rebecca m. rigsby donald
1909-1995
Life Story
Growing Up in Rural Newton County
Rebecca M. Rigsby was born on September 4, 1909, in Newton County, Mississippi, to Willie Alfred Rigsby and Iola Wall Rigsby. Although her year of birth varies slightly among early records—a common occurrence in early twentieth-century census schedules—she spent her childhood in the rural farming communities of Beat 4, where generations of the Rigsby family had established deep roots.
By 1920, Rebecca was living within a large extended family headed by her grandparents, Allen and Mollie Rigsby. Like many African American households of the era, multiple generations shared resources, responsibilities, and the daily work of maintaining a farm. Such family networks provided stability during a period when segregation and limited economic opportunity shaped nearly every aspect of Black life in Mississippi.
Rebecca attended school and learned to read and write, achievements that reflected her family’s commitment to education despite the unequal conditions of Mississippi’s segregated school system.
Marriage and Building a Home
Around 1928, Rebecca married Abraham Donald, beginning a partnership that would span more than four decades.
By the 1930 census, the young couple had established their own tenant farm in Beat 4, Newton County. Abraham worked the land while Rebecca managed the household, raising their infant daughter Willie M. Donald and contributing to the countless responsibilities required to sustain a rural farming family.
Their early years together were marked by both joy and sorrow. On October 31, 1929, Rebecca gave birth prematurely to a son, Allen Donald, who survived only three hours. He was buried the following day at Union Chapel Methodist Church Cemetery.
Like countless mothers of her generation, Rebecca experienced the heartbreaking reality of infant loss at a time when premature births frequently ended in tragedy and modern neonatal care did not yet exist. Although Allen’s life was measured in hours, his memory remained part of the Donald family’s story.
Over the following years, Rebecca and Abraham welcomed additional children, including Mayo, Marie, and Allie Mae, continuing to build a family despite the hardships of the Great Depression.
A New Beginning in Chicago
Following World War II, Rebecca and Abraham joined the Great Migration, becoming part of the millions of African Americans who left the rural South in search of greater opportunity in northern cities.
By 1950, the Donald family had settled at 353 East 55th Place on Chicago’s South Side.
For Rebecca, the move represented a dramatic transformation. She exchanged the routines of rural Mississippi farming for life in one of America’s largest industrial cities. Although census records continued to describe her occupation simply as “keeping house,” those two words scarcely capture the responsibilities she carried.
She managed the family’s home, raised their children, adapted to an unfamiliar urban environment, and helped create the stability that allowed her family to establish new roots in Chicago.
Later Years
Rebecca remained in Chicago for the rest of her life, later residing at 10729 South Normal Avenue in the Washington Heights neighborhood.
During the 1960s and early 1970s, official records continued to document her role within the Donald family, including her Social Security registration and records identifying her relationship to her children.
Following Abraham’s death in 1972, Rebecca continued living in the community where they had built their post-Mississippi life together.
She died in Chicago, Illinois, on October 26, 1995, at the age of eighty-six.
Legacy
Rebecca Donald’s life reflected the experiences of thousands of African American women whose contributions were seldom fully captured in official records.
Census schedules identified her simply as a homemaker.
History tells a richer story.
She was a daughter of rural Mississippi, a wife, a mother who endured profound personal loss, a caretaker, and a participant in one of the largest internal migrations in American history.
Her life’s journey—from the farms of Newton County to the neighborhoods of Chicago’s South Side—illustrates the perseverance, adaptability, and quiet strength that sustained Black families across the twentieth century.
Though official records recorded only fragments of her story, those fragments together reveal a woman whose greatest legacy was the family and future she helped build.
Resting Place
Unknown
Photos/Albums
Sources
- 1910, 1920, 1930, 1940, and 1950 U.S. Census records, Newton County, Mississippi, and Cook County, Illinois.
- Mississippi death certificate for Allen Donald, October 31, 1929.
- World War II Draft Registration Card for Abraham Donald, identifying Rebecca Donald as next of kin.
- Social Security records for Rebecca M. Donald.
- Illinois death records, Cook County, October 26, 1995.
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