Ada Copeland King (ca. 23 December 1860 – 14 April 1964) was the common-law wife of the American geologist Clarence King. Their thirteen-year relationship, with King posing as a Black man named James Todd when they were together, was the subject of a substantial lawsuit and the book ''Passing Strange: A Gilded Age Tale of Love and Deception Across the Color Line'' by Martha Sandweiss. Copeland was presumed born a

slave Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

on or around 23 December 1860, in Georgia. As a young woman, she moved to New York in the mid-1880s and worked as a nursemaid.''American National Biography'' http://www.anb.org/articles/20/20-91926.html In about 1887, she became involved with Clarence King, an upper-class white man who presented himself to her as a light-skinned black

Pullman porter Pullman porters were men hired to work for the railroads as porters on sleeping cars. Starting shortly after the American Civil War, George Pullman sought out former slaves to work on his sleeper cars. Their job was to carry passengers’ bag ...

under the name of James Todd. Given the long history of slavery in the United States, many African Americans had European ancestry. Some passed or identified as white, given their majority white ancestry. King said that he was West Indian and that he worked as a railroad porter, explaining why he was so frequently away, but also how he could support their family. They married in a home ceremony in September 1888, with King living as Todd with her, but as Clarence King while working in the field. They had five children together, four of whom survived to adulthood. Their two daughters married white men; their two sons served classified as blacks during World War I.American Lives: "The 'Strange' Tale of Clarence King"
PBS, 18 August 2010, accessed 21 September 2012 Before his death from tuberculosis in 1901, King wrote to Copeland from Arizona, confessing his true identity. He had said that he had left money in a trust for her with his friend John Gardiner. After King died, Copeland embarked on a thirty-year battle to gain control of the trust fund he had promised her. Her representatives included the notable lawyers

Everett J. Waring Everett J. Waring (May 22, 1859 – September 2, 1914) was the first Black person admitted to the Maryland State Bar Association in 1885 and the Supreme Court Bench of Baltimore on October 10, 1885. He practiced before the Supreme Court of the U ...

, the first black lawyer to argue a case before the

Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point ...

, and J. Douglas Wetmore, who contested segregation laws in Jacksonville, Florida. Eventually, in 1933, the court determined that King had died penniless, and no money was forthcoming. John Hay, a friend of King's, provided Ada King with a monthly stipend and, after his death in 1905, Hay's daughter Helen Hay Whitney continued the support. The stipend eventually stopped, though Copeland until her death continued to live in the house John Hay had bought for her, an 11-room house in Flushing, Queens. King died on 14 April 1964, one of the last of the former American slaves.

Bibliography

* Martha A. Sandweiss, ''Passing Strange: A Gilded Age Tale of Love and Deception across the Color Line'' (2009)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:King, Ada Copeland 1860 births 1964 deaths 19th-century African-American women 19th-century American slaves American centenarians People from Georgia (U.S. state) African-American centenarians Women centenarians 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women