Mittie Maude Lena Gordon

Mittie Maude Lena Gordon (née Nelson, August 2, 1889 – June 16, 1961) was an American black nationalist who established the Peace Movement of Ethiopia. The organization advocated for black emigration to West Africa in response to racial discrimination and white supremacy.

Early life Gordon was born Mittie Maude Lena Nelson in Webster Parish, Louisiana. Dismayed at the poor educational and job prospects in Louisiana, Gordon's family moved to Hope, Arkansas, when she was a child, where she grew up with her nine siblings. Her father, the son of former slaves and a minister in the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church (CME), discovered that the schools were no better for black students in Arkansas and decided to homeschool his children himself. Through her father, she learned about the Pan-Africanist ideas of Bishop Henry McNeal Turner, who advocated that American former slaves should resettle in Africa, and American Blacks shared a common struggle with people of color from all over the world. Gordon continued to espouse both of these ideas through her life. In October 1942, she was arrested for sedition and seditious conspiracy after making statements praising Japan, which an enemy nation of the United States during World War II. Among Gordon's statements were:

That on December 7, 1941, one billion Black people struck for freedom That the Japanese were going to redeem the Negroes from the white men in this country That the spoils of the United States would be equally divided among Hitler and the Japanese That it is impossible for America and Britain to win this war That great numbers of American ships were being sunk by U-boats, whose crews are glad to see these ships leave the shore with full cargoes That the United States government was claiming to have sunk more ships than they really had

In 1943, Gordon was found guilty and sentenced to two years in prison. The FBI also arrested her husband and two other Peace Movement of Ethiopia authorities, who were all charged with the crimes of conspiracy and sedition.

Relationship with white supremacists Gordon was keen to pass the Greater Liberia Bill to "advance black emigration to Liberia." However, her death certificate stated that she was ten years younger than her actual age when she died, because her third husband, Moses Gibson, was unable to provide a few key details about her life. Another reason was that in the city of her birth, she was registered as unknown.