Mary Magdalene Buggs was born on April 9, 1950 in Ruston, Louisiana, to Sam and Al Dora Buggs. She was the youngest of seven children. After graduating from Grambling State University with a degree in social work, she married Willie Black and moved to Louisiana and later to Arizona.

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Black worked at the Arizona Child Protective Services, where she observed a large disparity in foster and adoptive homes available to Black children. She began a statewide program dedicated to placing Black children and founded the Arizona Minority Child Network, a forum for social workers to improve social services.

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In 1984 she founded Black Family and Child Services of Arizona and served as its innovative, tireless CEO for thirty-five years until illness forced her to retire. She was known as a pioneer bringing foster care, adoption, and other essential social services to the underserved South Phoenix community. During her three and a half decades as the leader of BFCS, Black oversaw growth of the agency from four employees sharing one small office to one of the most respected nonprofit child welfare and behavioral health agencies in Arizona, providing therapy and substance abuse counseling as well as after-school programs and services to at-risk youth.

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Black received a number of national, regional, and local awards during her tenure as CEO of BFCS, including being recognized as one of Arizona’s 48 Most Intriguing Women in conjunction with the state’s centennial celebration. She was recognized for her leadership and service to the greater Phoenix community by the Phoenix Suns on Martin Luther King Day in 2014. She was an alumnus of Valley Leadership Class 10 and enjoyed the rare distinction of having her agency featured on the front page of The Wall Street Journal for innovation in delivering nonprofit family services.

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