THE REVOLUTIONARY Mae Mallory

Mae Mallory was a radical civil rights activist, Black Power movement leader, school desegregation organizer and strong proponent of Black armed self-defense. Her passionate dedication to “solving Black peoples’ problems” changed the world, but her name is mostly known because of her false arrest and conviction for kidnapping an elderly white couple in 1961. After the verdict was overturned by the North Carolina Supreme Court, Mallory continued to work for freedom, autonomy and security for African Americans and was influential in the early foundations of the African nation of Tanzania.

Our guest is Dr Ashley Farmer, Assistant Professor of History and African and African-Diaspora Studies at the University of Texas-Austin and author of Remaking Black Power: How Black Women Transformed an Era.

An African American woman and girl look at one another while seated next to one another. Mae Mallory is wearing a fashionable patterned white dress and holding a handbag, Patricia is wearing a white patterend sleeveless dress and pigtail braids. — Mae Mallory and her daughter Patricia in 1957

An African American woman and girl stand arm in arm, looking at the camera. Mae Mallory is wearing a dark shirtdress and carrying a handbag,, Patricia is wearing a white patterend sleeveless dress. — Mae Mallory and her daughter Patricia in 1957
Cornell University Special Collections

An African-American woman smiles at something to the right of the camera. She is wearing a white patterned blouse and earrings, and her hair is short-cropped — Mae Mallory

An African American woman stares directly at the camera with a serious expression. She is wearing a beret, glasses and a high-collared shirt, — Mae Mallory

A wanted poster for Willie Mae Mallory, displaying her fingerprints and a poorly outlined photograph/sketch of her, along with identifying information. The top line reads "Wanted by FBI." — Mae Mallory’s Wanted Poster

Front page from "Muhammed Speaks," a Black Nationalist newspaper. Text reads "Don't cry when they lynch me: Mae Mallory to her mother." It shows a picture of a Black woman wiping away tears. — Front page from Muhammed Speaks, *a Black Nationalist newspaper*

Text reads "Save Mae Mallory from North Carolina lynch justice! Speak, write, wire or petition Gov. Rhodes of Ohio on her behalf. — Appeal from the February 1963 edition of *The Crusader, Robert F Williams’ newsletter from his self-imposed exile in Cuba*

Dr. Ashley D. Farmer is an Assistant Professor of History and African and African-Diaspora Studies at the University of Texas-Austin. She is the author of Remaking Black Power: How Black Women Transformed an Era (UNC Press, 2017) and a co-editor of New Perspectives on the Black Intellectual Tradition (NUP Press, 2018). She is also an editor of the Black Power Series published with NYU Press.

Music featured in this episode included

Daniel Henderson Big Band
“Afro-Cuban Lullaby”
Episode 25 Mae Mallory

Cynthia Meng & Kim Onah
“Prelude”
Episode 25 Mae Mallory

Jeff Cuno
“Blinded”
Episode 25 Mae Mallory

Cynthia Meng & Kim Onah
“Carry On”
Episode 25 Mae Mallory

Daniel Henderson Big Band
“Evening Glow”
Episode 25 Mae Mallory

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Episode 25 Mae Mallory

Episode 25 Mae Mallory

Mae Mallory cross stitch pattern
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