Lena Doolin Mason

• Name — Lena Doolin Mason • Born — May 6, 1864 • Birthplace — Quincy, Illinois • Died — 28 August 1924 • Place of death — Philadelphia, Pennsylvania • Education — Douglass High School • Occupation — Ministry • Years Active — 1887–1924 • Known for — Colored Conference

• White man, stop lynching and burning This black race trying to thin it For if you go to heaven or hell You will find some Negroes in it. • — Lena Doolin Mason Lena Doolin was born on May 6, 1864, in Quincy, Illinois, to Vaughn and Relda Doolin. She joined the congregation of Hannibal, Missouri's African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1872. She attended Douglass High School in Hannibal and Professor Knott's School in Chicago. In 1883, she married George Mason. Their daughter was the only one of their six children to survive to adulthood. When she was 23, Mason entered the ministry, preaching exclusively to white people for her first three years. Mason was a noted orator. During her career, she was a member of the Colored Conference and preached in "nearly every state in the Union." Mason also wrote songs and composed poetry. Only two of her poems are extant, "A Negro in It," written to praise James Parker for his efforts in intervening in the assassination of William McKinley, and "The Negro in Education." For the latter poem, she subverted the standard pro-slavery argument that education makes people unfit to be slaves.