Rachel Cliff (1806–1885) was one of two women to serve as an official delegate to the Philadelphia meeting of the 1855 Colored Convention, along with Elizabeth Armstrong.
[4] She moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and married Isaac Cliff, a barber.
[5] Cliff was involved with the Colored Conventions Movement, a movement composed of free and fugitive African Americans that sought to advance African American rights in law, labor, and education.
[7] During the 1855 convention, delegates discussed the creation of an Industrial School for African Americans, heard a report from the Committee on Mechanical Branches among the Colored People of the Free States, and issued an address on behalf of those held in slavery.
[3] Rachel was widowed some time before 1874, when she is listed in the Philadelphia City Directory as a "janitrix," a female janitor.