Lucy Randolph Mason (July 26, 1882 – May 6, 1959) was an American labor activist and suffragist. She was involved in the union movement, the consumer movement and the civil rights movement in the mid-20th century.
Overview
Lucy Randolph Mason (July 26, 1882 – May 6, 1959) was an American labor activist and suffragist. She was involved in the union movement, the consumer movement and the civil rights movement in the mid-20th century.
Early life
Lucy Randolph Mason was born on the Clarens estate in Virginia near Alexandria July 26, 1882 and grew up near Richmond. Mason was one of five children born to Episcopal minister Landon Mason and his wife Lucy Ambler Mason. She was a fifth-generation descendant of George Mason, author of the Virginia Declaration of Rights which was the model for the Bill of Rights. Mason was also related to John Marshall and Robert E. Lee (her father's second cousin).
Growing up in the Episcopal Church with a clergyman father and devoted mother developed strong social convictions in Lucy and her siblings. After high school, Mason taught herself stenography while teaching Sunday school classes. It was during this time that she began to be interested in women's rights, specifically voting rights, working towards improving conditions for working people and ending racial injustice, specifically in the South.
