The first woman of color to live in frontier Indianapolis

<p dir="ltr">As Hoosier History Live salutes <strong><a href= "https://www.visitindy.com/indianapolis-african-american-cultural-attractions">Black History Month</a></strong> - as well as the <strong><a href= "http://hoosierhistorylive.org/mail/2020-01-04.html">Bicentennial era of Indianapolis</a></strong> - we will explore the life of the first woman of color to move to the new Hoosier capital in 1821.</p> <p dir="ltr">Little had been known about <strong>Chaney Lively</strong> (1800-1858?), who came to the Indiana wilderness from Kentucky, until our guest researched her life for <strong><a href= "https://nuvo.newsnirvana.com/slash/the-story-of-chaney-lively/article_dd1b90ca-2efb-11e9-9c63-3b8519a1afa5.html">a cover story in 2019 for Nuvo</a></strong>, the alternative newsweekly. <strong>Laura McPhee</strong>, the former editor of Nuvo, will join Nelson to share details of her research about Chaney Lively, who arrived as the clerk and housekeeper for surveyor <strong><a href= "https://tclf.org/alexander-ralston">Alexander Ralston</a></strong>, who created the design for Indianapolis.</p> <p dir="ltr">After Ralston died in 1827, Chaney Lively became the first African-American woman to own a house in the Hoosier capital. At that point the city consisted only of the downtown area known today as the <strong>Mile Square</strong>, which Ralston designed after coming to Indianapolis in the early summer of 1821.</p> <p dir="ltr"><img src= "http://hoosierhistorylive.org/images/Laura-McPhee.JPG" alt= "Laura McPhee" width="190" height="259" align="right" />"When the platted lots went for sale in October, he bought two lots on the first day: one for him and one expressly for Chaney," according to Laura's article. Chaney Lively inherited the property at Meridian and Maryland streets when Ralston died.</p> <p dir="ltr">Laura notes that although Chaney Lively arrived as a free woman of color, she had been enslaved in Kentucky. "It's not clear where or when, but...Ralston purchased Chaney as a slave," Laura wrote. "Most likely, h