About
Supercentenarian and American community volunteer. She was born sometime between 1909 and 1916. In 2019, she celebrated becoming a supersentarian at the age of 110. She rose to fame after a video of her dancing with President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama went viral. She was invited to the White House to receive the President's Volunteer Service Award.
Before Fame
She was born to a black family of sharecroppers in South Carolina. She grew up during an era of widespread racial segregation and never received an education past the 3rd grade. She was married at 13, and later moved to New Jersey. She worked as a seamstress, a domestic helper for families and managed a laundry shop.
Trivia
Her birth certificate has not been found, which was fairly common for black and Native American people born under the Jim Crow Laws. Since the 1980s, she volunteered forty-hours per week at Roots Public Charter School through AmeriCorps Seniors. She passed in November of 2022 at her home in Olney, Maryland. She was 113 years and 247 days old.
Family Life
She and her late husband had two children. In 2016, her daughter was 83 and her son had passed.
Associated With
She celebrated her 106th - 109th birthdays with her favorite sports team, the Harlem Globetrotters.
