Elizabeth B. Slaughter was a businesswoman who worked in the millinery business. She became prominent among both white and black patrons and always was known for keeping a line of only the best quality good.

Slaughter received her basic education in Louisville, Kentucky. She later attended and graduated from Millinery Department of Armour Institute in Chicago. In 1903, Slaughter permanently moved to Chicago and opened the Green-Lilly Millinery Company. During this time, she met and became engaged to John V. ‘Mushmouth’ Johnson who was a notorious Chicago gambler and businessman.

After the death of Johnson, Slaughter sued his sister over slanderous statements accusing her of being a ‘kept woman,’ and a ‘lady of the evening’. The case went to trial and Slaughter was awarded $8000. During the trial, it was revealed that on two occasions in 1903 and 1904 Slaughter became pregnant by Johnson. Both pregnancies ended in a miscarriage.

After about a decade, Slaughter married T. L. Douglass who starting off working as a dentist but later wrote a play and went on to later open the “South American Art Novelty Store”. The business was a huge success and after Douglas’ death in 1931, Slaughter took over for the next decade. Elizabeth Slaughter died, August 5, 1956, in Evanston.

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