Suffragist, teacher, social worker, civil rights activist, politician
Spouse
Thomas Wallace Fleming (married 1912)
Lethia Cousins Fleming (November 7, 1876 – September 22, 1963) was an African-Americansuffragist, teacher, social worker, civil rights activist, and she was active in Republican politics at both local and national levels.[1][2]
Early life and education
She was born as Lethia Cousins on November 7, 1876, in Tazewell, Virginia, to James Archibald Cousins and Fannie Taylor Cousins.[3][2] Her father was Black and born free, he served in the Confederate Army and after was a brick mason.[4] Fleming was the oldest of eight children in her family, she attended high school in Ironton, Virginia.[2][4]
On February 21, 1912, Lethia Cousins and Thomas "Tom" Wallace Fleming (1874–1948) married.[3][6] Tom was a lawyer and at that time had served one term as Cleveland city councilman, the marriage to Lethia was his second.[2][7][8][9] The couple never had children, and Thomas had three children from his first marriage which Lethia helped raise.[3][2] She had interest in the Baha'i Faith.[3]
Work
In 1914, Lethia Fleming was chair the Board of Lady Managers of the Cleveland Home for Aged Colored People.[3] She took charge and directed a campaign effort among African-American women to vote for her husband Tom Fleming during the 1915 campaign for a City Council Seat from Ward 11.[9]
Starting in 1920, Fleming directed national campaign efforts among Black women for three Republican presidential candidates, Warren G. Harding (1920), Herbert Hoover (1936), and Alfred M. Landon (1940).[3]
In 1929, Fleming made an attempt to run for a seat in the Cleveland city council, after her husband had been imprisoned.[3]
^"After Twenty Years". Hoosier State Chronicles, U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services, Indiana State Library. Indianapolis Recorder. July 13, 1940. Retrieved 2020-11-30.