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'''Melba Stafford''' (1879-1967) was an American community activist and suffragist, and was quitevery active in gaining support for women's right to vote in the state of [[California]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Quinlan |first=K |title="Biographical sketch of Melba Stafford." Biographical Database of Black Women Suffragists |last2=Jurvetson |first2=E |publisher=Alexander Street |year=2019 |location=Alexandria, VA}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Davis |first=Elizabeth |title=Lifting as They Climb |publisher=G.K. Hall |year=1933 |isbn=9780783814193 |location=New York |pages=384-385}}</ref> She was among the charter memebers of many organiations for Black women in the [[San Francisco Bay Area]] and the state of [[California]], including the [[Fannie Jackson Coppin Club]] -- the first club for Black American women in [[Oakland, California]], USA, and inspiration for such clubs through the state -- as well as the [[California Federation of Colored Women's Clubs]], the Oakland chapter of the [[NAACP]], the Alameda County League of Colored Women Voters, and a local units of the [[Red Cross]] and the Linden Center [[YWCA]].<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=de Graaf |first=Lawrence B. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BlhDCgAAQBAJ&newbks=0&printsec=frontcover |title=Seeking El Dorado: African Americans in California |last2=Mulroy |first2=Kevin |last3=Taylor |first3=Quintard |date= |publisher=University of Washington Press |year=2014 |isbn=978-0-295-80531-3 |location=Seattle, WA |pages=216 |language=en}}</ref>
== Early life and career ==
Born in Texas in 1879, she later moved to Oakland, CA, where she lived for most of her life.<ref name=":0" /> She made her living as a dressmaker, and led a very active civic life.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> She married Anderson E Stafford.
When America's first Black female aviator, [[Bessie Coleman]], had an accident that ruined her plane and left her with a seriously broken leg and other injuries, Stafford helped collect funds to get her up and going again.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rich |first=Doris L. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eaBfBgAAQBAJ&newbks=0&printsec=frontcover&pg=PA71&dq=Melba+Stafford+oakland&hl=en |title=Queen Bess: Daredevil Aviator |date= |publisher=Smithsonian Institution |year=2015 |isbn=978-1-58834-512-7 |location=Washington, D.C. |publication-date= |pages=71 |language=en}}</ref>
== Refrences ==
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