Anna Hudlun

Anna Elizabeth Hudlun (née Lewis; 6 February 1840 – 21 November 1914) was an African American humanitarian and civic worker, who earned the names "Fire Angel" and "Chicago's Grand Old Lady" for her work with victims of the city's great fires in 1871 and 1874.

Early life Anna Elizabeth Lewis was born in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, the daughter of a mother recently freed by her Quaker enslavers.

Hudlun and her husband were hailed as heroes after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, stepping in to assist those who had lost their homes. Joseph Hudlun, a respected member of the Board of Trade, was also noted for risking his life to return to the burning Board of Trade building in order to rescue valuable books and papers. Herself a respected member of the city's Board of Trade, she was active in the Quinn Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church, and in the black women's movement. co-founded by her daughter Joanna in 1898. part of a network of black Chicagoans who fought the institution of slavery. Workers in Chicago, a center of anti-slavery activity, offered lodging, transportation, and were also personally involved in rescue efforts.

Death and legacy Anna Elizabeth Hudlun died on November 21, 1914, remembered "in the hearts of all classes of Chicago's cosmopolitan people who honored and loved her". A newspaper report described her as "one of the oldest Afro-American settlers in Chicago", and noted that at her funeral, which was held at Quinn Chapel, there were more than 50 floral tributes, and "many letters of condolences were received... from all parts of the country."