First African-American actress to work under contract at a major studio (Fine Arts).
Kept in touch with film director D.W. Griffith for decades and attended his memorial service at the Hollywood Masonic Temple in 1948.
Three sons, Otto Conley, Onest Conley, and Odel Conley, by her first husband. She and her sons all appeared in films produced at the Fine Arts Studio in Los Angeles during the 1910s.
Known for the theatricality of her appearance, particularly her penchant for turbans and wearing her hair in two long braids.