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Mildred McAdory (sometimes Mildred McAdory Edelman; June 23, 1915 – November 1988) was an American organizer, community leader, and civil rights activist.
Originally a domestic worker in Alabama, McAdory was an organizer for the Communist Party USA and the Southern Negro Youth Congress. Her communist activism was inhibited, such as in 1942, when she received media attention after being arrested for interfering with a sign denoting the colored section on a bus. She later moved to New York City, where she worked as a reporter and labor organizer. She unsuccessfully ran for both the New York State Assembly and the United States Senate.
Following high school, McAdory became a domestic worker, due to a lack of other jobs available. She later attended a private college in Alabama. On August 11, 1932, she married Samuel Steele; they had one child, Stephen (died May 1951). They divorced in 1942. She later married Joe Edelman.
The bus driver ordered the men to move behind the board and called the police after the men declined. The police ordered the four to exit the bus and enter the police car, which McAdory refused. Police threatened to beat her when she asked what she was being charged with. They left without taking McAdory. Afterward, she and another black man willingly exited the bus, after which the bus driver kicked her in the back while she was exiting and yelled to the police to arrest her also, which they did.
During questioning, McAdory claimed to not know who moved the board. While being processed, an officer kicked her in the back, slapped her in the face, punched her in the shoulder, and hit her on the hip with a baton. McAdory was then brought to a holding cell occupied by five other women. In an interview, she described the cell being swarmed with cockroaches, and her mattress being as "hard and dirty as the floor". She did not receive a phone call or bail. According to McAdory, the police officer who arrested her and bus driver gave false testimonies during the trial. She later said she should have shown the bruises underneath her skirt, despite objection from her attorney, Arthur Shores. She was fined $10. She appealed the case, and in March 1944, was not awarded damages for the incident.
The story of McAdory's arrest was published in For Common Courtesy on Common Carriers, an SNYC pamphlet. It also spawned the creation of the short-lived Citizens Committee for Equal Accommodations on Common Carriers, which advocated for racial equality on public transport. She and James E. Jackson organized a boycott on Birmingham's buses for a short time. She spoke about the incident at events across Alabama; at one, in 1943, at Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, she met a young Martin Luther King Jr..
In the 1960s, McAdory served as chairwoman of the Harlem Communist Party. Due to her communist activities, she was surveiled by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, beginning in the early 1940s.
In 1960, McAdory and Arnold Johnson ran for the New York State Assembly in the 13th district; McAdory ran on a dual ticket of the CPUSA and the People's Party. During a campaign event on August 23, police attacked her husband after he criticized hecklers. As they left the event, a group of 150 surrounded her vehicle to block attackers. She and Johnson were later removed from the ballot due to not having filed as part of a communist-action organization, a violation of the McCarran Internal Security Act. On June 3, 1963, she appeared before the Subversive Activities Control Board due to her violations of the McCarran Act. The Daily World claimed McAdory and other communists faced prison sentences because of this. Their removal was challenged by four Democrats in a complaint to the New York State Board of Elections. In 1974, she unsuccessfully ran for the United States Senate with the CPUSA.
In 1968, McAdory worked at the Benjamin J. Davis Bookstore, in New York City. She died in November 1988, aged 73.
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