Cass (Melnea Agnes Jones) is born in Richmond, Virginia.

Melnea Cass soon moves to Boston with her family, lives initially on Kendall Street, attends Boston public schools until her mother’s death, and subsequently graduates from high school in Virginia. She then returns to Boston, works initially as a domestic, marries Marshall Cass, and moves to 135 Harold Street in 1917. Cass becomes active in the suffrage and civil rights movement, helps found the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters Union and Freedom House, serves as president of the Women’s Service Union and of the Boston Branch NAACP (1962-1964), and is a founding board member of Action for Boston Community Development. Known as “The First Lady of Roxbury,” she dies on December 16, 1978.