Beatrice Sumner Thompson

Beatrice Sumner Thompson with W. E. B. Du Bois, daughter Anita, Ernie Morrison and Vada Somerville, in Hollywood in 1923. Beatrice Sumner Thompson (1874–1938) was an American suffragist and activist. She was executive secretary of the Los Angeles chapter of the NAACP from 1917 to 1925.

Early life and education Thompson was born in Boston, Massachusetts on May 4, 1874, the daughter of James Beverly Beauregard Thompson and Medora (Dora) Gertrude Reed Thompson. Her father was a Union Navy veteran of the American Civil War, who later worked as a porter and waiter; her mother was in domestic service. Her family moved to Denver, Colorado in 1880. In 1891 she graduated from Denver High School. She was a member of the Women's Civic and Protective League, National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and the Colored Division of the Los Angeles branch of the California War History Committee. Thompson became executive secretary of the Los Angeles NAACP in 1917 and served in that position though 1925. During this time Thompson was also an advocate for women's suffrage and education for the African-American community, and worked with Eva Carter Buckner, Vada Somerville, Sadie Chandler Cole, and Charlotta Bass in these efforts. They had two children, Anita and Sumner. The couple lived briefly in Chicago, Illinois. Beatrice returned to Los Angeles in 1905 and Samuel joined her around 1909. Beatrice Sumner Thompson died on February 14, 1938, in Los Angeles.