Amazon Brooks
Amazon Brooks was born in Arcola, Mississippi on November 26, 1897. Her maternal grandparents were slaves in Alabama, and her mother, Ella, was born in 1871, just a few years after the end of the Civil War. Her father, Thomas Duncan, hailed from Louisiana. She attended the Trail Lake School in Mt. Airy, and then later attended the Free School in Mound Bayou.
Brooks traveled north to Chicago in 1915 to help family members and to try to find greater opportunities for herself. The cost of her journey to the North was only $17.00. Once in Chicago, Brooks found work as a chambermaid at the Congress Hotel, and in 1933, during the World’s Fair, she began working in a laundry mat that provided linens and towels to hotels, and she would remain there for most of her working years. In 1938, Brooks joined the Antioch Missionary Baptist Church in Chicago.
Brooks’ most notable achievement, however, was that she voted in her first election in 1920, the year women were granted the right to vote, and she continued to do so in almost every election since then. Even more of a rarity, since the 1932 election when she voted for Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Brooks voted on a straight Democratic ticket.
Brooks passed away on February, 23, 2007 at age 109.
A2004.143
Female
8/25/2004
Brooks
Amazon
Arcola
BRO23
April
Mississippi
None
All Right Now. and God Almighty.
Illinois
11/26/1897
Chicago
United States
None
2/23/2007
Domestic Amazon Brooks (1897 - 2007 ) began voting in 1920, the year women gained the right to vote. She was Chicago's oldest living voter until her death on February 23, 2007.
Congress Hotel
Palmer House
None
Tape: 1 Story: 1 - Slating of Amazon Brooks' interview
Tape: 1 Story: 2 - Amazon Brooks lists her favorites
Tape: 1 Story: 3 - Amazon Brooks talks about her mother
Tape: 1 Story: 4 - Amazon Brooks talks about her maternal family and their relationship to their former slave master in Green County, Alabama
Tape: 1 Story: 5 - Amazon Brooks shares an African American folktale
Tape: 1 Story: 6 - Amazon Brooks talks about her maternal grandparents
Tape: 1 Story: 7 - Amazon Brooks talks about her maternal family and the crops they raised in Mississippi
Tape: 1 Story: 8 - Amazon Brooks talks about her family's relocations around Mississippi
Tape: 2 Story: 1 - Amazon Brooks recalls fishing in a farmer's bayou as a child in Mississippi
Tape: 2 Story: 2 - Amazon Brooks talks about her mother and stepfather's churches and attending school in a church house
Tape: 2 Story: 3 - Amazon Brooks recalls what little she knows about her biological father
Tape: 2 Story: 4 - Amazon Brooks remembers the first time she saw an automobile
Tape: 2 Story: 5 - Amazon Brooks remembers attending school at Trail Lake Plantation in Greenville, Mississippi
Tape: 2 Story: 6 - Amazon Brooks remembers her schooling in Mound Bayou, Mississippi
Tape: 2 Story: 7 - Amazon Brooks recalls her childhood personality and activities
Tape: 2 Story: 8 - Amazon Brooks talks about her deceased siblings, her stepfather's first wife, and her mother's remarriage
Tape: 3 Story: 1 - Amazon Brooks talks about Isaiah T. Montgomery, founder of Mound Bayou, Mississippi
Tape: 3 Story: 2 - Amazon Brooks talks about Mound Bayou, Mississippi families
Tape: 3 Story: 3 - Amazon Brooks talks about her maternal uncle's family
Tape: 3 Story: 4 - Amazon Brooks recalls her cousin's death in 1917
Tape: 3 Story: 5 - Amazon Brooks recalls her arrival in Chicago, Illinois in 1915 as a seventeen year old
Tape: 3 Story: 6 - Amazon Brooks shares memories of Chicago, Illinois in 1915
Tape: 3 Story: 7 - Amazon Brooks remembers taking care of her maternal uncle's children when she arrived in Chicago, Illinois in 1915
Tape: 3 Story: 8 - Amazon Brooks talks about voting in Chicago, Illinois and Mound Bayou, Mississippi
Tape: 3 Story: 9 - Amazon Brooks talks about her marriage
Tape: 4 Story: 1 - Amazon Brooks recalls her marriage to Mr. Brooks and her son's birth
Tape: 4 Story: 2 - Amazon Brooks recalls working in hotels in Chicago, Illinois and seeing President Theodore Roosevelt
Tape: 4 Story: 3 - Amazon Brooks recalls prominent African Americans from her youth
Tape: 4 Story: 4 - Amazon Brooks remembers African American newspapers the Chicago Defender and the Chicago Bee
Tape: 4 Story: 5 - Amazon Brooks remembers working as a "scrub girl" in hotels in Chicago, Illinois
Tape: 4 Story: 6 - Amazon Brooks recalls various presidential administrations
Tape: 4 Story: 7 - Amazon Brooks remembers where she was living the first time she voted
Tape: 4 Story: 8 - Amazon Brooks talks about Marcus Garvey
Tape: 4 Story: 9 - Amazon Brooks recalls her second marriage
Tape: 4 Story: 10 - Amazon Brooks talks about her and her mother's radio-listening habits
Tape: 4 Story: 11 - Amazon Brooks talks about coming to Chicago, Illinois while still a minor
Tape: 5 Story: 1 - Amazon Brooks remembers the change in black political affiliation from Republican to Democrat and black politicians in Chicago, Illinois
Tape: 5 Story: 2 - Amazon Brooks talks about baseball
Tape: 5 Story: 3 - Amazon Brooks talks about voting for Harold Washington for mayor of Chicago and her lack of excitement about politicians
Tape: 5 Story: 4 - Amazon Brooks reflects upon her place in the world in her old age
Tape: 5 Story: 5 - Amazon Brooks offers advice for young people who want to live a long life
Tape: 5 Story: 6 - Amazon Brooks remembers her family's lack of interest in education and stresses the importance of education for young people
Tape: 5 Story: 7 - Amazon Brooks reflects upon her life and raising her son
Tape: 5 Story: 8 - Amazon Brooks reflects upon the importance of history
Tape: 5 Story: 9 - Amazon Brooks describes how she would like to be remembered
Tape: 5 Story: 10 - Amazon Brooks talks about a cousin
Tape: 5 Story: 11 - Amazon Brooks narrates her photographs