She was at the center of the Civil Rights Movement in Orangeburg, South Carolina during the 1960s, attracting some national attention and a visit by Dr. Martin Luther King of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
Arrested for sitting in the "whites only" area of the regional hospital when her daughter needed emergency treatment, Blackwell sued and won, ending its segregation.
Her mother was a school teacher, pianist, choir director, community volunteer and daughter of Methodist minister Rev.
[3] When she married again, her second husband, Larney G. (Jack) Rackley, a professor at South Carolina State University, adopted her daughters, Jamelle and Lurma, giving them his surname.
[8] Blackwell continued with graduate study, receiving a Master of Arts degree in education from South Carolina State University.
[5] Blackwell had long been involved with the church, having been president of the Methodist Youth Fellowship on the state level even before entering Claflin as a student; it was a Methodist-founded college.
[11] In October 1961, Blackwell was arrested for sitting in the whites only waiting area of Orangeburg hospital with her daughter Jamelle, whom she had taken to the emergency room for an injured finger.
Blackwell, then known by her married name of Rackley, began to participate and lead nonviolent demonstrations to desegregate the schools, hospitals, and other public accommodations in the city.
[3] Because Blackwell was acting outside the standard for black women, her regular public protests were vilified in the white press, which described her as "dangerously wild".
Even some blacks avoided her for fear of being linked with her, as the white community was trying to repress activism by economic retaliation against all suspected activists: firing some, evicting people from rental housing, and boycotting businesses or preventing loans.
[10] Rackley was invited by the United Federation of Teachers in New York City to speak at a civil rights rally in December 1963, along with nationally known author James Baldwin.
Known for her beauty as well as her activism, Blackwell was often asked why she didn't get plastic surgery to remove the scar on her face from the car accident that killed her oldest daughter.
[8][17] In retirement, Blackwell continued to speak to groups about her experiences in the civil rights movement, encouraging younger people to work for social justice.
[17] While living in Atlanta, she also worked to raise money and support to restore Martin Luther King's boyhood home.
"[8] Richard Reid, president of the Orangeburg Historical and Genealogical Society, said, "The actions taken by Mrs. Rackley by far placed her in the same class as that of Rosa Parks and South Carolina's own Septima Clark and Modjeska Simkins.
She was jailed, maligned, ostracized, and fired from gainful employment because of her activities on behalf of others.In January 2011, Blackwell was honored posthumously in Dillon County, the place of her birth, on Martin Luther King Jr. Day with a Lifetime Community Service Award.