Harriet Kilson (Green) Price

Biographical Database of Black Women Suffragists

Biography of Harriet Kilson (Green) Price, 1868-?

By Cora Arney, Cincinnati Public History Consultant

Harriet Kilson Green Price was an African American woman who dedicated her life to education, charity, Christianity, and woman's right to vote. She was born to Alfred and Julia Green on January 8, 1868 in Cleveland, Ohio. Her father died within a year of her birth and her mother 22 years later. She lived in her parents' home at 3324 Cedar Ave in Cleveland the majority of her life.

Education was very important to Price. She graduated from Central High School in Cleveland in 1888. Afterwards, she attended Cleveland Normal School, a secondary school for educating teachers. She graduated in 1890 and Price taught school up until her marriage to LeRoy J. Price of Richmond, VA in 1897. The couple did not have children and she worked as a teacher for over 20 years.

According to Women of Ohio, Harriet Price was very active in the temperance movement, which would have been the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, though this source does not specify any dates.

Leroy and Harriet Price are listed in the federal manuscript census for Cleveland in 1900. He was employed as a carriage builder; she was a school teacher. With these two skilled occupations, the Prices would have been well situated. The couple lived alone.

The Prices continued to reside in Cleveland in 1910, but now had six boarders, including Harriet's widowed sister-in-law, Charlotte Green and her two children. Leroy worked as a buffer man on the railroad and Harriet was a teacher. Between their two incomes and income from boarders, the Prices would have been doing quite well economically and they owned their home free of mortgage.

By 1920 the couple resided in East Cleveland. Harriet continued as public school teacher and Leroy was a chef on the railroad. Two boarders lived with the Prices at this date. By 1930 Leroy was a railroad porter, but was now married to another woman, or the census taker may have just recorded a wrong name for Harriet.

Price was a dedicated member of the Mt. Zion Congregational Church in Cleveland. Mt. Zion is an African American church founded in 1864 that was instrumental in helping formerly enslaved people settle into society after the Civil War. Price also worked as the superintendent for the Mt. Zion Sabbath School.

In addition to her roles as an educator and dedicated Congregational Church member, Price was a strong supporter of the woman suffrage movement in the early 1900s and actively participated in many societies for over 30 years. She was President of the Thurman branch of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, and member of the Christian Missionary Society, Cleveland Benevolent Association, and the Order of the Eastern Star.