12 Facts About Elizabeth Rickey

Elizabeth "Beth" Rickey was an American activist and leader in the anti-racism and anti-discrimination movement.

Elizabeth Rickey was born on June 11,1956, in Lafayette, Louisiana, to Horace B Rickey Jr.

Elizabeth Rickey had a brother named Robert and her uncle, Branch Rickey, was the first to sign an African American baseball player, Jackie Robinson, to an MLB team.

Elizabeth Rickey attended what is the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, where she received a Master of Arts degree in government, and Tulane University, where she earned a PhD in political science.

Rickey's father was a member of the Louisiana Republican State Central Committee, and in 1988 Rickey become a member.

Elizabeth Rickey strongly disagreed with David Duke and viewed him as a sinister person.

Duke described his time in the Ku Klux Klan as a "youthful indiscretion" and after he was elected to the Louisiana House of Representatives as a Republican, Elizabeth Rickey began following Duke and recording what he stated at public gatherings.

Elizabeth Rickey began with a gathering of the Populist Party that was attended by Art Jones, whose hand Duke shook, and by people openly identifying as skinheads and members of the Ku Klux Klan.

Elizabeth Rickey took notes during the meeting, which led into her recording of the Populist Party gathering.

In 1991, Elizabeth Rickey was nominated by the American Jewish Committee and won the Cavallo Foundation Award, which is given to people who go to great lengths to help and protect society at the risk of their own personal safety.

In 2000, nine years before her death, Elizabeth Rickey was inducted into the Louisiana Center for Women in Government and Business Hall of Fame.

Elizabeth Rickey was diagnosed with Crohn's disease and on September 12,2009, Rickey died in Santa Fe, New Mexico, as a result of Crohn's disease and a virus she caught during a mission trip to Mexico.