Virginia McLaurin

Biography

Early life McLaurin was born to a Black family of sharecroppers in Cheraw, South Carolina; her father, John Oliver Campbell, died when she was one and her mother, Flora Ella McQueen, taught her to sew. In her childhood, she worked in the fields with her parents, shucking corn and picking cotton.

She was raised amid the Jim Crow era, when racial segregation was widespread throughout the Southern United States. Never receiving more than a third grade education, McLaurin was married at 13 and later moved to New Jersey as part of the Great Migration. as a domestic helper for families in Silver Spring, Maryland, and as manager of a laundry shop. After a TV crew publicized the fact that her apartment was infested with bed bugs in 2014, a local pest control company removed the infestation and provided her with a free bed.

Meeting the Obamas Towards the end of the Obama administration, friends of McLaurin recommended to members of the Obama administration that she meet with the President due to her extensive history of volunteering. Upon meeting the President and First Lady, McLaurin gave them both hugs and started dancing with them. She would later say in interviews that she never felt that she would live to visit the White House, On May 27, 2016, she attended a Washington Nationals baseball game and was presented with a custom jersey on the field.

Personal life and longevity McLaurin had two children with her late husband; as of 2016, her daughter was 83 years old; her son had died. Despite this, she estimated she had about 50 living descendants. At least one of her grandchildren had a great-grandchild, making her a great-great-great-grandmother.

McLaurin died at her home in Olney, Maryland, on November 14, 2022, at the acclaimed age of 113.