Lena Doolin Mason

Lena Doolin Mason (May 6, 1864 – August 28, 1924) was an American Methodist preacher and poet.

Biography

White man, stop lynching and burning This black race trying to thin it For if you go to heaven or hell You will find some Negroes in it.

She joined the congregation of Hannibal, Missouri's African Methodist Episcopal Church in 1872.

Mason also wrote songs and composed poetry. Only two of her poems are extant, "A Negro in It," written to praise James Parker for his efforts in intervening in the assassination of William McKinley, and "The Negro in Education." For the latter poem, she subverted the standard pro-slavery argument that education makes people unfit to be slaves.