It’s Tuesday and to continue on with the theme for this week, I am highlighting trailblazer, Susie Revels Cayton.
Susie Revels Cayton (1870 – 1943) was a writer, editor, activist, and leader in the black community in Seattle at the start of the 20th century.
Susie Sumner Revels was born to free parents in Mississippi in 1870, the same year her father, Hiram Revels, became the first black senator in US history.
Revels graduated with honors from Rust College, teaching for three years, before returning to school to pursue a degree in nursing.
Revels met her future husband, Horace Cayton, in Mississippi and after a period of long-distance letter writing, later followed him to Seattle in 1896, where they were married in July of the same year. She began writing for his Seattle-based newspaper, The Seattle Republican, before departing Mississippi. She eventually became associate editor in 1900 and continued working at the paper until it folded in 1913.
Revels and her husband started the newspaper Cayton’s Weekly in 1916, targeted at a black readership. They promoted the great accomplishments and contributions of blacks as well as the atrocities committed against black members of the community. This paper ran until 1920 when it was replaced by Cayton’s Monthly which only ran for two issues.
In addition to her journalistic writing, Revels wrote short stories that appeared in The Seattle Republican, Cayton’s Weekly, and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
In 1919, at the age of 49, Susie Revels Cayton was forced to seek employment as a “domestic” as the family experienced economic hardships.
In her sixties, Revels became politically active and joined the Communist Party, after being introduced to the organization by her son, and was considered “one of the state’s most prominent African American radicals”. She joined the communist party in reaction to Depression-era Seattle, believing that only radical political change could address economic inequality.
She became friends with activists Paul Robeson and Langston Hughes and was admired by Richard Wright. Langston Hughes dedicated a poem, Dear Mr. President, to her.
Revels moved to Chicago in 1942, two years after her husband died, to be closer to her children. She continued advocating for progressive politics and communism to promote equality until she died in 1943.
Revels was a founding member and leader of a charity group called the Dorcas Club. Secretary, Skid Row Unemployed Council. Vice President, Negro Workers Council.
Susie Revels Cayton had four children with Horace Cayton Sr.: two sons, activists Horace Cayton, Jr. and Revels Cayton; their oldest daughter, Madge, who was one of the first African American women to graduate from the University of Washington; and daughter Lillie. They also adopted their granddaughter, Susan, and raised her as their youngest child.