Mary Hardway Walker
Mary Hardway Walker (ca. 1848-1969) was purportedly one of the last surviving American former-slaves when she died in 1969. She was purportedly born in Union Springs, Alabama in 1848 and married and had her first child by age 20. In 1917 she moved with her family to Chattanooga, Tennessee where she cooked, cleaned, provided childcare, and sold sandwiches to support her local church. She enrolled in a literacy class in 1963, and was awarded various awards including U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare certification as America's oldest student, and she was appointed as Chattanooga’s Ambassador of Goodwill and received accolades from various Federal and local dignitaries. When she died in 1969, her retirement home was renamed after her.[1][2]