From NKAA, Notable Kentucky African Americans Database (main entry)
Crawley, Elizabeth Gore Curtis "Lizzie Jane"
(born: 1868) Elizabeth Crawley was a leader in the Colored Women's Movement in Chicago, IL, and was also an active participant in social work and welfare efforts. She was chair of the executive board of the District Federation of Colored Women's Clubs and had chaired the organization's social improvement department. She was chair of the Ideal Women's Club and a member of the board of directors of the Phillis Wheatly Home. She was a chartered member of the Imperial Art Club and chaired the East Side Woman's Club.Crawley was born Elizabeth Gore in Nelson County, KY, the daughter of James and Miranda Gore. The family moved to Louisville where Elizabeth attended school. Her first husband, William Curtis, died in 1899; the couple had a daughter and a son. Elizabeth and her children lived with her parents on Rose Lane in Louisville, KY, according to the 1900 U.S. Federal Census; Elizabeth was a laundry woman.
Lizzie Jane and her son moved to Chicago in 1903. She married Walter Crawley, from Virginia, in 1906. Her occupation is given as a dressmaker in the 1910 Census. By 1920, the household on E. 36th Street included Lizzie and her husband Walter, her son William Curtis and his wife Alma and their daughter Elizabeth, and Lizzie's widowed mother, Miranda Gore. The Crawleys are listed in the 1940 Census where it is noted that Elizabeth completed one year of high school and Walter completed four years.
For more see the Lizzie Jane Crawley entry in chapter six of The Story of the Illinois Federation of Colored Women's Clubs, by E. L. Davis; and Toward a Tenderer Humanity and a Nobler Womanhood, by A. M. Knupfer.
