Mary Eleanora McCoy ( Delaney; January 26, 1846 – November 17, 1923) was an American philanthropist, organizer, and clubwoman. She is known for organizing the Michigan State Association of Colored Women.

Biography

McCoy née Delaney was born in 1846 in Lawrenceburg, Indiana. Sources differ on her exact birth date: January 26, 1846 or perhaps January 7, 1846. She was born in an

Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad was a network of clandestine routes and safe houses established in the United States during the early- to mid-19th century. It was used by enslaved African Americans primarily to escape into free states and Canada. ...

station, with one source naming her parents as "Jacob C. and Eliza Ann (Montgomery) Delaney, perhaps escaped slaves". She married twice, first to Henry Brownlow and then to

Elijah McCoy Elijah J. McCoy (May 2, 1844 – October 10, 1929) was a Canadian-American engineer of African-American descent who invented lubrication systems for steam engines. Born free on the Ontario shore of Lake Erie to parents who fled enslavemen ...

. Elijah McCoy was an inventor and the subject of the phrase

the real McCoy "The real McCoy" is an idiom and metaphor used in much of the English-speaking world to mean "the real thing" or "the genuine article", e.g. "he's the real McCoy". The phrase has been the subject of numerous false etymologies. History The phr ...

. The McCoys settled in Detroit in the early 1880s. Mary McCoy was an active

clubwoman The woman's club movement was a social movement that took place throughout the United States that established the idea that women had a moral duty and responsibility to transform public policy. While women's organizations had always been a part ...

. She was a member of the Twentieth Century Club of Detroit, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (

NAACP The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.&nb ...

), the Lydian Association of Detroit, and the Willing Workers. With

Lucy Thurman Lucy Thurman (October 22, 1849 – March 29, 1918) was a national temperance lecturer from Jackson, Michigan. Biography Lucinda "Lucy" Smith was born on October 22, 1849, in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada to Nehemiah Henry Smith and Katherine Cam ...

, she organized the Michigan State Association of Colored Women (a chapter of the

National Association of Colored Women The National Association of Colored Women's Clubs (NACWC) is an American organization that was formed in July 1896 at the First Annual Convention of the National Federation of Afro-American Women in Washington, D.C., United States, by a merger of ...

(NACW)). Her philanthropy included participation in the establishment of the ''Sojourner Truth Memorial Association of Michigan'' which provided University of Michigan scholarships to children of former slaves. She served as vice president. She also funded the McCoy Home for Colored Children, as well as established the Phyllis Wheatley Home for Aged Colored Women in Detroit, serving as president. By the early 1900s, McCoy was working for

women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the women's rights, right of women to Suffrage, vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to gran ...

. She was a member of the Independent Women Voters and advocated for suffrage through her ongoing association with the NACW. She marched in the 1913 Woman Suffrage Parade in Washington D.C. In 1920, she attended the

National American Woman Suffrage Association The National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) was an organization formed on February 18, 1890, to advocate in favor of women's suffrage in the United States. It was created by the merger of two existing organizations, the Nationa ...

's Victory Convention in Chicago. McCoy died on November 17, 1923, in Detroit. In 2012, she was inducted into the

Michigan Women's Hall of Fame The Michigan Women's Hall of Fame (MWHOF) honors distinguished women, both historical and contemporary, who have been associated with the U.S. state of Michigan. The hall of fame was founded in 1983 by Gladys Beckwith and is sponsored by the Mic ...

and in 2016 the ''Mary E. McCoy Post Office Building'' was dedicated in Detroit.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McCoy, Mary Eleanora 1846 births 1923 deaths Philanthropists from Indiana 19th-century African-American women 19th-century American philanthropists 19th-century women philanthropists 20th-century American philanthropists 20th-century women philanthropists African-American suffragists American suffragists People from Lawrenceburg, Indiana Clubwomen 19th-century African-American businesspeople 19th-century American businesspeople