1863 - 1915

A descendant of Cherokee, African American, and white ancestors, Adella Hunt Logan lived a complex and influential life. The daughter of a free woman of color and a white plantation owner, Logan was born free in 1863 in the midst of the Civil War. She earned her degree from the prestigious Atlanta University and later became a teacher at Tuskegee Institute. She married Warren Logan, the vice president and treasurer of the school. Although her light skin color allowed her to “pass” for white, Logan lived her life as a woman of color, like her ancestors before her. She occasionally used her light complexion to gain access to segregated activist circles, particularly suffrage associations. Logan used her access to these all-white institutions to advocate for the rights of African Americans. As a part of her activism, Logan authored articles arguing for the equality of black women, some of which were published in the National American Woman Suffrage Association’s Women’s Journal and The Crisis, the official publication of the NAACP, which was then edited by W.E.B. DuBois. Through her writing, Logan emphasized the importance of the vote to all women, but especially to black women, saying, “they need the vote [and] the vote needs them.”