Sarah Massey Overton facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Sarah Massey Overton
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| Born |
Sarah Massey
1850 Lennox, Massachusetts
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| Died | August 24, 1914 (aged 63–64) San Jose, California
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| Nationality | American |
| Spouse(s) |
Jacob Overton
(m. 1869) |
Sarah Massey Overton (1850 – August 24, 1914) was a suffragist, women's rights activist, and African-American rights activist.
Biography
She was born in Lennox, Massachusetts but moved to California in the 1880s. There she attended St. Phillip’s Mission School. In 1869 she married Jacob Overton, and then she ran a catering business with her husband. In the 1880s she became a leader in the fight to allow African-American children in California to attend public school. In 1906 she cofounded San Jose’s Garden City Women’s Club, and as a member of it she lobbied in favor of interracial women’s club coalitions for women's suffrage. She lobbied for women's suffrage in the 1911 statewide election in California, and was vice-president of San Jose’s interracial Suffrage Amendment League. She also did voter registration of men in California who supported women's suffrage, doing this through the Political Equality Club of San Jose. She was president of the all-black Victoria Earle Matthews (Mothers) Club.
Overton had a daughter named Harriet and a son named Charles.
Overton died on August 24, 1914 in San Jose, California.
