Margaret Moseley

Margaret Moseley (1901–1997) was a civil rights activist. Born in Dedham, she initially planned on being a nurse but was turned away from nursing programs in Boston due to racial discrimination.[1] In the 1940s, she helped found the Cooperative Way, a consumers' cooperative in Boston, as well as being a founding member of the Freedom House in Roxbury. She was also part of the local NAACP branch in Massachusetts.[2] Moseley also assisted with voting rights' and registration campaigns in Selma, Alabama in 1965 and served as Massachusetts legislative chair for the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF).[3][4][5][6]

In the 1960s she moved to Cape Cod and worked to start the local chapters of the NAACP and the WILPF in Cape Cod, as well as starting the Community Action Committee of Cape Cod and the Fair Housing Committee of Cape Cod.[7] She was active in the Unitarian Universalist Church.[8] In 1962, when the Arkansas White Citizens Council organized a "Reverse Freedom Ride", sending black families North to Hyannis, the town of the Kennedy summer home, Moseley was tasked with meeting the buses and organizing food, housing, and hospitality for the families, ultimately working to find jobs and stable housing for the families that remained.[9][10][11][12]

The WILPF created the Margaret Moseley Memorial Peace Education fund in 1989. The Margaret Moseley Cooperative, focused on housing for families, was launched in October, 2016 in Roxbury.[13][14][15]

In 2023, she was recognized as one of "Boston’s most admired, beloved, and successful Black Women leaders" by the Black Women Lead project.[16][17][18]

References

  1. ^ "Margaret Moseley On Cape Cod Xplore". 2023-02-20. Retrieved 2025-11-05.
  2. ^ Emanuel, Gabrielle (2020-01-01). "The Story Of The Reverse Freedom Rides". WAMC. Retrieved 2025-11-05.
  3. ^ Mace, Emily. "Moseley, Margaret (1901-1997) | Harvard Square LibraryHarvard Square Library". Retrieved 2025-11-05.
  4. ^ Vetter, Herbert (2007-06-01). Notable American Unitarians 1936-1961. Lulu.com. ISBN 978-0-615-14784-0.
  5. ^ "The Cape's Own Female Trailblazers: Part 2". www.capecodchamber.org. 2024-03-08. Retrieved 2025-11-05.
  6. ^ TIMES, CAPE COD. "Think and acting, globally and locally". Cape Cod Times. Retrieved 2025-11-05.
  7. ^ Moseley, Margaret (1901–1997). "Papers of Margaret Moseley, 1943-1997". hollis.harvard.edu. Retrieved 2025-11-05.
  8. ^ "Who is Margaret Moseley?". Unitarian Universalist Community Cooperatives. 2015-08-16. Retrieved 2025-11-05.
  9. ^ "Reverse Freedom Riders – Pamela Chatterton-Purdy Art". Retrieved 2025-11-05.
  10. ^ Simon, Scott; Emanuel, Gabrielle (2022-09-17). "Before migrants were sent to Martha's Vineyard, there were the "Reverse Freedom Rides"". KUNC. Retrieved 2025-11-05.
  11. ^ "The Long Journey North". GBH. 2019-10-07. Retrieved 2025-11-05.
  12. ^ Taylor, Mildred Europa (2020-06-19). "Reverse Freedom Rides: When segregationists tricked blacks from the South into moving north". Face2Face Africa. Retrieved 2025-11-05.
  13. ^ "Margaret Moseley Cooperative". Unitarian Universalist Community Cooperatives. 2015-08-16. Retrieved 2025-11-05.
  14. ^ "Cooperative housing team wins $100,000 in 'Forbes' competition | UU World Magazine". www.uuworld.org. 2015-11-23. Retrieved 2025-11-05.
  15. ^ "Celebrating UU Women in History | UU Voices | UUA.org". www.uua.org. 2016-02-16. Retrieved 2025-11-05.
  16. ^ "Black Women Lead". Greater Grove Hall Main Streets. Archived from the original on 2024-12-04. Retrieved 2024-10-24.
  17. ^ Sullivan, Mike (2023-10-04). "Portraits along Blue Hill Avenue honor Boston's Black women leaders". CBS Boston. Retrieved 2024-10-24.
  18. ^ Gaskin, Ed (10 April 2025). Black Women Lead: Boston's Most Admired, Beloved, and Iconic Leaders, 1700 - Present. Independently published. ISBN 979-8317465209.
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