{{short description|First Lady of Liberia}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Victoria Tolbert | image = File:Victoria Anna David Tolbert.jpg | office = First Lady of Liberia | president = William Tolbert | term_start = 23 July 1971 | term_end = 12 April 1980 | predecessor = Antoinette Tubman | successor = Nancy Doe | alt = | caption = | birth_name = Victoria Anna David | birth_date = {{birth date|1916|7|12|df=y}} | birth_place = Robertsport, Liberia | death_date = November 1997 (aged 81) | death_place = Plymouth, Minnesota, U.S. | other_names = | party = | spouse = {{unbulleted list | {{marriage|William Tolbert|1936|1980|end=died}}}} | resting_place = Kensico Cemetery<br>Valhalla, New York, U.S. | known_for = | occupation = | signature = | alma_mater = }}
'''Victoria Anna David Tolbert''' (née '''David'''; 12 July 1916{{snds}}November 1997) was the First Lady of Liberia from 1971 to 1980.
==Early life and education== Victoria Anna David was born on 12 July 1916 in Robertsport, Grand Cape Mount County, Liberia. Her father, Isaac David, was an American immigrant from Little Rock, Arkansas. Her mother, Rosaline Houston was a native Liberian of Vai ethnicity. Victoria was given a basic education by the Episcopal missionary Margarita S. Ridgely at the House of Bethany. Victoria later trained to become an elementary school teacher. She started teaching kindergarten at a mission school in 1934, and it was there she met William Tolbert.<ref name="diction">{{cite book |last1=Dunn|first1= Elwood D.|last2=Beyan|first2=Amos J.|last3=Burrowes|first3=Carl Patrick|date=2000|title=Historical Dictionary of Liberia |trans-title=|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qt0_RrW8ghkC|language=English |location= |isbn=9781461659310|pages=323–324|publisher= Scarecrow Press}}</ref>
==Marriage== Victoria married William Tolbert on 12 May 1936 in Robertsport. Not long after the marriage, the couple moved to Bensonville, where she continued her work as a teacher, and William began working as a government paymaster. In 1951, William was elected as Vice President of Liberia. In July 1971, upon the death of President William Tubman, William Tolbert became President of Liberia. As first lady, Victoria initiated the fundraiser known as the Annual Calendar Tea. The fundraiser was held on 19 November, in honor of former President Tubman's birthday, and raised money for poor children's scholarships.<ref name="diction"/> In 1972, Victoria joined her husband during his visit to Guinea to preside over the interment of the late Ghanaian leader Kwame Nkrumah.<ref name="newsletter">{{cite book |date=1972|title=Liberia Newsletter|volume= 3|number= 2 |trans-title=|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5UEmAQAAMAAJ|language=English |location= |isbn=|page=4|publisher=Embassy of Liberia Information Center }}</ref> Victoria and William had eight children together.<ref name="diction"/>
==Widowhood and death== President Tolbert was killed in the coup d'état on 12 April 1980.<ref>Dunn; Beyan; Burrowes; ''Historical Dictionary of Liberia'', pp. 325.</ref> Following the coup, Victoria was imprisoned and then put under house arrest for months by Samuel Doe's regime. Victoria was ultimately freed and allowed to leave for the United States.<ref name="clips">{{cite book |date=1980|title=AF Press Clips|volume= 15 |trans-title=|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IqpsTnBiW2wC|language=English |location= |isbn=|page=11|publisher=Bureau of African Affairs, U.S. Department of State. }}</ref><ref name="jet">{{cite book |date=14 August 1980|title=Jet|volume= 58|number= 22 |trans-title=|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ej0DAAAAMBAJ|language=English |location= |isbn=|page=5|publisher=Johnson Publishing Company }}</ref> In the United States, she lived in White Plains, New York, for a time before moving to Plymouth, Minnesota, with one of her daughters.<ref name = "ap"/> In 1996, Tolbert released a book she wrote entitled ''Lifted Up: The Victoria Tolbert Story''.<ref name="diction"/> In November 1997, Victoria died of a heart attack in Plymouth. Sources are inconsistent on the exact date of her death. ''The New York Times'' printed that she died on 8 November, while the Associated Press printed that she died on 9 November.<ref name = "ap">{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Victoria Tolbert, Leader's Widow |agency=Associated Press |location=Long Island, New York |date=12 November 1997}}</ref> She was interred at Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York.<ref name = "nyt">{{cite news |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |title=Paid Notice: Deaths TOLBERT, VICTORIA A. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/11/18/classified/paid-notice-deaths-tolbert-victoria-a.html |work=The New York Times |location=New York, New York |date=18 November 1997|page= |access-date=9 July 2021 }}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tolbert, Victoria}} Category:1916 births Category:1997 deaths Category:Americo-Liberian people Category:Burials at Kensico Cemetery Category:First ladies and gentlemen of Liberia Category:Liberian expatriates in the United States Category:Liberian prisoners and detainees Category:People from Grand Cape Mount County Category:People from Montserrado County Category:People from Plymouth, Minnesota Category:People from White Plains, New York Category:Prisoners and detainees of Liberia Victoria Category:20th-century Liberian women writers Category:20th-century Liberian writers