Melnea Cass - Early Life

Early Life

Cass' father was a janitor and her mother a domestic worker. The family moved to the South End of Boston when Cass was five years old. When Cass was eight, her mother died. Thereafter, she and her sisters were raised by their father and their Aunt Ella, who, as Cass said, "stepped in as a second mother." After a few years their aunt moved the girls to Newburyport, Massachusetts, and placed them in the care of Amy Smith.

Cass began her education in the Boston public schools. After graduating from grammar school in Newburyport, she attended Girls' High School in Boston for one year. Her aunt then enrolled her in St. Frances de Sales Convent School, a Catholic school for black and Indian girls in Rock Castle, Virginia. Cass graduated in 1914 as valedictorian of her class. She returned to Boston to the home that her Aunt Ella had established for the girls.

Cass looked for work as a salesgirl in Boston, but found that there were no opportunities for blacks. She decided to become a domestic worker. She did this type of work until her marriage in December, 1917 to Marshall Cass. While her husband was in the service, their first child, Marshall, was born. After his return from the war, they had two other children, Marianne and Melanie. Her husband died in 1958.

Cass became involved in community projects. She helped to organize people to register to vote after the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified in 1920. Cass organized black women to cast their first vote. She was involved in women's suffrage activities for the rest of her life. As a young woman, she attended William Monroe Trotter's lectures and protest meetings and was a faithful reader of the Boston Guardian.