[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”||0px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row admin_label=”Page Header” _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Exhibit Title” _builder_version=”4.17.6″ _dynamic_attributes=”content” _module_preset=”default” border_width_bottom=”1px” border_color_bottom=”#E09900″ global_module=”6078″ global_colors_info=”{}”]@ET-DC@eyJkeW5hbWljIjp0cnVlLCJjb250ZW50Ijoic2l0ZV90aXRsZSIsInNldHRpbmdzIjp7ImJlZm9yZSI6IjxoMj4iLCJhZnRlciI6IjwvaDI+In19@[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Section Title” module_id=”section-title” module_class=”page-header” _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_margin=”||5px” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Page Title” module_id=”page-title” module_class=”page-header” _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_margin=”0px||” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”3_5,2_5″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”3_5″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/oldsite.coloredconventions.org\/black-illinois-organizing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2021\/10\/CCP_034_AnnaElizabethHudlin-1880.jpg” title_text=”Elizabeth Anna Hudlin” show_in_lightbox=”on” _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” text_font_size=”13px” text_line_height=”1.3em” header_font_size=”13px” custom_margin=”-11px|||||” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
Anna Elizabeth Hudlin [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”2_5″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n \u2014 Hallie Quinn Brown,\u00a0Homespun Heroines and Other Women of Distinction\u00a0<\/em>(Xenia, OH: The Aldine Publishing Company, 1926), 142.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”3_5,2_5″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”3_5″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n Anna Elizabeth Lewis Hudlin was active in Chicago affairs during the Civil War and for decades afterward. She was born on February 6, 1840, in Uniontown, Pennsylvania. Her mother, who was born in Washington, DC, had been recently freed by the Quaker family that had enslaved her. An early biographer wrote that Anna was raised by her mother, who at times left Anna in the care of another Pennsylvania Quaker family while she earned money working for \u201cone of the prominent families of the country.\u201d[1]<\/span><\/p>\n When Anna was a teenager, she and her mother headed west, spending a little time in St. Louis, Missouri, before settling in Chicago in 1854. While in St. Louis, Anna met Joseph Hudlin (or Hudlun, or sometimes Hudlum), who moved to Chicago the same year as Anna. The couple married in the city on March 26, 1855, when Anna was 16 years old. Within a few years, they constructed a five-room house, the first in Chicago \u201ccontracted for and built by colored owners.\u201d[2]<\/span><\/p>\n In addition to raising nine children and running the family\u2019s home, Anna was an active member of Quinn Chapel A.M.E. and became involved in the Underground Railroad. The family\u2019s home on Third Avenue served as a \u201cstation\u201d in the expansive network in Chicago<\/a>, both before and during the Civil War. Anna also fought school segregation in Chicago in 1863, when a revised city charter called for a separate school for African American children. Anna and Joseph protested, along with many other parents, and marched on the school board offices<\/a> and the office of the mayor. The campaign was successful, and the segregated school closed in 1865.[3<\/span>]<\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”2_5″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”1_2,1_2″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” custom_padding=”|282px||||” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/oldsite.coloredconventions.org\/black-illinois-organizing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2021\/10\/CCP_035_JosephHudlin.jpeg” title_text=”Joseph Hudlin” show_in_lightbox=”on” _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” text_font_size=”13px” text_line_height=”1.3em” header_font_size=”13px” width=”96.7%” min_height=”51.7px” custom_margin=”-8px|||||” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Joseph H. Hudlin and Kitty Hudlin [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_2″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_image src=”https:\/\/oldsite.coloredconventions.org\/black-illinois-organizing\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2021\/10\/CCP_036_KittyHudlin-1879.jpeg” title_text=”Kitty Hudlin” show_in_lightbox=”on” _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” width=”89.7%” min_height=”408.2px” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_image][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”3_5,2_5″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” custom_padding=”||0px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”3_5″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n After the Civil War, Anna redoubled her advocacy efforts and, according to historian Jessie Carney Smith, became \u201cChicago\u2019s foremost humanitarian and community worker of her time.\u201d She opened the doors of her five-room home to at least five families during the 1871 conflagration that destroyed much of Chicago, which earned her the moniker \u201cMother Hudlin.\u201d Anna\u2019s eldest daughter, Joanna Snowden Porter, founded the Northwestern Federation of Colored Women\u2019s Clubs and worked for the city of Chicago as an officer of the Juvenile Protective Association.[4]<\/span><\/p>\n Anna frequently invited the children with whom Joanna worked into her home. She was a member of the Federation of Colored Women\u2019s Clubs and helped organize and run the Home for the Aged and Infirm Colored People (which Joanna had\u00a0 helped found). Anna was also an early and active member of Chicago\u2019s Old Settlers Club, an organization of African Americans whose families had been in Chicago for decades. When she hosted a reunion and reception for that group in 1905, more than two hundred people attended.[5<\/span>]<\/span><\/p>\n Anna Elizabeth Lewis Hudlin passed away on November 21, 1914, at her home on 51st and Dearborn. At Anna\u2019s request, Charlotte Tervalon (another prominent clubwoman) read the hymn \u201cDear Lord Remember Me\u201d at her service, which was of course held at Quinn Chapel.[6]<\/span><\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”2_5″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row column_structure=”3_5,2_5″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” custom_padding=”||0px||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”3_5″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.4″ _module_preset=”default” hover_enabled=”0″ global_colors_info=”{}” admin_label=”Sources” sticky_enabled=”0″]<\/p>\n 1. Hallie Quinn Brown, Homespun Heroines and Other Women of Distinction<\/i> (Xenia, OH: The Aldine Publishing Company), 141. Anna\u2019s mother might have been Nancy Morefield, who later married a James Morefield and lived with Anna\u2019s daughter in the 1880 census, or her name might have been Annie Lewis, who was mentioned as one of the earliest members of Quinn Chapel. For her mother\u2019s place of birth, see 1900 US Census: Hudlun, Ann E. [sic], Ancestry.com; Jessie Carney Smith, ed., \u201cAnna Hudlun \u2018Mother Hudlun\u2019\u201d in Notable Black American Women <\/i>(Detroit: Gale Research Inc., 1992), 521; Brown, Homespun Heroines<\/i>, 141.<\/p>\n 2. \u201cObituary, Mrs. Anna Hudlun,\u201d Chicago Daily News<\/i>, Nov. 24, 1914; Smith, \u201cAnna Hudlun,\u201d 521; Brown, Homespun Heroines<\/i>, 141; Christopher R. Reed, Black Chicago\u2019s First Century: Volume 1, 1833-1900 <\/i>(Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press, 2005), 58.<\/p>\n 3. Brown, Homespun Heroines<\/i>, 142. Brown wrote that Hudlin\u2019s \u201cmother was among the earlier members\u201d of Quinn Chapel. \u201cDeath and Funeral Services of Mrs. Anna Elizabeth Hudlun who was one of the Oldest Afro-American Settlers in Chicago,\u201d The Broad Ax, <\/i>Nov. 28, 1914; Glennette Tilley Turner, The Underground Railroad in Illinois<\/i> (Glen Ellyn, IL: Newman Educational Publishing, 2001), 250, 253; Private Laws of the State of Illinois passed by the Twenty-Third General Assembly, convened January 5, 1863<\/i> (Springfield: Baker & Phillips, Printers, 1863), 129; Reed, Black Chicago\u2019s First Century, <\/i>135; Shepherd Johnston, \u201cHistorical Sketches of the Public School System of the City of Chicago,\u201d Twenty-fifth Annual Report of the Board of Education for the Year Ending July 31, 1879 <\/i>(Chicago, 1880), 38.<\/p>\n 4. Smith, \u201cAnna Hudlun,\u201d 522; Turner, The Underground Railroad in Illinois<\/i>, 253; Brown, Homespun Heroines<\/i>, 143; Alison McCann, \u201cBiographical Sketch of Joanna C. Hudlin Snowden Porter,\u201d in Biographical Database of Black Women Suffragists <\/i>(Alexandria, VA: Alexander Street, 2018).<\/p>\n 5. Smith, \u201cAnna Hudlun,\u201d 522; \u201cThe Old Settlers Club Held A Reunion and a Brilliant Reception at the Home of Mrs. Joseph H. Hudlun,\u201d The Broad Ax<\/i>, Aug. 19, 1905.<\/p>\n 6. \u201cDeath and Funeral Services.\u201d<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][et_pb_text admin_label=”Credits” _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” custom_margin=”||||false|false” custom_padding=”||||false|false” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n Written by Hope McCaffrey. Edited by Kate Masur.<\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”2_5″ _builder_version=”4.16″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Delegates and their FamiliesAnna Elizabeth HudlinAnna Elizabeth HudlinPortrait of Anna Elizabeth Hudlin, Chicago, Illinois, 1881. (Source: Courtesy of Chicago History Museum, ICHi-022356.)”In times of distress, as that of the Chicago fire of 1871, the doors of the Hudlun home were thrown open to colored and white alike and as many as five families found refuge […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":6829,"parent":3469,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-4569","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\n
<\/strong>Portrait of Anna Elizabeth Hudlin, Chicago, Illinois, 1881.<\/span> (Source: Courtesy of <\/a>Chicago History Museum, ICHi-022356<\/a>.<\/span>)<\/p>\n“In times of distress, as that of the Chicago fire of 1871, the doors of the Hudlun home were thrown open to colored and white alike and as many as five families found refuge therein at that time.<\/span>“<\/h2>\n
<\/strong>Left: Anna Elizabeth’s husband, Joseph H. Hudlin. Right: The couple’s daughter, Kitty Hudlin, in 1879. (Source: Kitty Hudlin, courtesy of Chicago History Museum, ICHi-022358<\/a>\u00a0and Joseph Hudlin, courtesy of Chicago History Museum, ICHi-022357<\/a>.)<\/p>\nSources<\/h4>\n
Credits<\/h4>\n