[1] Minnie Lee Harris was born and raised in Nashville, Tennessee, and attended Fisk University; both her parents had been enslaved.

[2] She became a teacher and taught first grade for two years in her hometown, but left the workforce[3] to marry Dr. David N. Crosthwaite, in 1899.

[3] Here he became, like his wife, active in a number of important social organizations that advocated for the rights and the education of African-American citizens.

[4] They had three children, and Minnie Crosthwaite started and owned both a beauty salon and a flower shop in Kansas City.

[4] Crosthwaite was active in a number of organizations including the NAACP and the YWCA,[5] and was a prominent member of the Colored Women's League,[6] for which she served as a city and state president.