From collection Candidates
Anna R. Woodbey was nominated for University Regent by the Prohibition Party in Nebraska in 1895. She did not win the race. Woodbey was one of the first African American woman to be nominated for a public office. Woodbey had served for several years as the president of her local Woman's Christian Temperance Union office in Nebraska. She was also known as a speaker on religious topics, as well as publicly supporting and speaking on woman suffrage. In the 1900 federal census Woodbey listed her occupation as minister. Woodbey's work with the Prohibition Party continued, and she served as a alternate delegate to the party convention in 1896. Woodbey was born in Pennsylvania in 1855, but both of her parents were born in slave states (Maryland and Virginia). This indicates that at least Woodbey's mother was freed, or escaped slavery by the time of her daughter's birth.
