Mattie Clyburn Rice (September 15, 1922 – September 1, 2014) was an African-American member of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. As the daughter of a Confederate Veteran, she is considered a "Real Daughter of the Confederacy" by the United Daughters of the Confederacy, and is the second African-American woman to be recognized as such. At the time of her induction into the United Daughters of the Confederacy, she was one of twenty-three women who were living daughters of Confederate veterans. Rice successfully campaigned for her father and nine other African-American men, one freedman and eight enslaved, to be recognized for their Civil War service with a historical marker in Monroe, North Carolina.
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Rice was born on September 15, 1922, in Marshville, North Carolina to a young mother and an elderly father.[1] When Rice was born, her father was already seventy-four years old.[2] Her father, Weary Clyburn, was a former slave who served in the 12th South Carolina Infantry Regiment of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.[1] According to his military pension record, Clyburn fought in the Battle of Port Royal at Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, carrying his slavemaster out of the field on his shoulder and later he performed personal service for General Robert E. Lee.[1] Clyburn was born enslaved on the Uriah Plantation in Lancaster County, South Carolina, owned by Thomas Frank Clyburn.[2][3] According to historian Kevin Levin, Rice's father did not serve willingly but was forced to serve in the army due to his being a slave.[4][5] According to the North Carolina Museum of History, Rice was one of the last living people in North Carolina to be the daughter of a former slave.[6]
Rice successfully campaigned for her father, and nine other African-American men, one freedman and eight enslaved, to be recognized for their Civil War service with a historical marker in Monroe, North Carolina.[7][6]
She grew up during the Jim Crow Era, when racial segregation was the law in North Carolina.[1] When Rice found her father's Confederate military pension application from 1926, in the State Archives of North Carolina, she began receiving calls from various Civil War groups.[1] Upon discovering that Rice was a "Real Daughter of the Confederacy", a daughter of a Confederate veteran, Gail Crosby invited her to join the United Daughters of the Confederacy.[1] Rice is the second African-American Real Daughter of the Confederacy to be recognized by the organization.[1] Two of Rice's daughters also became UDC members.[1] She was awarded the 2012–2013 DeWitt Smith Jobe Award for Best Division Newsletter by The Carolina Confederate.[8]
She died from congestive heart failure on September 1, 2014, at her home in Archdale, North Carolina.[6] Her ashes were buried at her father's grave in Hillcrest Cemetery in Monroe. A colorguard from the Sons of Confederate Veterans was present at her funeral.[9][7] The North Carolina and South Carolina State Presidents of the United Daughters of the Confederacy spoke at her funeral.[7]