zeta youth conference 2013 black women jeopardy

ZETA YOUTH CONFERENCE 2013
Zeta Archonettes
Zeta Amicettes
Zeta Pearlettes
ZETA YOUTH CONFERENCE RETREAT SUMMIT TEAM
Karen Britt
Paula Kay
Vi Dennis
Dianne Williams
BLACK WOMEN JEOPARDY
FROM THE NAACP to the Harlem Renaissance, African American
presence in Black America blossomed. The Harlem Renaissance was a
cultural movement that spanned the 1920s and 1930s. At the time, it was
known as the "New Negro Movement", named after the 1925 anthology by
Alain Locke. Though it was centered in the Harlem neighborhood of New
York City, many French-speaking blacks were influenced by the Harlem
Renaissance.
The Great Depression brought hard times, and World War II and the postwar period brought new challenges and involvements in spite of blatant
hate, physical and mental attacks. Black Women in America Culture were
movers and shakers in America’s history before and during the Harlem
Renaissance. Strong Black responsible women were members in the NAACP
movement and very involved in the cause, “Justice for ALL! WE STAND ON
THE SHOULDERS OF GIANTS!
ZETA FIVE FOUNDING PEARLS
ZETA PHI BETA SORORITY, INC.
GIANT SHOULDERS
Past Southeastern Region International Presidents:
Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.
Florida * Georgia * South Carolina
MS. BARBARA MOORE
DR. JYLLA MOORE TEARTE
DR. EUNICE THOMAS
DR. EDITH FRANCIS
APPROACHING 100 YEARS OF SERVICE
TWENTY-FOURTH PREMIER ZETA LEADERS
2012-2016
International Grand Basileus
Mary B. Wright
SE Region Director
Felicia S. Strickland
Florida State Director
Karen W. Blount
ALICE MALSENIOR WALKER (born February 9, 1944) is an American author,
poet, and activist. She has written both fiction and essays about race and gender.
She is best known for the critically acclaimed novel The Color Purple (1982) for
which she won the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. Walker was born in
Putnam County, Georgia,[3] the youngest of eight children, to Willie Lee Walker and
Minnie Lou Tallulah Grant. Her father, who was, in her words, "wonderful at math
but a terrible farmer," earned only $300 a year from sharecropping and dairy
farming. Her mother supplemented the family income by working as a maid. She
worked 11 hours a day for USD $17 per week to help pay for Alice to attend
college. Living under Jim Crow laws, Walker's parents resisted landlords who
expected the children of black sharecroppers to work the fields at a young age. A
white plantation owner said to her that black people had “no need for education.”
Minnie Lou Walker said, "You might have some black children somewhere, but they
don’t live in this house. Don’t you ever come around here again talking about how
my children don’t need to learn how to read and write.” Her mother enrolled Alice in
first grade at the age of four.
ALTHEA GIBSON was born in South Carolina on August 25, 1927. At an early
age, she developed a love of sport. Her great talent was in tennis, but in the 1950s,
most tournaments were closed to African Americans. Gibson kept
playing (and winning) until her skills could no longer be denied,
and became the first African American to play at Wimbledon. She
was the first African American person to play in and win
Wimbledon and the United States national tennis championship.
She won both tournaments twice, in 1957 and 1958. In all,
Gibson won 56 tournaments, including five Grand Slam singles
events. She was a World No. 1 and is sometimes referred to as "the
Jackie Robinson of tennis" for breaking the color barrier.
JUDGE BERNICE B. DONALD is a Judge on the United States Court of Appeals
for the Sixth Circuit. She was nominated to that position by President Barack
Obama and was confirmed by a vote in the Senate on September 6, 2011. Prior to
that, Judge Donald sat on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of
Tennessee. She was appointed to the district court by President William Jefferson
Clinton in December 1995. She was sworn into office in January 1996. She
previously served as Judge of U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of
Tennessee, becoming the first African American woman in the history of the United
States to serve as a bankruptcy judge. In 1982, she was elected to the General
Sessions Criminal Court, where she became the first African American woman to
serve as a judge in the history of the State of Tennessee. She received her law
degree from the University of Memphis School of Law where she has served as an
adjunct faculty member. She also serves as faculty for the Federal Judicial Center
and the National Judicial College. In 1996, Chief Justice Rehnquist appointed Judge
Donald to the Judicial Conference Advisory Committee on Bankruptcy Rules where
she served for six years. She is extremely active in the American, Tennessee, and
Memphis Bar Associations, serving in vital leadership roles in key committees. She
currently serves as Secretary of the 430,000 member American Bar Association.
Judge Donald has served as faculty for numerous international programs, including
Romania, Turkey, Brazil, and Russia. Judge Donald lectured in various Republics of
the former Soviet Union, including Kazakhstan, Kyrgystan, Kazan, Moscow, and
Kransnador. In 2003, Judge Donald led a People to People delegation to
Johannesburg, and Capetown, South Africa. In June 2003, Judge Donald traveled to
Zimbabwe to monitor the trial of a judge accused of judicial misconduct. Judge
Donald is a member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.
BESSIE COLEMAN completed all eight available years of primary education,
excelling in math. She enrolled at the Colored Agricultural and Normal University in
Langston, Oklahoma in 1910, but lack of funds forced her to leave after only one
term. Five years later, she left the South and moved to Chicago to join two of her
brothers, Walter and John, where she worked as a beautician for several years. An
avid reader, she learned about World War I pilots in the newspaper and became
intrigued by the prospect of flying. As a black woman, she had no chance of
acceptance at any American pilot school, so she moved to France in 1919 and
enrolled at the Ecole d'Aviation des Freres Caudon at Le Crotoy. 1921. First African-
American woman to become a pilot, first American to hold an
international pilot license.
BILLIE HOLIDAY (born Eleanora Harris) April 7, 1915 – July 17,
1959) was an American jazz singer and songwriter. Nicknamed "Lady
Day" by her friend and musical partner Lester Young; Holiday had a
seminal influence on jazz and pop singing. Her vocal style, strongly
inspired by jazz instrumentalists, pioneered a new way of manipulating
phrasing and tempo. Critic John Bush wrote that Holiday "changed the art of
American pop vocals forever."[5] She co-wrote only a few songs, but several of them
have become jazz standards, notably "God Bless the Child", "Don't Explain", "Fine
and Mellow", and "Lady Sings the Blues". She also became famous for singing "Easy
Living", "Good Morning Heartache", and "Strange Fruit", a protest song which
became one of her standards and was made famous with her 1939 recording.
CARRIE P. MEEK was the first African-American woman to be elected to the Florida
Senate. She was a 1992 Florida Women's Hall of Fame inductee. Meek, the
granddaughter
of slaves and daughter of former sharecroppers, was born and raised in segregated
Tallahassee, Florida. She graduated from Lincoln High School. She remained in
north Florida for college and graduated from Florida A&M University in 1946. At this
time, African Americans could not attend graduate school in Florida, so Meek
enrolled in the University of Michigan and received her M.S. degree in 1948. After
graduation, Meek was hired as a teacher at Bethune-Cookman University in
Daytona Beach, Florida, and then at her alma mater, Florida A&M University. Meek
moved to Miami in 1961 to serve as special assistant to the vice president of MiamiDade Community College. The college was desegregated in 1963, largely due to
Meek's integral role in the push for its integration. Throughout her years as an
educator, Meek was also active in community projects in the Miami area. Meek was
elected to the Florida House of Representatives in 1978 as a Democrat, serving
until 1983. As a state representative, she introduced a bill criminalizing stalking. In
1982, she was the first African American female elected to the Florida State Senate.
As a State Senator, Meek served on the Education Appropriations Subcommittee.
Meek was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1992, after fourteen
years in the Florida Legislature. This made her the first black lawmaker elected to
represent Florida in Congress since Reconstruction. Upon taking office, Meek faced
the task of helping her district recover from Hurricane Andrew's devastation. Her
efforts helped provide $100 million in federal assistance to rebuild Miami-Dade
County (then known as Dade County). Also, while in the House, Meek successfully
focused her attention on issues such as economic development, health care,
education and housing. She led legislation through Congress to improve MiamiDade County's transit system, airport and seaport; construct a new family and
childcare center in North Dade County; and fund advanced aviation
training programs at Miami-Dade Community College. Meek emerged
as a strong advocate for Haitian immigrants and senior citizens.
CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULT was born 27 February 1942) is an
American journalist and former foreign correspondent for National
Public Radio, and the Public Broadcasting
Service. was the first African American woman admitted to or graduated from the
University of Georgia. She's also the author of autobiography, In My Place,
reflecting on African American life in the 1940s and 1950s and the Civil Rights
Movement of the fifties and sixties. In 1961, Athens, Georgia witnessed part of the
civil rights movement when Charlayne Hunter and Hamilton Holmes became the
first two African-American students to enroll in the University of Georgia. She
graduated in 1963.In 1967, she joined the investigative news team at WRC-TV,
Washington, D.C., and also anchored the local evening news. In 1968, Charlayne
joined The New York Times as a metropolitan reporter specializing in coverage of
the urban African-American community. She joined The MacNeil/Lehrer Report in
1978 as a correspondent, and became The NewsHour's national correspondent in
1983. She left The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer in June 1997. She worked in
Johannesburg, South Africa, as National Public Radio's chief correspondent in Africa
from 1997 to 1999. Hunter-Gault recently left her post as CNN's Johannesburg
bureau chief and correspondent, which she had held since 1999. During her
association with The NewsHour, Hunter-Gault has won additional awards: two
Emmys, and a Peabody for excellence in broadcast journalism for her work on
Apartheid's People, a NewsHour series on South Africa. She also received the 1986
Journalist of the Year Award from the National Association of Black Journalists; the
1990 Sidney Hillman Award; the Good Housekeeping Broadcast Personality of the
Year Award; the American Women in Radio and Television Award; and two awards
from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for excellence in local programming.
CHARLOTTE RAY, born on January 13, 1850, in New York City. She applied to the
Howard University law program and became one of the first women admitted to the
District of Columbia Bar, as well as the first female African-American lawyer in the
United States. Active in the suffrage movement, Ray was a member the National
Association of Colored Women. She grew up in a large family as one of seven
children. Her father, Charles, was a minister and an activist in the abolitionist
movement. He edited the Colored American, an abolitionist publication, and helped
in the Underground Railroad, which aided escaped slaves in their efforts to find
freedom in the North. Education was very important to Ray's family. During the
1860s, Ray attended the Institution for the Education of Colored Youth in
Washington, D.C. The institution was one of only a handful of places that offered a
quality education to young, African-American women. By the end of the 1860s, she
had become a teacher at the preparatory school associated with Howard University.
Ray then applied to the university's law degree program as C.E.
Ray, using only her initials. Some thought she used her initials as a
way of disguising her gender since the university did not accept
women into the program, but her exact intentions remain unknown.
In any case, Ray gained admittance to the program. She was the
daughter of one of the conductors on the Underground Railroad. Ray
began teaching at Howard University at the young age of 19. In
1872, Ray received a law degree from Howard, and was admitted to practice law
the same year in Washington, D.C. In addition to being the first Black woman to be
granted admission to any Bar in the U.S., Ray was also the first woman admitted to
practice in D.C.
CONDOLEEZZA RICE, the first black female Secretary of State, 2005–2009.
Condoleezza Rice was born on November 14, 1954 in Birmingham, Alabama. She
grew up
surrounded by racism in the segregated South, but went on to become the first
woman and first African American to serve as provost of Stanford University. In
2001, Rice was appointed national security adviser by President George W. Bush,
becoming the first black woman (and second woman) to hold the post, and went on
to become the first black woman to serve as U.S. Secretary of State. (She was the
nation's 66th Secretary of State, serving from January 2005 to 2009.) Condoleezza
Rice was born on November 14, 1954 in Birmingham, Alabama. The only child of a
Presbyterian minister and a teacher, Rice grew up surrounded by racism in the
segregated South. She earned her bachelor's degree in political science from the
University of Denver in 1974; her master's from the University of Notre Dame in
1975; and her Ph.D. from the University of Denver's Graduate School of
International Studies in 1981. That same year, she joined Stanford University as a
political science professor—a position that she has held for more than three
decades and plans to soon return to, full-time, according to a statement she made
in 2012. In 1993, Rice became the first woman and first African American to
serve as provost of Stanford University—a post she held for six years.
During that time, she also served as the university's chief budget and
academic officer.
CORETTA SCOTT KING – author, activist and civil rights leader, wife of Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr.; founder of the King Center for Non-violent Social Change. Mrs.
King's most prominent role may have been in the years after her husband's 1968
assassination when she took on the leadership of the struggle for racial equality
herself and became active in the Women's Movement. Coretta Scott King was an
American civil rights activist and the wife of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
She established a distinguished career in activism in her own right. Working sideby-side with her husband, she took part in the Montgomery Bus Boycott and
worked to pass the Civil Rights Act. After King's death, she founded
the Center for Nonviolent Social Change in Atlanta.
DELLA REESE, Originally: Deloreese Patricia Early. Singer,
actress. Born Deloreese Patricia Early in Detroit, Michigan. Reese
began on the path that would lead her to show business by singing
in her family's church at the age of six. Her talents landed her touring with gospel
great Mahalia Jackson while still only a teenager. By 18, Reese had formed The
Meditation Singers, the group that became the first to take gospel music to the
nightclubs of Las Vegas. Reese began making records with the Erskine Hawkins
Orchestra in the 1950s and produced such hits as “Don’t You Know," and "That
Reminds Me." She also began performing on television variety shows and was a
regular guest on The Ed Sullivan Show. From 1969 to 1970, she hosted a television
talk show while guest starring on many television shows into the 1980s, including
Sanford and Son, Crazy Like a Fox, and Picket Fences. In 1987, she was nominated
for a Best Female Soloist in Gospel Music Grammy Award. In the late 1990s, she
landed a starring role on television's Touched By An Angel, alongside Roma Downey
and John Dye, while continuing her music career. In the 1950s, Della Reese began
making records and performing on TV variety shows. From 1969 to 1970, she
hosted a TV talk show while guest starring on many other shows into the 1980s,
including Sanford and Son and Picket Fences. In 1987, she was nominated for a
Best Female Soloist in Gospel Music Grammy Award, and in the 1990s, she landed
a starring role on television's Touched By An Angel.
DIONNE WARWICK (born Marie Dionne Warrick; December 12, 1940) is an
American singer, actress and TV show host, who became a United Nations Global
Ambassador for the Food and Agriculture Organization, and a United States
Ambassador of Health. Having been in a partnership with songwriters Burt
Bacharach and Hal David, Warwick ranks among the 40 biggest hit makers of the
entire rock era (1955–2012), based on the Billboard ''Hot 100 Pop Singles Charts''.
Warwick ranks second only to Aretha Franklin as the most-charted female vocalist
with 56 singles making the Billboard Hot 100 between 1962 and 1998. She is a
member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. Warwick was born in East Orange, New
Jersey, to Mancel Warrick (1911–1977), who began his career as a Pullman porter
and subsequently became a chef, a gospel record promoter for Chess Records and
later a Certified Public Accountant; and Lee Drinkard Warwick (1920–2005),
manager of The Drinkard Singers (see below). Warwick had a sister Delia "Dee
Dee" and a brother, Mancel Jr., who was killed in an accident in 1968 at the age of
21. She has African American, Native American, Brazilian and Dutch ancestry.
Dionne came from a family of singers. Dionne's mother, aunts and uncles were
members of the Drinkard Singers, a renowned family gospel group and RCA
recording artists that frequently performed throughout the New York metropolitan
area. The Drinkard family originated from Blakley, Georgia and migrated to Newark,
New Jersey in the late 1920s. The family was composed of
Nitcholas "Nitch" Drinkard, and Delia Drinkard, Warwick's
grandparents, and their children: William, Lee (Warwick's mother),
Marie "Rebbie" (Warwick's namesake), Hansom, Anne, Larry,
Nicky, and Emily "Cissy" (who is the mother of Warwick's late
cousin, Whitney Houston). Dionne's paternal grandfather, Elzae
Warrick was the preacher at St. Luke's AME, the church attended
by the Drinkard family. Lee Drinkard and the preacher's son,
Mancel, were later married and Dionne became the Drinkard family's first
grandchild on December 12, 1940
DOROTHEY DANDEBRIDGE born on November 9, 1922 in Cleveland, Ohio,
Dorothy Dandridge sang at Harlem's Cotton Club and Apollo Theatre and became
the first
African American woman to be nominated for an Academy Award for best actress.
Many years passed before the mainstream entertainment industry acknowledged
Dandridge's legacy. In 1999, Halle Berry played Dandridge in Introducing Dorothy
Dandridge, for which she won an Emmy Award. Singer, actress. Born November 9,
1922, in Cleveland, Ohio, Dorothy Dandridge sang at Harlem's famed Cotton Club
and Apollo Theatre and became the first African American woman to be nominated
for an Academy Award for best actress. Dandridge’s mother, the actress Ruby
Dandridge, urged her two young daughters into show business in the 1930s, when
they performed as a song-and-dance team billed as "The Wonder Children.
Dandridge left high school in the late 1930s and formed the Dandridge Sisters trio
with her sister Vivian and Etta Jones. They performed with the Jimmy Lunceford
Orchestra and at the famous Cotton Club in Harlem, where Dandridge—, who had a
mixed racial heritage, early on confronted the segregation and racism of the
entertainment industry. As a teenager, Dandridge began to appear in small roles in
a number of films, including the Marx Brothers film A Day at the Races (1937) and
Drums of the Congo (1942). In 1945, she married Harold Nicholas of the dancing
Nicholas Brothers (with whom she performed in the 1941 Sonja Henie musical Sun
Valley Serenade); during their turbulent six-year marriage, Dandridge virtually
retired from performing. A daughter, Harolyn, was born with severe brain damage
in 1943; as Dandridge was unable to raise her herself, she placed the girl in foster
care.
DOROTHY HEIGHT was a civil rights and women's rights activist focused
primarily on improving the circumstances of and opportunities for African-American
women. She was a leader in addressing the rights of both women and AfricanAmericans as the president of the National Council of Negro Women. In the 1990s,
she drew young people into her cause in the war against drugs, illiteracy and
unemployment. The numerous honors bestowed upon her include the Presidential
Medal of Freedom (1994) and the Congressional Gold Medal
(2004). She died on April 20, 2010, in Washington, D.C.
EARTHA KITT, born in 1927 South Carolina, Eartha Kitt became
popular in Paris as a nightclub singer, and then returned to the U.S. to appear in
films and on Broadway. Her
1953 recording of "Santa Baby" is still a favorite today. In the 1960s, Kitt had a
recurring role as Catwoman on TV's Batman, but her career waned after she
criticized the Vietnam War during a luncheon with Lady Bird Johnson. Born in North,
South Carolina, famed singer and actress Eartha Kitt had a difficult childhood. Her
mother abandoned her, and she was left in the care of relatives who mistreated
her. Kitt was often teased and picked on because of her mixed-race heritage—her
father was white, and her mother was African-American and Cherokee. Around the
age of 8, Kitt moved to New York City to live with an aunt. There, she eventually
enrolled in the New York School of Performing Arts. Around the age of 16, Kitt won
a scholarship to study with Katherine Dunham, and later joined Dunham's dance
troupe. She toured with the group for several years before going solo. In Paris, Kitt
became a popular nightclub singer. She was discovered in Europe by actor-director
Orson Welles. Welles, who reportedly called her "the most exciting woman alive,"
cast her as Helen of Troy in his production of Dr. Faustus.
EMMA LOU MORGAN “The Blacker the Berry” is a 1929 novel by Harlem
Renaissance author Wallace Thurman. The novel tells the story of Emma Lou
Morgan, a dark-skinned African American woman, beginning in Boise, Idaho and
ending in Harlem during the Harlem Renaissance. Throughout the novel, Emma Lou
encounters discrimination by lighter-skinned African-Americans and she must come
to terms with her skin color if she is ever to be satisfied with her life. “Have you
heard the song, ‘The Blacker the Berry the Sweeter the Juice, I Hate to Tell You
Bout It Cause it Ain’t No Use?”
ESTHER ROLLE was born in Pompano Beach, Florida, to Bahamian immigrants
Jonathan Rolle (a farmer) and Elizabeth Rolle. Esther was the tenth of 18 children.
Rolle attended Booker T. Washington High School in Miami, Florida and graduated
from Blanche Ely High School. She initially studied at Spelman College in Atlanta,
but she moved to New York City. She attended Hunter College, The New School for
Social Research, and Yale University. She was also a member of Zeta Phi Beta
Sorority, Inc. For many years, Rolle worked in a traditional "day job"
in New York City's garment district. An actress, she was born on
November 8, 1922, in Pompano Beach, Florida. A stage, film, and
television actress, Esther Rolle is best remembered as Florida Evans,
a sharp, but caring housekeeper - a character she played on two
comedy series Maude and Good Times. One of eighteen children, she
was the daughter of Bahamian immigrants. Rolle was a student at
several colleges, including Hunter College in New York City. Early in
her career, Esther Rolle was a member of the Shogola Obola Dance Company. One
of her first major acting parts was in the 1962 off-Broadway production of Jean
Genet's The Blacks. More New York stage roles followed, and she became a
founding member of the Negro Ensemble Company. In the early 1970s, she had a
starring part in Melvin Van Peebles' Broadway musical, Don't Play Us Cheap, which
was turned into a film in 1973. Around this time, she landed the role of Florida
Evans, the wisecracking maid on Maude, a comedy series created by Norman Lear
that starred Beatrice Arthur in the title role. Audiences loved her character so much
that Lear produced a new show for Rolle entitled Good Times. The movie
“Rosewood” is a 1997 film directed by John Singleton. While based on
Soror Jenkins’ historic events of the 1923 Rosewood massacre in Florida,
the film introduces fictional characters and changes from historic accounts.
It stars Ving Rhames as a man who travels to the town and becomes a
witness. The supporting cast includes Don Cheadle as Sylvester, who also
becomes a witness to the riot, and Jon Voight as a white store owner who
lives in a village near Rosewood. The three characters become entangled in
an attempt to save people from racist whites attacking the blacks of
Rosewood.
ETTA JAMES born January 25, 1938, Etta James was a gospel prodigy. In 1954,
she moved to Los Angeles to record The Wallflower. By 1960, her career began to
soar. Despite her continued drug problems, she earned a Grammy nomination for
her 1973 eponymous album. In 2006, she released the album All the Way. She is
considered one of the most dynamic singers in music. Born, Jamesetta Hawkins on
January 25, 1938, in Los Angeles. As a child, Etta was a gospel prodigy, singing in
her church choir and on the radio at the age of 5. When she turned 12, she moved
north to San Francisco where she formed a trio and was soon working for
bandleader Johnny Otis. In 1954, she moved to Los Angeles to record "The
Wallflower" (a tamer title for the then-risqué "Roll with Me Henry") with the Otis
band. It was that year that the young singer became Etta James (an shortened
version of her first name) and her vocal group was dubbed The Peaches (also Etta's
nickname). Soon after, James launched her solo career with such hits
as "Good Rockin' Daddy" in 1955.
FANNY JACKSON COPPIN was born a slave in Washington D.C. on
October 15, 1837. She gained her freedom when her aunt was
able to purchase her at the age of twelve. In 1860 she enrolled at
Oberlin College in Ohio. Oberlin College was the first college in
the United States to accepted both black and female students. In 1869
Jackson became principal of the Institute for Colored Youth in Philadelphia,
making her the first African American woman to receive the title of school
principal, a position she would hold until 1906.”
FANNIE LOU HAMER'S life took a dramatic turn the day she showed up for a
mass meeting to learn about voting. It was August 1962 and Hamer, who
was
forty-four years old, wasn't even sure what a "mass meeting" was. "I was just
curious to go, so I did," she said.1 The meeting was organized
by the Student
Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and Hamer 1917-1977 was told
something she'd never heard before: black people had the right to vote. Known
for: civil rights activism; called "the spirit of the civil rights movement"
Occupation: sharecropper; field work from age 6; timekeeper. "Hamer received a
thunderous standing ovation when she became the first African American to take
her rightful seat as an official delegate at a national-party convention since the
Reconstruction period after the Civil War, and the first woman ever from
Mississippi."
FRANCES ELLEN WATKINS HARPER was born free in Maryland and later became
an anti-slavery lecturer and poet. She worked for civil rights after the Civil War, and
also for women's rights. She was a founder of the National Association of Colored
Women (NACW). (An African American poet and abolitionist). African American
journalist with CNN, NPR, PCN. Frances Ellen Watkins Harper moved from Maryland,
a slave state, to Ohio, a free state, in1850, the year of the Fugitive Slave Act. In
Ohio she taught domestic science as the first woman faculty member at
Union
GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON was the best known and most
widely published African-American woman poet of her time, as well
as an accomplished playwright and journalist. At the peak of her
popularity the most widely-read black woman poet in America
since the abolitionist Frances E.W. Harper, and Georgia’s most
famous black woman writer before Alice Walker. The Atlantaborn writer published her poetry to considerable acclaim between the 20th
century’s world wars, and her one-act plays helped to drive the community-based
New Negro Little Theatre movement of the era.
GRACE JONES, ( born 19 May 1948) is a Jamaican singer, actress and model.
Jones started out as a model, regularly appearing at the New York City nightclub
Studio 54. Jones secured a record deal with Island Records in 1977, which resulted
in a string of dance-club hits. In the late 1970s, she adapted the emerging
electronic music style and adopted a severe, androgynous look. Many of her singles
were hits on Billboard's Hot Dance Club Play and Hot Dance Airplay charts, for
example 1981's "Pull Up to the Bumper", which spent seven weeks at No. 2 on the
U.S. dance chart.[2] Jones was able to find mainstream success in Europe,
particularly the United Kingdom, scoring a number of Top 40 entries on the UK
Singles Chart. Her most notable albums are Warm Leatherette, Nightclubbing and
Slave to the Rhythm, while her biggest hits are "Pull Up to the Bumper", "I've Seen
That Face Before (Libertango)", "Private Life", "Slave to the Rhythm" and "I'm Not
Perfect (But I'm Perfect for You)". Jones is also an actress. Her acting occasionally
overshadowed her musical output in America, but not in Europe, where her profile
as a recording artist was much higher. She appeared in some low-budget films in
the 1970s and early 1980s. Her work as an actress in mainstream film began in the
1984 fantasy-action film Conan the Destroyer alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger,
and the 1985 James Bond movie A View to a Kill. In 1986 she played a vampire in
Vamp, and both acted in and contributed a song to the 1992 film Boomerang with
Eddie Murphy. In 2001, she appeared in Wolf Girl alongside Tim Curry.
GWENDOLYN BROOKS (1917-2000), African American poet, winner of a Pulitzer
Prize in 1950, poet laureate of Illinois: inspired by Harlem Renaissance poet Paul
Dunbar, her poems expressed everyday life in the inner city. First African American
to win Pulitzer Prize (for Poetry, 1950) Writer, poet, teacher; first published poem,
age 14 Publicity director, NAACP Youth Council, Chicago, 1937-1938. Also, known
as Gwendolyn “Gwendie” Elizabeth Brooks. Gwendolyn Elizabeth Brooks was born
on June 7, 1917, in Topeka, Kansas, the first child of David
Anderson Brooks and Keziah Wims. Her mother was a former
school teacher who had chosen that field because she could not
afford to attend medical school. (Family lore held that her paternal
grandfather had escaped slavery to join Union forces during the
American Civil War.)[4] When Brooks was six weeks old, her family
moved to Chicago, Illinois during the Great Migration; from then
on, Chicago was her hometown. She went by the nickname
"Gwendie" among her close friends. Her home life was stable and loving, although
she encountered racial prejudice in her neighborhood and in schools. She attended
Hyde Park High School, the leading white high school in the city, before transferring
to the all-black Wendell Phillips. Brooks eventually attended an integrated school,
Englewood High School. In 1936 she graduated from Wilson Junior College. These
four schools gave her a perspective on racial dynamics in the city that continued to
influence her work! She is an awesome woman!
GWENDOLYN L. IFILL born September 29, 1955) is an American journalist,
television newscaster and author. She is the managing editor and moderator of
Washington Week
and a senior correspondent for the PBS NewsHour, both of which air on PBS. She is
a political analyst, and moderated the 2004 and 2008 Vice Presidential debates.
She is the author of the book The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of
Obama. Ifill was born in New York City, the fifth child of African Methodist Episcopal
minister (Oliver) Urcille Ifill, Sr., a Panamanian of Barbadian descent who emigrated
from Panama, and Eleanor Ifill, who was from Barbados. Her father's ministry
required the family to live in several cities throughout New England and the Eastern
Seaboard during her youth. In her childhood Ifill lived in Pennsylvania and
Massachusetts church parsonages and in federally subsidized housing in Buffalo and
New York City. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from
Simmons College in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1977. While at Simmons, Ifill
interned for the Boston Herald-American and was hired after graduation by editors
deeply embarrassed by an incident during her internship in which a co-worker left a
note for her that read "Nigger go home."[6] Later she worked for the Baltimore
Evening Sun (1981–1984), The Washington Post (1984–1991), The New York Times
(1991–1994), and NBC. In October 1999, she became moderator of the PBS
program Washington Week in Review. She is also senior correspondent for the PBS
NewsHour. Ifill has appeared on various news shows, including Meet the Press. She
serves on the board of the Harvard Institute of Politics, the Committee to Protect
Journalists, the Museum of Television and Radio and the University of Maryland's
Philip Merrill College of Journalism. On February 7, 2011, Ifill was made an
Honorary Member of Delta Sigma Theta during the sorority's 22nd Annual Delta
Days in the Nation’s Capital. With Kaitlyn Adkins, Ifill co-hosted Jamestown LIVE!, a
2007 History Channel special commemorating the 400th anniversary of Jamestown,
Virginia. The Ombudsman for PBS, Michael Getler, has twice written about the
letters he's received complaining of bias in Ifill's news coverage. He dismissed
complaints that Ifill appeared insufficiently enthusiastic about Sarah Palin's speech
at the 2008 Republican National Convention, and concluded
that Ifill had played a "solid, in my view, and central role in
PBS coverage of both conventions.”
GWENDOLYN SAWYER CHERRY was born in Miami, Florida
in 1923. She taught 22 years in the Miami-Dade Public
Schools. She became a pioneer for the State of Florida’s legal
profession. She received her undergraduate degree from
Florida Agricultural Mechanics University (FAMU). She later
returned to FAMU to obtain her Juris Doctorate degree and
serve as a professor at its law school. She was admitted to
the Florida Bar in 1965. Ms. Cherry was a woman of many
firsts. Before attending FAMU’s law school, she was the first
Black woman law student to attend the University of Miami.
She was the first Black woman to practice law in Dade
County, Florida. She was one of the first nine attorneys who
initially served at Legal Services of Greater Miami in 1966. In
1970, she was elected as a state representative, becoming the first Black woman to
serve as a legislator for the State of Florida. While in the State House of
Representative, she introduced the Equal Rights Amendment, the Martin Luther
King, Jr. state holiday and other legislation. She was elected to four terms and
served until 1
HARRIET TUBMAN, (born Araminta Harriet Ross; 1820 – March 10, 1913) was
an African-American abolitionist, humanitarian, and Union spy during the American
Civil War. Born into slavery, Tubman escaped and subsequently made more than
thirteen missions to rescue more than 70 slaves[1] using the network of antislavery
activists and safe houses known as the Underground Railroad. She later helped
John Brown recruit men for his raid on Harpers Ferry, and in the post-war era
struggled for women's suffrage. As a child in Dorchester County, Maryland, Tubman
was beaten by masters to whom she was hired out. Early in her life, she suffered a
severe head wound when hit by a heavy metal weight. The injury caused disabling
seizures, narcoleptic attacks, headaches, and powerful visionary and dream
experiences, which occurred throughout her life. A devout Christian, Tubman
ascribed the visions and vivid dreams to revelations from God. In 1849, Tubman
escaped to Philadelphia, then immediately returned to Maryland to rescue her
family. Slowly, one group at a time, she brought relatives out of the state, and
eventually guided dozens of other slaves to freedom. Traveling by night, Tubman
(or "Moses", as she was called) "never lost a passenger".[2] Large rewards were
offered for the return of many of the fugitive slaves, but no one then knew that
Tubman was the one helping them. When the Southern-dominated Congress
passed the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, requiring law officials in free states to aid
efforts to recapture slaves, she helped guide fugitives farther north into Canada,
where slavery was prohibited. When the American Civil War began, Tubman worked
for the Union Army, first as a cook and nurse, and then as an armed scout and spy.
The first woman to lead an armed expedition in the war, she guided the Combahee
River Raid, which liberated more than 700 slaves in South Carolina. After the war,
she retired to the family home in Auburn, New York, where she cared for her aging
parents. She became active in the women's suffrage movement in New York until
illness overtook her. Near the end of her life, she lived in a home for elderly African
Americans that she had helped found years earlier. Tubman, a slave who
escaped to freedom and then helped more than 300 other slaves escape.
She was an abolitionist and proponent of Civil Rights. When the American
Civil War began, Tubman worked for the Union Army, first as a cook and
nurse, and then as an armed scout and spy. After the war she settled in
Auburn, New York, where she would spend the rest of her long life. She died
in 1913.
IDA WELLS-BARNETT (1862-1931) was a co-founder of the NAACP and active in
women's issues. Born a slave in Mississippi, Ida became one of the most articulate
and influential journalists, civil rights leaders, and feminists of the late 19th and
early 20th century.
1. Sued the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad for physically removing her from
a segregated train 71 years before Rosa Parks refused to give up her
seat.
2. Spoke out against and wrote about in graphic detail the horrors and
injustice of lynching.
3. Influenced thousands of Blacks to leave segregated Memphis and start
new lives in Oklahoma.
JANICE SIMS is a Florida girl, born and raised. Her father worked for the
Seaboard Coastline Railroad as a car inspector. Her mother was an
insurance agent. Both of them loved to read. Her mother wrote
stories to relax. Janice believes she inherited her writing gene from
her mother. How else can you explain that she's been writing since
she was seven years old? If asked what prompted her to start writing,
she'd probably say it was the fact that there weren't any children's
books with black folks in them in the library where she grew up. So
she began composing fairy tales with an African American flavor. By
high school, she was writing short stories and she wrote her first novel while still in
college. She never writes the same story twice and her stories range from straight
romance, to suspense, to science-fiction. There's something for everybody in her
repertoire. Janice is a member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.
JEANNETTE "JA'NET" DUBOIS (pronounced jâ·nā
dü·bô) (born August 5, 1945) is an American actress
and singer. Dubois is perhaps best known for her
portrayal of the wise-cracking, gossip maven Willona
Woods on the 1970s sitcom Good Times. Dubois also co-wrote and
sang the theme song of the sitcom The Jeffersons, and has appeared
in a number of other television programs (usually as a guest star),
most notably in 1972 during the second season of Sanford and Son as
Fred's old flame Juanita in an episode entitled "Sanford and Son and Sister Makes
Three" (this appearance got her noticed by Norman Lear, and led to her being cast
in Good Times and in films). She usually found herself playing roles which made her
seem much older than she was. For example, when Good Times premiered in 1974
she was 28 while the show made her out to be much closer in age to Esther Rolle,
who was 53 at the time. In 1970 Dubois played the part of a quarrelsome laundress
alongside Carrie Snodgrass in the cult classic, "Diary of a Mad Housewife". She costarred in the movie I'm Gonna Git You Sucka and the sitcoms Moesha and The
Steve Harvey Show. She played the grandmother on the hit show The Wayans
Brothers. She appeared in the 2003 movie Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle. Among
her other credits, she appeared in the 1969 made-for-TV holiday film J.T. She also
appeared in former Good Times co-star Janet Jackson's "Control" music video as
her mother. She also appeared in Love of Life between 1970-1972 and as Loretta
Allen, years prior to starring in Good Times. Dubois won an Emmy Award for her
work on the TV movie Other Women's Children based on the novel by Perri Klass,
as well as two Emmys for her voiceover work on the animated program The PJs.
She is a member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. She has three children, Rani,
Burghardt and Yovanne.
JESSIE REDMON FAUSET was an American editor, poet, essayist and novelist.
Fauset was most known for being the editor of the NAACP magazine the Crisis. She
also was the editor and co-author for the African American children magazine called
Brownies' Book. She studied closely the teachings and beliefs of W.E.B Dubois and
considered him to be her mentor. Fauset was known as one of the most intelligent
women novelist of the Harlem Renaissance, earning her the name “the midwife”. In
her lifetime she wrote four Black novels and several other poems and short stories.
JOHNNETTA B. COLE was born in Jacksonville, Florida, where her family had
long been established as leaders of the black community. In 1987 she made history
by
becoming the first African-American woman to serve as President
of Spelman College. At her inauguration as seventh President of
Spelman College, Bill Cosby and his wife Camille made a gift of
$20 million to the College, the largest single gift from individuals to
any historically black college or university. In 2002, Dr. Cole
accepted an appointment as President of Bennett College for
Women in Greensboro, North Carolina. Like Spelman, Bennett
College is a historically black college; they are the only two
institutions in the United States founded specifically for the higher
education of African American women.
JOSEPHINE
BAKER:
African American exotic
dancer,
international star, jazz singer. One of the 20th century's bestknown notable African American women, opera singer (contralto)
First African American to star in an international motion picture:
Josephine Baker in 1929, Baker was the first African American
female to star in a major motion picture, to integrate an American concert hall, and
to become a world-famous entertainer. Baker was an American dancer, singer, and
actress who found fame in her adopted homeland of France.
JULIANN PARCHMAN SAMS is my shero, Great Grandmother Juliann,
kidnapped late one night, roped, gagged and dragged behind a wagon from her
parents’ home in Parchman, MS, to Jackson, MS, in 1839. She was enslaved at age
13 and forced to walk herded like livestock from Jackson, MS, to Archer, Fla.
James M. Parchman, the slave owner at age 22, was her buyer at the auction block,
downtown, Jackson, MS. Walking late night from Parchman, Mississippi to Jackson,
Mississippi to Archer, Florida is a story she remembered filled with regrets. She
never saw her parents again. They were the parents of ten children and she self
delivered all of them and was the midwife and breast feeder for the white women in
the white house (master’s houses) on the hill. Six months later (November, 1839)
Julia and more than 100 enslaved and hired gunmen settled on “Parchman’s
Plantation”, Archer, Fla. James M. Parchman workers were the worst hired gunmen
who rode horseback cracking whips monitoring and controlling the enslaved. Great
grandmother Juliann hated being enslaved. She detested the raw inhumane cruelty
that took place on the walk. She lived to reach the ripe old age of 100. My great
grandmother disliked intensely being enslaved and hated the roped in inhumane
cruelty that took place on the long dreadful lonesome jagged walk from Mississippi.
Therapy and self-healing for her was sharing and retelling her family’s broken
interrupted past, however, she maintained a sense of humor when
recapping the brutality she encountered and recounted it in each
chapter, each time. Her first child, “Mariah” was the result of violation
by one of Parchman’s hired gunman (field hand), Elbert Baughman,
with family connection to the University of Florida. Her name was
taken/changed and she was given the name, “Julia” which she hated.
Her believed name was “Lizzie Polly” because she always encouraged her family to
keep the name Lizzie Polly in the family. When she was freed she changed her
name to Juliann because she was still afraid to use her real name. She married the
young man who tried to protect and watch over her on the walk, her enslaved
sweetheart, Richard Sams. She lived to reach the ripe old age of 100, 1826-1926.
She never saw her family again, never learned to read and was not allowed to vote,
but etched in my heart (Soror Jenkins) describing her expression is the poem by
Maya Angelou, “And Still I Rise”!
LENA MARY CALHOUN HORNE was an American singer, actress, civil rights
activist and dancer. Horne joined the chorus of the Cotton Club at the age of
sixteen and became a nightclub performer before moving to Hollywood, where she
had small parts in numerous movies, and more substantial parts in the films Cabin
in the Sky and Stormy Weather. Due to the Red Scare and her left-leaning political
views, Horne found herself blacklisted and unable to get work in Hollywood.
Returning to her roots as a nightclub performer, Horne took part in the March on
Washington in August 1963.
LIZZIE POLLY ROBINSON BROWN JENKINS Born Lizzie Polly Robinson in
Archer, Alachua County, Florida, 1938, the youngest of five children of Ura and
Theresa Brown
Robinson. Her mother was a homemaker while her father ran the family’s large
farm. (A realistic character building environment) The combination led to an
extremely disciplined family unit. "In our family we were expected to excel in the
sense that my mother and father were in agreement and determined to see all of
us through high school. So they provided a home environment to encourage
reaching goals. In addition to school we were expected to participate in school and
church activities. I was very active in New Homemakers of America (NHA). I was
also in student government, played basketball, participated in the annual school
play. If that wasn't enough to keep the young Robinson busy, there was always
farm work. "We had to feed the animals, collect eggs, milk cows at 4 AM (before
the calves suck) and help during planting and harvesting seasons. December 25,
2012, my Christmas present from my husband John M. Jenkins, Sr. were two
geese, therefore, I’m still feeding animals. :) On the weekends there was church.
We belonged to the St. Joseph Missionary Baptist Church and our parents expected
us to not only go to church but to go to Sunday school and all church-related
activities. (All day long) Though it may seem a heavy schedule for a child,
Robinson’s parents’ expectations were typical of the time. Growing up in the
segregated years was the pattern of life. Everybody knew everybody and the
parents formed a community to protect the children. We were kept active as much
to keep us safe as to help us to do well in life. Upon completing high school
Robinson attended Florida Memorial University earning a degree in elementary
education in 1961 and a Masters in Supervision in Administration in 1978, Nova
University. In 1988, Jenkins married John M. Jenkins, Sr. and moved back to her
family’s farm in Archer to care for her mother during her declining health. Jenkins
retired in 1994 after 33 years of teaching. The final days spent with her mother, the
family oral historian. Quality time spent with her mother was revealing, informative
and educational collecting and documenting her family’s history and the Rosewood
history. Jenkins focused her attention and efforts on authenticating and organizing
Rosewood’s history and her family’s history. Her mother’s famous quote, “You must
keep the “Leg” in our Legacy.” Because of Jenkins research she was sought and
tracked down by Ted Koppel on the subject of Rosewood’s history. She was
honored to appear in his documentary, “The Last Lynching” produced in 2008.
Koppel is a renowned national journalist with the History Channel. Because of
Jenkins daily struggle with preserving African American history, she was presented
the Ida B. Wells-Barnett Award in 2012 and interviewed by
StoryCorps, a nationally affiliated group with the Library of Congress
and Smithsonian Institute. Jenkins is a fighter for social justice and
was involved in the St. Augustine, Florida Civil Rights movement in
the early 1960s while in college. She is a Silver Life member of the
NAACP, actively teaching community Voter’s Education and
encouraging the importance of voting. She is a member of Zeta Phi
Beta Sorority, Inc. and Florida State Chair for Social Action, Capital Campaign and
Vendors. ALL food is grown on farms. From left to right, Soror Lizzie Jenkins,
researcher, father Ura McIntyre Robinson, mother Theresa Brown Robinson and
canning from the farm grown vegetables, 12 hogs butchered for winter family
feeding, Ida B. Wells-Barnett, Ted Koppel and Lizzie Jenkins standing in Rosewood
at the Historic Marker.
MADAM C. J. WALKER, African American inventor and business executive
Madam C.J. Walker very own hair products for Black Women in America’s cultural
and tradition. She was the first African American woman millionaire in
America, known not only for her hair straightening treatment and her salon
system, which helped other African Americans to succeed, but also her work
to end lynching and gain women's rights. Sarah Breedlove Walker, known as
Madam C. J. Walker, was the first African American woman millionaire in
America, known not only for her hair straightening treatment and her salon
system which helped other African Americans to succeed, but also her work
to end lynching and gain women's rights. Madam C. J. Walker, Black
inventor and business executive whose hair care products were directed at
black wo men.
MAE CAROL JEMISON is an American physician and NASA
astronaut. She became the first black woman to travel in space
when she went into orbit aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour on
September 12, 1992. She resigned from NASA in 1993 to form a
company researching the application of technology to daily life.
Mae C. Jemison was born October 17, 1956, in Decatur, Alabama. On June 4, 1987,
she became the first African-American woman ever admitted into the astronaut
training program. On September 12, 1992, Jemison finally flew into space with six
other astronauts aboard the Endeavour on mission STS47. In recognition of her
accomplishments, Jemison received several awards and honorary doctorates. The
youngest child of Charlie Jemison, a roofer and carpenter, and Dorothy (Green)
Jemison, an elementary school teacher. Her sister, Ada Jemison Bullock, became a
child psychiatrist, and her brother, Charles Jemison, is a real estate broker. The
family moved to Chicago, Illinois, when Jemison was 3 years old to take advantage
of better educational opportunities there, and it is that city that she calls her
hometown. Throughout her early school years, her parents were supportive and
encouraging of her talents and abilities, and Jemison spent considerable time in her
school library reading about all aspects of science, especially astronomy. During her
time at Morgan Park High School, she became convinced she wanted to pursue a
career in biomedical engineering, and when she graduated in 1973 as a consistent
honor student, she entered Stanford University on a National Achievement
Scholarship.
MAGGIE LENA “LIZZIE” MITCHELL, Maggie L. Walker, a bank president,
business executive, lecturer, activist, philanthropist and writer. Known for: first
woman bank president in the US. Background, Family: Father: Eccles Cuthbert
(Irish journalist and Northern abolitionist) according to family tradition. Mother:
Elizabeth Draper (ex-slave, cook's assistant in home of Elizabeth Van Lew,
laundress)
MAHULDA GUSSIE BROWN CARRIER, 1894-1948, Archer, Alachua County,
Florida to parents Rev. Charlie Louis and Lizzie Polly Sams Brown. At age six, she
was relocated to Gainesville, Fla., and boarded with family friends in order to get a
better education. She graduated in 1910 with credentials to teach in Meredith, Levy
County, Florida. Mahulda Gussie Brown Carrier was believed the second African
American Female Principal in the state of Florida and was honored
as one of the Greatest 2000 Floridians, a recipient of a 2000
Award. Her Aunt, Mahulda Gussie Brown Carrier was the first and
only African American Female Principal in Levy County until today.
Rosewood, a rural town in Levy County was once majority Black
owned where everyone worked together respectfully to survive.
Rosewood is the town where Jenkins’ Aunt Mahulda Gussie Brown
Carrier became the teacher in 1915 and taught there until it was
violently attacked and burned to the ground in 1923 based on a
national lie, “A Black man raped and attacked me” told on the teacher’s
husband, Aaron Carrier. In memory of her Aunt Mahulda Gussie (Aunt MG) Brown
Carrier, Jenkins established “The Real Rosewood Foundation, Inc”, continuing and
authenticating her research honoring her aunt and Rosewood citizens who lost their
lives or suffered the agony of defeat. In 2000, Soror
Jenkins submitted her aunt’s name to receive the “Great Floridian” plaque. (left)
Soror Jenkins, President of the Real Rosewood Foundation, Inc. in memory of her
Aunt M. G.
established the foundation to preserve her Rosewood family history and
authenticate its history. Soror Jenkins was instrumental in co-writing the script for
the Rosewood Historic Marker. She invited Governor Jeb Bush to Rosewood to
dedicate the marker on May 4, 2004, ten years from the date Governor Lawton
Chiles signed Rosewood HB 591. The marker is sponsored by Florida State Historic
Preservation and the Real Rosewood Foundation, Inc. One of Jenkins’ greatest
accomplishments was to initiate and co-write the script for Rosewood’s Historic. She
invited Governor Jeb Bush to Rosewood to Dedicate the Historic Marker on May 4,
2004, ten years to the date Governor Lawton Chiles signed Rosewood House Bill
591. Her privileged job was to introduce the Governor at the ceremony. Carrier is
the aunt of Soror Lizzie Polly Robinson Brown Jenkins, State Social Action/Capital
Campaign/Vendors Chair.
MARIAN ANDERSON'S career was shadowed by racial prejudice, including the
infamous incident in 1937 when the Daughters of the American. She was an opera
singer. Revolution refused to let her sing at Constitution Hall in Washington, DC –
and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt arranged for her to sing on the Washington Mall,
instead. A contralto, she sang both opera and spirituals, beginning her concert
career in 1924 and at first concentrating on Europe where she found more success
and fame. In 1939, she became a cause célèbre of the civil rights movement when
she was banned by the Daughters of the American Revolution from singing in
Constitution Hall in Washington, DC, by DAR (Daughters of the American
Revolution). Because of the public attention brought by this incident, Marian
Anderson became one of the best-known African American women of
the 20th century.
MARIAN WRIGHT EDLEMAN - lawyer, educator, activist, reformer,
children's advocate, administrator; founder of the Children’s Defense Fund; first
African American woman admitted to the Mississippi state bar. Marian Wright
Edelman was born in and grew up in Bennettsville, South Carolina, one of five
children. Her father, Arthur Wright, was a Baptist preacher who taught his children
that Christianity required service in this world and who was influenced by A. Phillip
Randolph. Her father died when Marian was only fourteen, urging in his last words
to her, "Don't let anything get in the way of your education." Marian Wright
Edelman went on to study at Spelman College, abroad on a Merrill scholarship, and
she traveled to the Soviet Union with a Lisle fellowship. When she returned to
Spelman in 1959, she became involved in the civil rights movement, inspiring her
to drop her plans to enter the foreign service, and instead to study law. She studied
law at Yale and worked as a student on a project to register African American
voters in Mississippi. In 1963, after graduating from Yale Law School, Marian Wright
Edelman worked first in New York for the NAACP Legal and Defense Fund, and then
in Mississippi for the same organization. There, she became the first African
American woman to practice law. During her time in Mississippi, she worked on
racial justice issues connected with the civil rights movement, and she also helped
get a Head Start program established in her community.
MARVA COLLINS, an African American Chicago educator, created a low cost
private school specifically for the purpose of teaching low-income African American
children whom the public school system had labeled as being "learning disabled".
One article about Marva Collins' school stated, Working with students having the
worst of backgrounds, those who were working far below grade level, and even
those who had been labeled as 'unteachable,' Marva was able to overcome the
obstacles. News of third grade students reading at ninth grade level, four-year-olds
learning to read in only a few months, outstanding test scores,
disappearance of behavioral problems, second-graders studying
Shakespeare.
MARY FIELDS 1832 born in Hickman County, Tennessee. 1895
First African-American woman to work for the United States
Postal Service: Mary Fields, also known as Stagecoach Mary, was
the first African-American woman employed as a mail carrier in the United
States, driving her mail route by stagecoach from Cascade, Montana to St. Peter's
Mission, Montana. Mary Fields, also known as Stagecoach Mary, was the first
African-American woman employed as a mail carrier in the United States, driving
her mail route by stagecoach from Cascade, Montana to St. Peter's Mission,
Montana. When hired, she became the second American woman in all to work for
the United States Postal Service. Born a slave circa 1832 in Hickman County,
Tennessee (the exact year of her birth is uncertain) she was freed when American
slavery was outlawed in 1865. For some time she worked repairing the buildings of
a school for Native American girls in Montana called Saint Peter's Mission,
eventually advancing to forewoman. In 1895, although approximately 60 years old,
Fields was hired as a mail carrier since she was the fastest job applicant to hitch a
team of six horses. She drove the route with horses and a mule named Moses and
never missed a day, earning the nickname "Stagecoach" for her reliability. This was
despite heavy snowfalls that sometimes made it necessary for her to deliver the
mail on foot, once walking 10 miles back to the depot. When she retired she
became friends with the actor Gary Cooper. She was a respected public figure in
Cascade, and on her birthday each year the town closed its schools to celebrate.
She died of liver failure in 1914 when she was a little bit over the age of 80.
MARY CHURCH TERRELL, Activist Was Born September 23, 1863
In 1898, Mary Church Terrell wrote how African-American women "with ambition
and aspiration [are] handicapped on account of their sex, but they are everywhere
baffled and mocked on account of their race." She fought for equality through social
and educational reform. Born on September 23, 1863, in Memphis, Tennessee,
Terrell became an educator, political activist, and the first president of the National
Association of Colored Women. Terrell understood the value of education. She was
a member of University Women (AAUW). Her life spanned from just after the
Emancipation Proclamation to just after Brown v. Board of Education
MARY ELIZA MAHONEY was the first African American to study and
work as a professionally trained nurse in the United States, graduating in
1879. In 1908, she cofounded the National Association of Colored Graduate Nurses (NACGN)
with Adah B. Thomas. The NACGN eventually merged with the American
Nurses Association (ANA) in 1951. She is commemorated by the biennial
Mary Mahoney Award of the ANA for significant contributions in advancing
equal opportunities in nursing for members of minority groups. First
African American to graduate from a formal nursing school: Mary Eliza
Mahoney, Boston, Massachusetts.
MARY ELIZABETH CARNEGIE exhibited courage, integrity and commitment to the
advancement of the nursing profession, as well as to the advancement of black and
other minority nurses. She wrote, edited and contributed chapters to nearly 20
books and is author of all three editions of the award-winning The Path We Tread:
Blacks in Nursing Worldwide, 1854-1994. She initiated the baccalaureate nursing
program at the historically black Hampton University in Virginia, where the archives
are named in her honor.
MARY JANE PATTERSON, "Miss Patterson was born in Raleigh, North Carolina,
and was brought to Oberlin in her early youth by her parents, probably fugitive
slaves. She studied one year in the Preparatory Department and four years in the
College before graduation. Upon receiving her degree she went to Philadelphia
where she taught in the "Institute for Colored Youths" for seven years. In 1869 she
went to Washington to teach and in 1871 became the first colored principal of the
newly-established Preparatory High School for Negroes. She held the position until
1884, except for one year, and did much to build up the institution... After the
appointment of a Negro man as her successor she continued as a teacher in the
school until her death in 1894."
MARY MCLEOD BETHUNE is known as a social reformer and educator. She was
an activist on behalf of African Americans and women and the founder of BethuneCookman College in Florida, advisor to President Roosevelt, and founder of the
National Council of Negro Women. She also served as a New Deal government
official -- she was one of the 20 highest-level offices held by women in the
administration, and the highest held by an African American woman. She played a
key role in founding FDR's "black cabinet." She also served as president of the
National Association of Colored Women, and she founded and served as president
of the National Council of Negro Women.
MATILDA SISSIERETTA JOYNER JONES, Matilda First African American to sing at
Carnegie Hall. Matilda parents, Jeremiah Malachi Joyner, an African Methodist
Episcopal minister, and Henrietta Beale. She began singing at an early age in her
father's Pond Street Baptist Church. In 1883, Joyner began the formal study of
music at the Providence Academy of Music. In the late 1880s, Jones was accepted
at the New England Conservatory of Music. In 1887, she performed at Boston's
Music Hall before an audience of 5,000. She eventually sang for four presidents —
Harrison, Grover Cleveland, William McKinley, and Theodore Roosevelt and the
British royal family.
MAYA ANGELOU is one of the most renowned and influential voices of our time.
Hailed as a global renaissance woman, Dr. Angelou is a celebrated poet, memoirist,
novelist, educator, dramatist, producer, actress, historian, filmmaker, and civil
rights activist.
MICHELLE LAVAUGHN ROBINSON OBAMA
(born January 17, 1964) is the wife of the 44th and incumbent
President of the United States, Barack Obama, and is the first
African-American First Lady of the United States. Raised on the
South Side of Chicago, Obama attended Princeton University and
Harvard Law School before returning to Chicago and to work at
the law firm Sidley Austin, where she met her future husband.
Subsequently, she worked as part of the staff of Chicago Mayor
Richard M. Daley, and for the University of Chicago Medical
Center. When people ask First Lady Michelle Obama to describe herself, she doesn't
hesitate to say that first and foremost, she is Malia and Sasha's mom. But before
she was a mother -- or a wife, lawyer or public servant -- she was Fraser and
Marian Robinson's daughter. The Robinsons lived in a brick bungalow on the South
Side of Chicago. Fraser was a pump operator for the Chicago Water Department,
and despite being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at a young age, he hardly ever
missed a day of work. Marian stayed home to raise Michelle and her older brother
Craig, skillfully managing a busy household filled with love, laughter, and important
life lessons. A product of Chicago public schools, Mrs. Obama studied sociology and
African-American studies at Princeton University. After graduating from Harvard
Law School in 1988, she joined the Chicago law firm Sidley & Austin, where she
later met the man who would become the love of her life. After a few years, Mrs.
Obama decided her true calling was working with people to serve their communities
and their neighbors. She served as assistant commissioner of planning and
development in Chicago's City Hall before becoming the founding executive director
of the Chicago chapter of Public Allies, an AmeriCorps program that prepares youth
for public service. In 1996, Mrs. Obama joined the University of Chicago with a
vision of bringing campus and community together. As Associate Dean of Student
Services, she developed the university's first community service program, and
under her leadership as Vice President of Community and External Affairs for the
University of Chicago Medical Center, volunteerism skyrocketed. Promoting Service
and working with young people has remained a staple of her career and her
interest. Continuing this effort now as First Lady, Mrs. Obama in 2010 launched
Let’s Move!, a campaign to bring together community leaders, teachers, doctors,
nurses, moms and dads in a nationwide effort to tackle the challenge of childhood
obesity. Let’s Move! has an ambitious but important goal: to solve the epidemic of
childhood obesity within a generation.
MINNIE JULIA RIPERTON, (November 8, 1947 – July 12, 1979) was an American
singer-songwriter best known for her vocal range of five-and-a-half octaves, and
her 1975 single "Lovin' You". She was married to songwriter and music producer
Richard Rudolph from 1972 until her death in the summer of 1979. They had two
children: music engineer Marc Rudolph and actress/comedienne Maya
Rudolph. Riperton grew up on Chicago's South Side. As a child, she
studied music, drama, and dance at Chicago's Lincoln Center. In her
teen years, she sang lead vocals for the Chicago-based girl group,
The Gems. Her early affiliation with the legendary Chicago-based
Chess Records afforded her the opportunity to sing backup for various
established artists such as Etta James, Fontella Bass, Ramsey Lewis,
Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry, and Muddy Waters. While at Chess, Riperton also sang
lead for the experimental rock/soul group Rotary Connection, from 1967 to 1971.
In 1969 Riperton, along with Rotary Connection, played in the first Catholic Rock
Mass at the Liturgical Conference National Convention, Milwaukee Arena,
Milwaukee, WI, produced by James F. Colaianni. Riperton reached the apex of her
career with her number-one hit single, "Lovin' You," on April 4, 1975. The single
was the last release from her 1974 gold album entitled Perfect Angel. In January
1976, Riperton was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a radical
mastectomy. By the time of diagnosis, the cancer had metastasized and she was
given about six months to live. Despite the grim prognosis, she continued recording
and touring. Riperton was one of the first celebrities to go public with her breast
cancer diagnosis, but did not disclose she was terminally ill. In 1977, she became a
spokesperson for the American Cancer Society. In 1978, Riperton also received the
American Cancer Society's Courage Award which was presented to her at the White
House by President Jimmy Carter. She died at age 31 on July 12, 1979. Riperton
was a member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.
OPRAH WINFREY Media giant Oprah Winfrey was born in the poor rural town of
Kosciusko, Mississippi on January 29, 1954. In 1976, Winfrey moved to Baltimore,
where she hosted a hit TV chat show, People Are Talking, after which she was
recruited by a Chicago TV station to host her own morning show. Later she went on
to pursue her two-and-a-half decade stint as host of the wildly popular Oprah
Winfrey show. Winfrey, became the first black woman television host in 1986, "The
Oprah Winfrey Show." She now has her own television network. American television
host, actress, producer, philanthropist. Oprah Gail Winfrey was born January 29,
1954, in Kosciusko, Mississippi. After a troubled adolescence in a small farming
community, where she was sexually abused by a number of male relatives and
friends of her mother, Vernita, she moved to Nashville to live with her father,
Vernon, a barber and businessman. She entered Tennessee State University in
1971 and began working in radio and television broadcasting in Nashville. In 1976,
Winfrey moved to Baltimore, where she hosted the TV chat show, People Are
Talking. The show became a hit and Winfrey stayed with it for eight years, after
which she was recruited by a Chicago TV station to host her own
morning show, A.M. Chicago. Her major competitor in the time slot was
Phil Donahue. Within several months, Winfrey's open, warm-hearted
personal style had won her 100,000 more viewers than Donahue and
had taken her show from last place to first in the ratings. Her success led
to nationwide fame and a role in Steven Spielberg's 1985 film, The Color
Purple, for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting
Actress.
PEARL MAE BAILEY was an American actress and singer. After appearing in
vaudeville, she made her Broadway debut in St. Louis Woman in 1946. She won a
Tony Award
for the title role in the all-black production of Hello, Dolly! in 1968. In 1986, she
won a Daytime Emmy award for her performance as a fairy godmother in the ABC
Afterschool Special, Cindy Eller: A Modern Fairy Tale. Her rendition of "Takes Two
to Tango" hit the top ten in 1952.
PHILLIS WHEATLEY (1753 – December 5, 1784) was the first African American
poet and first African-American woman to publish her writing. Born in Gambia,
Senegal, she was sold into slavery at age seven and transported to North America.
She was purchased by the Wheatley family of Boston, who taught her to read and
write, and encouraged her poetry when they saw her talent. The publication of
Wheatley's Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral (1773) brought her
fame both in England and the Thirteen Colonies.
ROCHELLE ALERS has been hailed by readers and booksellers alike as one of
today's most prolific and popular African American authors of romance and
women's fiction. With more than fifty titles and nearly two million copies of her
novels in print, Ms. Alers is a regular on the Waldenbooks, Borders and Essence
bestseller lists, regularly chosen by Black Expressions Book Club, and has been the
recipient of numerous awards, including the Gold Pen Award, the Emma Award,
Vivian Stephens Award for Excellence in Romance Writing, the Romantic Times
Career Achievement Award and the Zora Neale Hurston Literary Award. She is a
member of the Iota Theta Zeta Chapter of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc., and her
interests include gourmet cooking and traveling. She has traveled to Europe, and
countries in North, South and Central America. Her future travel plans include visits
to Hong Kong and New Zealand. Ms. Alers is also in accomplished in knitting,
crocheting and needlepoint. She is currently taking instruction in the art of hand
quilting. Oliver, a toy Yorkshire terrier has become the newest addition to her
family. When she's not barking at passing school buses, the tiny dog can be found
sleeping on her lap while she spends hours in front of the computer. A full-time
writer, Ms. Alers lives in a charming hamlet on Long Island.
ROSA MCCAULEY PARKS, an African American Civil Rights Activist, who Congress
called, “ the first lady of civil rights” and “mother of the freedom movement”. Parks'
act of defiance and the Montgomery Bus Boycott became important symbols of the
modern Civil Rights Movement. She became an international icon of resistance to
racial segregation. The U.S. Congress called "the first lady of civil rights", and "the
mother of the freedom movement". On December 1, 1955 in Montgomery,
Alabama, Parks refused to obey bus driver James F. Blake's order that she give up
her seat to make room for a white passenger. Parks' action was not the first of its
kind to impact the civil rights issue.
SHIRLEY CHISHOLM, born Shirley St. Hill in New York City in 1924, Shirley
Chisholm became the first black congresswoman and for seven terms represented
New York State in the House. She ran for the Democratic nomination for president
in 1972. Throughout her political career Chisholm fought for education opportunities
and social justice. She left congress in 1983 to teach and lecture. She died in 2005.
Chisholm was the first black female U.S. Representative, a Congresswoman from
New York, 1969–1983. She ran for President in 1972. Chisholm spent part of her
childhood in Barbados with her grandmother and graduated from Brooklyn College
in 1946. She began her career as a teacher and earned a Master's degree in
elementary education from Columbia University. She served as director of the
Hamilton-Madison Child Care Center from 1953 to 1959 as an educational
consultant to New York City's Bureau of Child Welfare from1959-1964. Chisholm
became the first African American woman to make a bid to be President of the
United States when she ran for the Democratic nomination in 1972. A champion of
minority education and employment opportunities throughout her tenure in
Congress, Chisholm was also a vocal opponent of the draft. After leaving Congress
in 1983, she taught at Mount Holyoke College and was popular on the lecture circuit
SOJOURNER TRUTH, former slave, abolitionist, preacher and advocate of
women's rights known for her "Ain't I a Woman" speech. Sojourner Truth was born
in 1797 on the
Colonel Johannes Hardenbergh estate in Swartekill, in Ulster \County, a Dutch
settlement in upstate New York. Her given name was Isabella Baumfree (also
spelled Bomefree). She was one of 13 children born to Elizabeth and James
Baumfree, also slaves on the Hardenbergh plantation. She spoke only Dutch until
she was sold from her family around the age of nine. Because of the cruel
treatment she suffered at the hands of a later master, she learned to speak English
quickly, but had a Dutch accent for the rest of her life. In 1843, she took the name
Sojourner Truth, believing this to be on the instructions of the Holy Spirit and
became a traveling preacher (the meaning of her new name). In the late 1840s she
connected with the abolitionist movement, becoming a popular speaker. In 1850,
she also began speaking on woman suffrage. Her most famous speech, Ain't I A
Woman?, was given in 1851 at a women's rights convention in Ohio. "Wall, chilern,
whar dar is so much racket dar must be somethin'
out o' kilter. I tink dat 'twixt de niggers of de Souf
and de womin at de Nork, all talkin' 'bout rights, de
white men will be in a fix pretty soon. But what's all
dis here talkin bout?”
DR. TONEA STEWART (born February 3, 1947) is an United States actress and
university professor best known for her role as Aunt Etta on the television series In
thHeat of the Night. Stewart was born in Greenwood, Mississippi, the daughter of
Hattie Juanita and Thomas Harris.[1] She has appeared in numerous TV shows and
movies. Dr. Stewart, in 1989 and taught Speech at Alabama State University. Dr.
Stewart is currently the Dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts at
Alabama State University. She narrated the acclaimed Remembering Slavery radio
program. Dr. Stewart is a member of Zeta Phi Beta sorority, Inc. and has four
adult children: Jannice, Allen Jr., Alesha, and Thomas. Tonea Stewart was born in
Greenwood, Mississippi. She graduated from Jackson State University with a
Bachelor of Science Degree in Speech and Theatre. She later earned a
Masters Degree in Theater Arts from the University of California at Santa
Barbara and earned her Doctorate in Theater Arts from Florida State
University, the first African American woman to earn this honor. In 1995 she
was inducted into the National Black College Alumni Hall Of Fame. She also
earned the first McKnight Doctoral Fellow in Theatre Arts. In 1969 Tonea
became the first African American to star or direct in a play at New Stage
Theater, Mississippi's most prestigious equity theater. Tonea's stage credits
include the touring productions of "A Member of The Wedding" and "A Raisin
In The Sun." Tonea's TV guest appearances include "Matlock," "Walker,
Texas Ranger," "ER" and "Touched By An Angel" but she's best known for
her role as Aunt Etta Kibbey in the highly acclaimed TV series "In The Heat
Of The Night." Tonea's film credits include "Mississippi Burning," "Livin'
Large" and "A Time To Kill" for which she received a NAACP Image Award
nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Tonea is currently a tenured
Professor and Director of Theatre Arts at Alabama State University in
Montgomery, Alabama. She's married to Dr. Allan Stewart and they have 4
children including an adopted goddaughter.
TONI MORRISON, Born Chloe Anthony Wofford on February 18,
1931, in Lorain, Ohio, Toni Morrison was the second oldest of four
children. Her father, George Wofford, worked primarily as a welder,
but held several jobs at once to support the family. Her mother,
Ramah, was a domestic worker. Morrison later credited her parents with instilling in
her a love of reading, music, and folklore. Morrison won the Nobel Prize & Pulitzer
Prize for Literature in 1993, published her first novel in 1970. Her novels focus on
the experience of black Americans - especially women - searching for identity in an
unjust society. Living in an integrated neighborhood, Morrison did not become fully
aware of racial divisions until she was in her teens. "When I was in first grade,
nobody thought I was inferior. I was the only black in the class and the only child
who could read," she later told a reporter from The New York Times. Dedicated to
her studies, Morrison took Latin in school, and read many great works of European
literature. She graduated from Lorain High School with honors in 1949. At Howard
University, Morrison continued to pursue her interest in literature. She majored in
English, and chose the classics for her minor. After graduating from Howard in
1953, Morrison continued her education at Cornell University. She wrote her thesis
on the works of Virginia Woolf and William Faulkner, and completed her master's
degree in 1955. She then moved to Texas to teach English at Texas Southern
University. In 1957, Morrison returned to Howard University to teach English. There
she met Harold Morrison, an architect originally from Jamaica. The couple got
married in 1958 and welcomed their first child, son Harold, in 1961. After the birth
of her son, Morrison joined a writers group that met on campus. She began working
on her first novel with the group, which started out as a short story. Morrison
decided to leave Howard in 1963. After spending the summer traveling with her
family in Europe, she returned to the United States with her son. Her husband,
however, had decided to move back to Jamaica. At the time, Morrison was pregnant
with their second child. She moved back home to live with her family in Ohio before
the birth of son Slade in 1964. The following year, she moved with her sons to
Syracuse, New York, where she worked for a textbook publisher as a senior editor.
Morrison later went to work for Random House, where she edited works for such
authors as Toni Cade Bambara and Gayl Jones.
WILMA RUDOLPH overcame childhood polio to become “fastest woman in the
world” (1960). Rudolph became the first American woman to win three gold medals
in track and field during a single Olympic games. A track and field champion, she
elevated women's track to a major presence in the United States Rudolph overcame
childhood polio to become “fastest woman in the world” (1960). Rudolph became
the first American woman to win three gold medals in track and field during a single
Olympic games. A track and field champion, she elevated women's track to a major
presence in the United States
ZORA
NEALE
HURSTON,
an
African American novelist, folklorist and
anthropologist; author of such books as Their Eyes Were Watching God. Ms.
Hurston was a member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. Born in Notasulga, Alabama,
Zora Neale Hurston grew up in Florida, the most influential, talked about Black
Woman in the world. Hurston later attended Howard University while working as a
manicurist. In 1925, she went to New York City, drawn by the circle of creative
black artists (now known as the Harlem Renaissance), and she began writing
fiction. In 1922, she joined Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc., which was founded at
Howard. Zora Neale Hurston’s Annual Festival is co-sponsored by Zeta Phi Beta
Sorority, Inc., Eatonville, FL. The Zora Neale Hurston Festival is held each year in
January in Eatonville, Florida. The 2012 Zora Neale Hurston Festival of the Arts and
Humanities will be held the last weekend in January. The 2012 theme is “The Rise
of Community: The Town of Eatonville Models 125 Years of SelfGovernance” and academic papers are already being accepted.
Visit Zora! for more specifics,
including a detailed schedule.
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