Biography
Mae Mallory was a Harlem activist and one of the 'Harlem Nine' mothers whose 1958 lawsuit against New York City's segregated schools produced In re Skipwith, a precedent against de facto segregation. Visiting Robert F. Williams in Monroe, North Carolina during the August 27, 1961 Freedom Rider violence, she was indicted alongside Williams on kidnapping charges arising from a white couple they had sheltered from a mob. While Williams fled the country, Mallory was arrested in Cleveland, fought extradition to North Carolina for two years, and ultimately served time. Convicted by an all-white jury and sentenced to 16-20 years in 1964, her conviction was reversed in 1965 on the grounds that Black citizens had been excluded from the grand and petit juries. She was released and the charges were eventually dismissed.
