Mattiebelle Woods was a African-American journalist born on October 31st, 1902, in Louisville, Kentucky. Woods came to Milwaukee in 1906 with her parents, Ira and Annabelle Woods. She married George Beard at age 19 and the two had a daughter. After Beard died, she remarried, and when the second marriage ended in divorce, she resumed using her maiden name.

During the 1940s Woods began writing for the Black press and published her work at various times with the Chicago Defender, the Milwaukee Defender, the Milwaukee Star, the Milwaukee Globe and as a freelancer for Ebony and Jet magazines. She started working for the Milwaukee Courier in 1964 and continued until her death at the age 102 in 2005. For four decades she focused on the social news of Milwaukee’s African-American community in a regular column called "Partyline."

In the late 1940’s, Woods became involved with the Democratic Party, primarily to elect LeRoy Simmons as a state representative.  She later helped the campaign of Representative Isaac Coggs. She went on to become matriarch of Milwaukee’s Black community and mentor to two generations of the city’s African-American leaders. Woods died at age 102 on Feb. 17, 2005, having submitted her last article only a month earlier.

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[Source: Submitted by Mary Rodgers of Alverno College. Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel obituary at legacy.com, viewed Dec. 5, 2011. WISN obituary, Feb. 18, 2005]