User:Oughtta Be Otters/Melba Stafford

Melba Stafford (1879-1967) was an American community activist and suffragist, and was very active in gaining support for women's right to vote in the state of California. She was among the charter memebers of many organiations for Black women in the San Francisco Bay Area and the state of California, including the Fannie Jackson Coppin Club -- the first club for Black American women in Oakland, California, USA, and inspiration for such clubs through the state -- as well as the California Federation of Colored Women's Clubs, the Oakland chapter of the NAACP, the Alameda County League of Colored Women Voters, and a local units of the Red Cross and the Linden Center YWCA.

Early life and career
Born in Texas in 1879, she later moved to Oakland, CA, where she lived for most of her life. She made her living as a dressmaker, and led a very active civic life. She married Anderson E Stafford.

Activism
Stafford was very active in building community and striving for rights of Black women in California, especially in the city of Oakland. She was an active member of the Alameda County League of Colored Women Voters. Stafford supported the Alameda County Republican Party, serving on its Central Committee. She also was the Secretary of the Alameda County League of Colored Women Voters when it was founded. Along with other founders of the LCWV, she helped to found the Linden Center YWCA. . She spoke publically on the need for better homes for Black residents of Oakland.

Mrs. Melba Stafford, Oakland, California, a charter member of the Fannie J. Coppin Club, Oakland, is also a charter member of the California Federation of Colored Women's Clubs. She has served on the Alameda County Central Committee of the Republican Party; first Secretary of Alameda County League of Colored Women Voters; first State Chairman of the Art Department of the California Federation of Colored Women's Clubs; a charter member of the local branch of the N.A.A.C.P., which was organized in 1912 by Roy Nash, sent from the national office of the organization in New York.

Mrs. Stafford is especially proud of the fact that she was the organizer of the "Ada Young Auxiliary of the American Red Cross" in 1917, which was organized under her leadership in the city of Oakland, California, during the World War. This Unit of the Red

When America's first Black female aviator, Bessie Coleman, had an accident that ruined her plane and left her with a seriously broken leg and other injuries, Stafford helped collect funds to get her up and going again.