By Dr. Carl Mack
Lodie Maurine Biggs was born on March 1, 1895, in Little Rock, Arkansas, and raised in Seattle, Washington. She was the third Black woman to graduate from the University of Washington, earning a bachelor’s degree in chemistry in 1916. The first Black woman ever to graduate from Territorial University, now the University of Washington, was Clara Antoinette, earning a bachelor’s in science in 1876! As a bacteriologist, Biggs worked at Crescent Biological Laboratory, the City of Seattle, the State of Washington, and operated her commercial lab.
The oldest branch of the NAACP west of the Mississippi River, the Seattle King County Branch of the NAACP, was declared inactive by the national office on April 10, 1928. Together with William Wilson, editor of the Northwest Enterprise, and attorney Clarence Anderson, they reactivated the branch that same year, and Biggs served as its president from 1928 to 1930. In 1930, she helped found the Seattle Urban League and served on its Board of Directors. After the Seattle Post-Intelligencer published a degrading story on a community-sponsored health clinic, Biggs led the effort in demanding an apology, which was subsequently published. She also led the effort to defeat an anti-interracial marriage bill, House Bill No. 301, in the Washington State Assembly. President Biggs also won an indictment against three policemen for police brutality against Barry Lawson.
Moving to New York in 1937, she married Richard B. Moore. In March 1971, Lodie M. Biggs Moore was called Home.
This article is brought to you courtesy of Black Heritage Day V – the most comprehensive Black History Calendar ever! Edition V is an all women’s edition available at blackheritagedays.com
