evans Julia Collier Harris Rhoda Kaufman Carrie Steele Logan 1999 Moina Michael Lillian Smith 2000s 2000 Sallie Ellis Davis Laura Askew Haygood Ellen Axson Wilson 2001 Julia L. Coleman Catherine Evans Whitener 2002 Wessie Gertrude Connell Lula Dobbs McEachern Alice Harrell Strickland 2003 Madeleine Kiker Anthony Helena Maud Brown Cobb Julia Lester Dillon Leila Ross Wilburn 2004 Mathilda Beasley Louise Frederick Hays Helen Dortch Longstreet Sarah McLendon Murphy Emily Barnelia Woodward 2005 Alice Woodby McKane Nina Anderson Pape Jeannette Rankin 2006 Eliza Frances Andrews Grace Towns Hamilton Sarah Porter Hillhouse 2007 Margaret O. Bynum Edith Lenora Foster Helen Douglas Mankin Sara Branham Matthews 2008 Elfrida De Renne Barrow Amilee Chastain Graves Susan Dowdell Myrick 2009 Caroline Pafford Miller Jane Hurt Yarn Harriet Powers 2010s 2010 Mary Ann Lipscomb Celestine Sibley Madrid Williams 2011 Lillian Gordy Carter Mary Francis Hill Coley May duBignon Stiles Howard 2012 Sarah Randolph Bailey Beulah Rucker Oliver Ethel Harpst 2013 Lollie Belle Wylie Mary Gregory Jewett Henrietta Stanley Dull 2014 Rebecca Stiles Taylor Ella Gertrude Clanton Thomas Bazoline Estelle Usher 2015 Allie Carroll Hart Frances Freeborn Pauley Nell Kendall Hodgson Woodruff 2016 Sarah Harper Heard Ellamae Ellis League Katie Hall Underwood 2017 Carolyn Mackenzie Carter Clermont Huger Lee Lucile Nix 2018 Ludie Clay Andrews Susie Baker King Taylor Mamie George S. Williams 2019 Leila Denmark Mary Dorothy Lyndon 2020s 2020 Clarice Cross Bagwell Katharine DuPre Lumpkin Juanita Marsh Jean Elizabeth Geiger Wright 2021 Ruby M. Anderson Mary G. Bryan Laura Pope Forester Allie Murray Smith 2022 Lizzie Lurline Collier Josephine Fields Sanders Hedy West Josephine Wilkins 2023 Phyllis Jenkins Barrow Alice Coachman Luck Flanders Gambrell Dorothy Rogers Tilly 2024 Beatrice Hirsch Haas Adella Hunt Logan Valerie Murphey Elizabeth "Bessie" Tift 2025 Jessye Norman Alma Thomas

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Mathilda Beasley](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathilda_Beasley) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathilda_Beasley?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.