Geraldine Trotter was a Boston-born civil rights activist in the early 20th century who moved to Dorchester after her marriage in 1899. She served as the associate editor of The Boston Guardian, an African American newspaper co-founded by her husband William Monroe Trotter, which was considered radical at the time because it challenged white progressives who largely saw race relations as a southern problem. Her editing and bookkeeping skills were instrumental in keeping the paper afloat. Her death from pneumonia at age 46 during the 1918 influenza epidemic is seen as one reason for its loss of influence. Trotter’s funeral service was held at Tremont Temple where she was remembered for her war work, which included sending fruit and other comforts to black soldiers at Camp Devens. A memorial fund to support The Guardian was established in her honor. President Woodrow Wilson sent a message “making an appeal for justice to the race she represented.” Trotter was a member of the Equal Rights League, the Boston Literary and Historical Association, the Public School Association, and the Woman’s Anti-lynching Society. She was an active congregant at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Dorchester and is buried at Fairview Cemetery in Hyde Park. She is celebrated in Trester’s “A Walk in Her Shoes,” a musical composition premiered by the Boston Landmarks Orchestra in 2021, along with Uphams Corner area residents Anna Harris Smith and Ann and Betty. The Trotter home on Sawyer Ave is now a National Historic Landmark.
