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.
Biography.
Early life.
Susie Sumner Revels was born in Mississippi in 1870, the same year her father, Hiram Revels, became the first Black senator in US history. Revels' middle name "Sumner" was a tribute Charles Sumner, Hiram Revels friend, who was sworn in as the Massachusetts senator the year Susie was born. Hiram Revels escorted Sumner at his swearing-in ceremony.
Revels graduated with honors from Rust College, teaching for three years, before returning to school to pursue a degree in nursing.
Career as a writer, journalist, and editor.
Revels met her future husband, Horace Cayton, in Mississippi and after a period of long distance letter writing followed him to Seattle in 1896, where they were married in July of the same year. She had started writing for his Seattle-based newspaper, The Seattle Republican, before leaving 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, which targeted the Black community in Seattle. The 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 which appeared in The Seattle Republican, Cayton's Weekly, and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
Later life.
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, she became politically active and joined the Communist Party, after being introduced to the organization by her son, Revels Cayton, 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 Cayton 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.
Children.
Susie Revels Cayton had five children with Horace Cayton Sr. They had two sons, activists Horace Cayton, Jr. and Revels Cayton. Their oldest daughter, Ruth. Second daughter, Madge, who was one of the first African American women to graduate from the University of Washington and a social worker. And a third daughter, Lillie. They also adopted their granddaughter, Susan, after Ruth passed away in 1919, and raised her as their youngest child. 
Legacy.
In 1992 the Cayton Scholarship was established to honor both Susie and Horace Cayton. This scholarship is available to minority students in Washington state pursuing a public relations career.
In 1902 Revels Cayton and her husband had a house built in Seattle's prosperous Capitol Hill neighborhood. In 2021 Seattle's Landmarks Preservation Board designated the house as a historic landmark. 