Emma Sansom (June 2, 1847 – August 9, 1900) was an Alabama teenager and farm worker noted for her actions during the American Civil War (1861-1865), during which she assisted the defensive campaign of the mounted cavalry in the Confederate Army's then Brigadier General Nathan Bedford Forrest (1821-1877), during the Streight's Raid by Union Army cavalry under command of Col. Abel Streight in April-May 1863.

Activists 157 years later in the 2020 racial protests, including descendants of Sansom herself, called for the removal of a statue previously erected commemorating her in Gadsden, Alabama.

Because the creek was swollen and running high due to recent rains, Streight realized that if he destroyed the bridge he could get a few hours' respite from the pursuit of Forrest's Southerners.

After taking Emma back to her home, Forrest continued his pursuit of Col. Streight, whom he was later able to capture and surrender his invading and larger cavalry detachment near Cedar Bluff the following day.

Sansom married Christopher B. Johnson on October 29, 1864, 17 months after the incident with General Forrest, and moved further west to Texas in late 1876 or early 1877.

In 2020, the statue became a place of conflict between Black Lives Matter protestors and counter-protestors during the wave of racial justice protests triggered by the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis Police Department officers.