Mathilda Taylor Beasley, OSF (November 14, 1832 – December 20, 1903) was a Black Catholic educator and religious leader who was the first African American nun to serve in the state of Georgia.

[1] She was baptized as a Catholic in 1869, possibly in preparation for her marriage to Abraham Beasley, a wealthy free black restaurant owner in Savannah, who died in 1877.

With Catherine and Jane Deveaux, Beasley educated slaves in her home in Savannah, Georgia before the Civil War although this was illegal at the time.

[4] She also started one of the first orphanages in the United States for African-American girls,[3] the St. Francis Home for Colored Orphans.

[6] In 2014 her cottage, formerly located at 1511 Price Street, was relocated into Mother Mathilda Beasley Park as an interpretive center.