There have been billions of women in history. Those listed below reached a level of recognition the rest either managed to avoid or failed to achieve.

Biographical sketches, images, and websites begin on Page 5.

• Abigail Smith Adams (1744-1818) - Wife of John Adams, 2nd President of the United States and mother of John Quincy Adams, 6th President. Known for her letters and opinions on society.

• Jane Addams (1860-1935) - Social Activist, founder of Hull House, charter member of the NAACP, Nobel Peace Prize winner and labor union organizer.

• Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888) - Seamstress, servant, teacher, Civil War nurse, and finally, author and novelist.

• Marian Anderson (1902-1995) - First African American to sing leading role with Metropolitan Opera, delegate to U.N.

• Susan Brownell Anthony (1820-1906) - Napoleon of the women's suffrage movement, mother of the 19th Amendment, abolitionist.

• Josephine Baker (1906-1975) - African-American international star, civil rights activist, World War II heroine.

• Ida B. Wells Barnett (1862-1931) - African-American educator, newspaperwoman, anti-lynching campaigner, founder NAACP.

• Clara Barton (1821-1912) - Civil War nurse, founder of the American Red Cross.• Mary McLeod Bethune (1875-1955) African-American educator, founder of Bethune-

Cookman College, Daytona Beach, Florida, Presidential advisor, recipient of Spingarn Medal.

• Sarah Bolton (1841-1916) - Noted Cleveland author of biographies, poetry and a

temperance novel.• Margaret Bourke-White (1904-1971) - Groundbreaking photo-journalist and author• Mary Elizabeth Bowser ( 1839-?) - African-American Union spy in the Confederate White

House.• Belle Boyd (1844-1900) - Confederate spy during the Civil War.• Margaret "Molly" Tobin Brown (1867-1932) - Titanic survivor and a woman who was

determined to break the rules of "high society."• Eliza Bryant (1827-1907) - African-American founder of the The Cleveland Home for

Aged Colored People. • Abbie Burgess (Grant) (1839-1892) - Lighthouse keeper at Matinicus Rock and

Whitehead Light Stations in Maine, commissioned by U.S. Coast Guard.• Martha Jane "Calamity Jane" Cannary (1852-1903) - A lone woman in the wilds of the

Rocky Mountain west• Rachel Carson (1907-1964) - Marine biologist, science writer, and environmentalist.

• Rebecca Carter (1766-1827) - Pioneer woman of Cleveland. • Mary Ann Shadd Cary (1823-1893) African-American born pioneer journalist and

lecturer.• Carrie Chapman Catt (1859-1947) - Suffragette, founder of the League of Women Voters.

• Cassie L. Chadwick (1857-1907) - Most infamous Cleveland financial con-artist. • Bessie Coleman (1893-1926) - First African-American woman to get pilot's license.• Dorothy Dandridge (1923-1965) - Actress, singer and dancer. Star of Carmen Jones and

Porgy and Bess. • Isadora Duncan (1875-1929) - Mother of modern dance.• Amelia Earhart (1897-1937) - Aviatrix.

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• Mary Fields (1832?-1914) - African-American entrepreneur, stagecoach driver, pioneer.

• Diana Fletcher (circa 1830's) - Daughter of a former slave father and Kiowa mother, activist, taught in black Cherokee school.

• Dorothy Fuldheim (1893-1989) - Jewish-American news journalist and television

broadcaster; developed format for television news programming. • Lucretia Rudolph Garfield (1832-1918) - Wife of James Garfield, 20th President of the

United States was First Lady for six months when her husband was assassinated. "Crete" returned home to Lawnfield in Mentor where her life continued in a non-traditional way.

• Zelma Watson George (1903-1994) - African-American delegate to the U.N., opera singer,

speaker and educator.• Emma Goldman (1869-1940) - Vilified in her day as the "most dangerous woman in

America," this Russian emigrant earned her title, “Queen of the Anarchists” as labor leader, lecturer, writer, women’s rights activist and free love advocate.

• Julia Boggs Dent Grant (1826-1902) - Wife of Ulysses S. Grant, 18th President of the United States, was a determined woman who despite family objections married the man she loved. Outspoken, she also created her own plans for ending the Civil War and

holding a secret Presidential Inauguration.• Charlotte Forten Grimke (1837-1890) - African-American writer, abolitionist and

educator.• Fannie Lou Hamer (1917-1977) - African-American sharecropper turned civil rights

worker and founder of the MS Freedom Democratic Party.• Florence Harding (1860-1924) - Wife of Warren Harding, 29th President of the United

States, the first presidential wife able to vote for her husband. Scandal plagued this First

Lady throughout her life.• Caroline Lavinia Scott Harrison (1832-1892) - Wife of Benjamin Harrison, 23rd President

of the United States, was the first president-general of the newly formed DAR. An accomplished watercolorist, she designed and painted the Harrison state china and

organized the White House china collection.• Lucy Ware Webb Hayes (1831-1889) - Wife of Rutherford B. Hayes, 19th President of the

United States, was the first presidential wife to have a college degree. She originated the

annual Easter Egg Roll on the White House lawn.• Sally Hemings (1773-1835) - African American who sacrificed her freedom from slavery

for the love of President Thomas Jefferson.• Rear Admiral Grace Hopper, USNR (1906-1992) - Computer pioneer and the oldest

officer in active duty when she retired in 1986.• Hedda Hopper (1890-1966) - In the golden age of Hollywood, Hedda could make or break

careers. Gossip was her business and J. Edgar Hoover was her penpal.• Adella Prentiss Hughes (1869-1950) - Founder of the Cleveland Orchestra and Cleveland

Music Settlement House.• Jane Edna Hunter (1882-1971) - African-American social worker, attorney, founder of

Phyllis Wheatley Association of Cleveland.• Zora Neale Hurston (1903-1960) - African-American writer from The Harlem Group,

influenced Toni Morrison and Alice Walker.• Anne Hutchinson (1591-1643) – A Puritan woman who defied the male-dominated

Massachusetts Bay Colony and after banishment helped settle Rhode Island and New York.

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• Mahalia Jackson (1912-1972) - Extraordinary gospel singer and the first African-American woman to gain national acclaim for gospel music.

• Rebecca Jackson ( 1795-1871) - African-American eldress of the Shaker sect. • Harriet Jacobs (1813-1897) - African-American escaped slave, author and abolitionist.• “Mother” Mary Harris Jones (1837-1930) - Irish immigrant who lost her family to yellow

fever and became the self-proclaimed mother and “hell-raiser” for the downtrodden American laborer, especially children.

• Sissieretta Jones (1869-1933) - African-American international vocal prima donna of late 19th century, favorite of George Bernard Shaw and several presidents.

• Barbara Jordan (1936-1996) - African-American orator and Congresswoman.• Elizabeth Keckley (1820-?) Personal maid, best friend and confidant to Mary Todd

Lincoln. Wrote tell-all book after leaving Mrs. Lincoln's employ.• Marie LaVeau (1796?-1863?) - African-American Voodoo Queen of New Orleans and

famous herbalist.

• Edmonia Lewis ( 1843-?) - First successful African-American sculptor.• Ida Lewis (1842-1913) - Heroic lighthouse keeper of Rhode Island, commissioned by U.S.

Coast Guard.• Mary Todd Lincoln (1818-1882) - Wife of President Abraham Lincoln, misrepresented by

popular history and maligned by her peers.• Jenny Lind (1820-1887) - Swedish international opera star, brought to U.S. by P.T.

Barnum in the 1850s.• Juliette Gordon Low (1860-1927) - Founder of the American Girl Scouts.• Clare Boothe Luce (1903-1987) - Playwright, U.S. Congresswoman and ambassador to

Italy.• Barbara Mabrity (1782-1867) - Lighthouse keeper in Key West, Florida, commissioned by

U.S. Coast Guard.• Dolley Madison (1768-1849) - First Lady and doyen of Washington society• Biddy Mason (1818-1891) - Entrepreneur, one of first African-American women to own

land in California.• Rachel Agnes Mason (1867-1903) An Irish immigrant whose family came to America in

1788 because of religious conflict.• Flora Stone Mather (1852-1910) - Cleveland philanthropist, founder of Flora Stone

Mather college at Western Reserve University for women. Sponsored Goodrich House for

urban children.• Ida Saxton McKinley (1847-1907) - Wife of William McKinley, 25th President of the

United States, developed a unique way of coping with her epileptic seizures during her

public appearances as First Lady. • Maria Mitchell (1818-1889) - Astronomer and professor at Vassar College. First female

member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.• Louise Nevelson (1899-1988) - Russian born New York sculptor famous for her shadow

box, wall sculptures and her flamboyant personality.

• Annie Oakley (1860-1926) - World famous markswoman from Ohio.• Georgia O'Keeffe (1887-1986) - Famed American artist who defied convention in both her

art and her private life.• Louella Parsons (1893-1965) - Hollywood gossip columnist, who dominated Hollywood's

Golden Era. Louella's relationship with William Randoph Hearst and her own three marriages made her life as stormy as any Hollywood movie.

• Alice Paul (1885-1977) - The woman who rescued the woman suffrage movement (1910) and made sure women got the vote.

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• Mrs. George (Hannah?) Peake (1755-18??) - First African-American settler of Cleveland.

• Molly Pitcher (Mary Ludwig Hays McCauley) (1754-1832) - Born Mary Ludwig, this revolutionary heroine followed the Continental Army for more than 3 years, doing what was needed to free the colonies from the tyranny of England.

• Eleanor Anna Roosevelt (1884-1962) - Wife of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, first activist First Lady

• Rebecca Rouse (1799-1887) - Cleveland humanitarian, temperance advocate, abolitionist,

founder of Beech Brook.• Wilma Rudolph (1940-1994) - African-American Olympic Gold Medalist.• Rose Bianco Salvatore (1900-1993) - Italian immigrant during the "Great Wave" coming

to America.• Belle Sherwin (1868-1955) - Cleveland suffragist, President of League of Women Voters,

social reformer.

• Margaret Skapes (1892-1968) - Immigrant from Greece, suffragette.• Bessie Smith (1894-1937) - African-American blues singer.• Valaida Snow (190?-1956) - African-American band leader and trumpet player.• Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902) First president of the National Woman's Suffrage

Association.• Belle Starr (1848-1889) - Confederate sympathizer and western frontierswoman and

outlaw.• Susan McKinney Steward (1848-1918) - First female African-American doctor in New

York State.

• Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) - Author of Uncle Tom's Cabin.• Annie Sullivan (1866-1936) - Helen Keller's teacher.• Helen Herron Taft (1861-1943) - Wife of William H. Taft, 27th President of the United

States, always longed to live in the White House. Known for planting Washington D.C.’s

legendary cherry trees.• Susie King Taylor (1848-1912) - First African-American U.S. Army nurse during the Civil

War.• Mary Church Terrell (1863-1954) - African-American lecturer, suffragette, civil rights

leader.• Sojourner Truth (Isabella Baumfree) (1797-1883) - African-American abolitionist, Civil

War nurse, suffragette.• Harriet Tubman (1820?-1913) - Underground Railroad conductor, Army scout, African-

American suffragette.• Elizabeth Van Lew (1818-1900) - Crazy Bet, an abolitionist in the South during the Civil

War, who feigned insanity to help free slaves and help the Union Army. • Rosetta Wakeman (1843-1864) - Posed as a male to serve in Union Army during Civil

War.• Madame C.J. Walker (1867-1919) - African-American entrepreneur, millionaire and

philanthropist.• Hazel Mountain Walker (1900-1980) - African-American attorney, school principal,

actress at Karamu• Katherine Walker (1846-1931) - Lighthouse keeper at Robin's Reef, New York,

commissioned by U.S. Coast Guard.• Mary Edwards Walker (1832-1919) - Prisoner of war during the Civil War, writer, doctor,

fashion trend-setter and the only female to receive the Medal of Honor.• Mae West (1892-1980) First to earn a million dollars in the movie business.

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• Phillis Wheatley (175?-1784) - First noted African-American woman poet.• Laura Ingalls Wilder (1867-1957) - Famed children’s author and “storyteller of the

prairie.”• Victoria Woodhull (1838-1927) - First woman to run for President, center of a scandal

that rocked the nation.

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• Abigail Smith Adams (1744-1818) - Wife of John Adams, 2nd President of the United States and mother of John Quincy Adams, 6th President. Known for her letters and opinions on society.

Source: Compton's Pictured Encyclopedia Vol 1, Compton (1928)© www.arttoday.com

DATE OF BIRTH: November 11, 1744

PLACE OF BIRTH: Weymouth, Massachusetts

FAMILY BACKGROUND: Abigail Adams was the second child of four children born to Reverend William and Elizabeth Quincy Smith. She married John Adams in 1764 at the age of twenty. The couple had two daughters and three sons: one daughter died in infancy; John Quincy, Charles and Thomas Boylston. Their family home was in Braintree, Massachusetts.

EDUCATION: Much of her education was gained while living with her grandmother, Mrs. John Quincy, in Mount Wollaston.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

Mrs. Adams cared for her children at their Braintree home while her husband was an accomplished lawyer. With the American Revolution, she was left largely alone for ten years to run their household. She joined her diplomat husband in Europe in 1784 where they spent eight months in Paris and three years in London. They returned to the United States in 1788 where John Adams served as vice president and president. Abigail spent equal time at the capital and at her family home.

In reviewing her letters from her husband's political life, she shows her commitment to politics and her Federalist beliefs. Even though she suffered through periods of serious illness, she was known as a personable and pleasant individual. After the presidency, she was happy to return to Braintree and resume farming and caring for her family. She died at home of typhoid fever.

DATE OF DEATH: October 28, 1818.

PLACE OF DEATH: Quincy, Massachusetts

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

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Cappon, Lester J., ed. The Adams-Jefferson Letters: the Complete Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson and Abigail and John Adams. Chapel Hill: Published for the Institute of Early American History and Culture at Williamsburg, Virginia by the University of North Carolina Press, 1988.

Adams, Charles Francis. Letters of Mrs. Adams, the Wife of John Adams. With an Introductory Memoir by Her Grandson, Charles Francis Adams. Boston, Wilkins, Carter, and Co., 1848.

WEB SITES:

Abigail Adams Historical Society

Abigail Smith Adams profile from The White House First Ladies

Abigail Adams Grolier Academic American Encyclopedia

Abigail Adams and John Adams Letters; Abigail Adams Letter to Mercy Otis Warren (1776) The American Nation

QUOTE:

Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the husbands. Remember all men would be tyrants if they could. If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies we are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice, or representation.

• Jane Addams (1860-1935) - Social Activist, founder of Hull House, charter member of the NAACP, Nobel Peace Prize winner and labor union organizer.

Source: Lincoln Library of Essential Information, Frontier Press Company (1924) © www.arttoday.com

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Name: Jane Addams

Date of Birth: 1860

Place of Birth: Cedarville, Illinois

Date of Death: 1935

Place of Death: Chicago, Illinois

Jane Addams is remembered primarily as a founder of the Settlement House Movement. She and her friend Ellen Starr founded Hull House in the slums of Chicago in 1889. She is also remembered as the first American Woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.

Jane is portrayed as the selfless giver of ministrations to the poor, but few realize that she was a mover and shaker in the areas of labor reform (laws that governed working conditions for children and women), and was a charter member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).

Jane grew up in the small community of Cedarville, Illinois. She was the daughter of a very well-to-do gentleman; her mother was a kind and gracious lady. Jane had five brothers and sisters at the time of her mother's death, when Jane was two. Her father remarried and her new stepmother brought two new step-brothers to the already large family.

Jane was especially devoted to her father. He taught her tolerance, philanthropy, and a strong work ethic. He encouraged her to pursue higher education, but not at the expense of losing her femininity and the prospect of marriage and motherhood -- the expectation for all upper-class young ladies at that time. Jane attended the Rockford Seminary for young ladies and excelled in her studies. She also developed strong leadership traits. Her classmates admired her and followed her examples. Jane decided that she wished to pursue a degree in medicine when she completed her studies at Rockford. This choice caused a great stir in the Addams household. Her parents felt that she had had enough education and were concerned that she would never marry. Jane became despondent. She wanted more in life. If her brothers could have careers in medicine and science, why couldn't she? Besides, she disliked household duties and the prospect of raising children held no appeal.

Jane's parents decided that the best course was to take Jane and her friends on a grand tour of Europe for a year or two. Perhaps Jane would settle down and realize that her duty was to marry and have a family. Jane began to show signs of serious illness during this time. Was her health affected by stress? There was the pressure to do her parents' bidding, and inner turmoil over whether or not to disobey them and choose a career.

Her father died upon her return. This set Jane into a deeper depression and a sense of guilt that somehow she had upset him with her insistence upon a vocation. Her illness

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grew to the proportion of "invalid." She could barely walk or move without great pain. Jane did have a slight curvature of the spine and for this she sought treatment. Eventually, she had surgery and was strapped into a back harness from which she could not move for about a year. This year gave her time to think.

When she recovered, she headed to Europe, this time just with friends. Jane did a lot of the usual sightseeing. Just by chance, while in England, she was introduced to the founders and the workings of Toynbee Hall, a settlement house in the slums of London. It did not immediately strike her that social work was to be her calling. It took some time after returning to the United States before she and her traveling companion, Ellen Starr, committed themselves to the idea of starting a settlement house in Chicago. Once committed, there was no stopping these young women, especially Jane. Jane was a fireball. She was the creator, the innovator, and the leader. People flocked to her. Most everything she needed she was able to procure with the generosity of patrons. Money poured in. Within a few years, Hull House offered medical care, child care and legal aid. It also provided classes for immigrants to learn English, vocational skills, music, art and drama.

In 1893 a severe depression rocked the country. Hull House was serving over two thousand people a week. As charitable efforts increased, so too did political ones. Jane realized that there would be no end to poverty and need if laws were not changed. She directed her efforts at the root causes of poverty. The workers joined Jane to lobby the state of Illinois to examine laws governing child labor, the factory inspection system, and the juvenile justice system. They worked for legislation to protect immigrants from exploitation, limit the working hours of women, mandate schooling for children, recognize labor unions, and provide for industrial safety.

All this led to the right to vote for women. Addams worked for Chicago municipal suffrage and became first vice-president of the National American Women Suffrage Association in 1911. She campaigned nationwide for Theodore Roosevelt and the Progressive Party in 1912.

She became a very controversial figure while working on behalf of economic reform. When horrible working conditions led to the Haymarket riot, Jane was personally attacked for her support of the workers. It resulted in a great loss of donor support for Hull House. She supplemented Hull House funding with revenue from lecture tours and article writing. She began to enjoy international acclaim. Her first book was published in 1910 and others followed biennially. Her biggest success in writing came with the release of the book, Twenty Years at Hull House. It became her autobiography and brought her wealth.

Addams foresaw World War I. In 1915, in an effort to avert war, she organized the Women's Peace Party and the International Congress of Women. This latter organization met at The Hague and made serious diplomatic attempts to thwart the war. When these efforts failed and the U.S. joined the war in 1917, criticism of Addams rose. She was expelled from the Daughters of the American Revolution, but it did not slow her down. In

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1919 she was elected first president of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, a position she held until her death. She was a founding member of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). She was a charter member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), having answered the "call" in 1909 that led to the organization's formation. These positions earned her even more criticism than her pacifism. She was accused of being a socialist, an anarchist and a communist.

Hull House, however, continued to be successful. When the depression of the 1930's struck, Addams saw many of the things that she had advocated and fought for become policies under President Franklin Roosevelt. She received numerous awards during this time including, in 1931, the Nobel Peace Prize.

That year her health began to fail but she continued her work until her death in 1935. Thousands of people came to her funeral at Hull House before she was taken to Cedarville to be buried.

WEB SITES:

• Jane Addams Hull House Association • Jane Addams biography - Nobel e-Museum • Jane Addams Hull House Museum at the University of Illinois at Chicago • 1889 Jane Addams Hull House - Chicago Public Library • National Women's Hall of Fame - Jane Addams • Exhibit of Photographs of Jane Addams, Her Family, and Hull-House from the

Jane Addamds Collection - Swarthmore College Peace Collection.• Bruderhof Peacemakers Guide - Jane Addams • Jane Addams Collection - The Jane Addams papers of the Swarthmore College

Peace Collection• Jane Addams' speeches/writings in online versions: Twenty Years at Hull House;

The Long Road of Woman's Memory; The Spirit of Youth and the City Streets; Peace and Bread in time of War; A New Conscience and an Ancient Evil; Newer Ideals of Peace; Democracy or Militarism (Address before the Chicago Liberty Meeting, April 30, 1899)

QUOTE:

I am not one of those who believe - broadly speaking - that women are better than men. We have not wrecked railroads, nor corrupted legislatures, nor done many unholy things that men have done; but then we must remember that we have not had the chance.

- Jane Addams

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• Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888) - Seamstress, servant, teacher, Civil War nurse, and finally, author and novelist.

Image Donated by Corbis - Bettmann

NAME: Louisa May Alcott

BIRTHDATE: November 29, 1832

BIRTH PLACE: Germantown (now a part of Philadelphia), Pennsylvania. Her family moved in 1834 to Boston, Massachusetts. and in 1840 Concord, Massachusetts.

DATE OF DEATH: March 6, 1888- the date of her own father's funeral, to which she was unaware

PLACE OF DEATH: Boston, Massachusetts

FAMILY BACKGROUND: Louisa was one of four daughters. Although her father's association with the Transcendentalists allowed Louisa to grow up in an intellectual and non-conventional environment, her own views challenged the transcendental philosophies. Her education served to foster her love and dedication to writing, acting, education and women's rights.

EDUCATION: Most of Louisa May Alcott's early education was received by her father, Bronson Alcott. For a short time she attended a small school in Still River Village and a small school held in her family's barn. She was instructed throughout her childhood by her father's fellow Transcendentalists: writers and family friends, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Margaret Fuller.

DESCRIPTION OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Louisa May Alcott is widely known as the writer of Little Women, a self reflective children's book published in 1868. The success of this book led to other books based on Alcott's life such as Little Men and Jo's Boys. Louisa's success as a writer allowed her to support her sisters and parents.

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Prompted by her wish to promote womens' roles and her hatred for slavery, as a young adult during the Civil War, she volunteered to be a nurse in an army hospital in Washington, D.C.. During this time, Alcott contracted typhoid fever. This experience provided the theme for her work, Hospital Sketches.

Although she is most popular for her children's literature, Alcott explored the themes of self expression and women's rights through her adult fiction works Behind a Mask; or, A Woman's Power, and Work: A Story of Experience, and A Modern Mephistopheles.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

• Alcott, Louisa May. Alternative Alcott. Edited and with an introduction by Elaine Showalter. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1987.

• Alcott, Louisa May. Behind a Mask: the Unknown Thrillers of Louisa May Alcott. Edited and with an introduction by Madeleine Stern. New York: Morrow, 1975.

• Alcott, Louisa May. Moods. Edited and with an introduction by Sarah Elbert. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1991.

• Bedell, Madelon. The Alcotts: a Family Biography. New York: Crown Publishers, 1980. • Myerson, Joel and Daniel Shealy. The Selected Letters of Louisa May Alcott. Boston:

Little Brown, 1987. • Stern, Madeleine Bettina. Louisa May Alcott. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press,

1950.

WEB SITES

• Orchard House - Home of the Alcotts • Alcott Web • Louisa May Alcott documentary film biography site• Louisa May Alcott biography provided by Camden County Free Library

QUOTE

You have a good many little gifts and virtues, but there is no need of parading them, for conceit spoils the finest genius. There is not much danger that real talent or goodness will be overlooked long, and the great charm of all power is modesty.

- Louisa May Alcott

• Marian Anderson (1902-1995) - First African American to sing leading role with Metropolitan Opera, delegate to U.N.

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Image Donated by Corbis - Bettmann

NAME: Marian Anderson

DATE OF BIRTH: February 27, 1897 – according to her birth certificate. (Throughout her life she gave her birthdate as February 17, 1902.)

PLACE OF BIRTH: Philadelphia, Pennsylvannia

FAMILY BACKGROUND: Marian Anderson was the oldest of three daughters born to John and Anna Anderson. John was a loader at the Reading Terminal Market, while Anna had been a teacher in Virginia. In 1912, John suffered a head wound at work and died soon after. Anna and her three daughters moved in with John’s parents, while Anna found work cleaning, laundering and scrubbing floors.

EDUCATION: Marian attended William Penn High School (focusing on a commercial education course to get a job) until her music vocation arose. She transferred to South Philadelphia High School, focusing on music and singing frequently at assemblies, and graduating at age 18. She applied for admission to a local music school, but was coldly rejected because of her color.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Marian’s musical career began quite early, at the local Baptist church in which her father was very active. She joined the junior choir at age six. Before long, she was nicknamed “The Baby Contralto.” When she was eight, her father bought a piano from his brother, but they could not afford any lessons so Marian taught herself.

When Marian was 13 years old, she joined the senior choir at church and began visiting other churches; becoming well-known and accepting invitations to sing. She became so popular, she would sometimes perform at three different places in a single night. Finally she summoned the confidence to request five dollars per performance. In 1919, at the age of 22, she sang at the National Baptist Convention.

When she was 15 years old, Marian began voice lessons with Mary Saunders Patterson, a prominent black soprano. Shortly thereafter, the Philadelphia Choral Society held a benefit concert, providing $500 for her to study for two years with leading contralto

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Agnes Reifsnyder. After she graduated from high school, her principal enabled her to meet Guiseppe Boghetti, a much sought-after teacher. When he heard Marian audition, singing “Deep River,” he was moved to tears.

Marian’s initial invitations to sing grew to actual tours, focusing on black colleges and churches in the South. William “Billy” King accompanied her and also served as her manager. Soon she was making $100 per concert. On April 23, 1924, they took a giant step and held a concert at New York’s Town Hall. Unfortunately, it was poorly attended and critics found her voice lacking. Marian was so discouraged, she contemplated abandoning her career choice.

But shortly after, she won a singing contest through the Philadelphia Philharmonic Society and then, in 1925, she entered the Lewisohn Stadium competition. She beat 300 rivals and sang in New York’s amphitheater with the Philharmonic Orchestra accompanying her. This concert was a triumph and gained her the attention of Arthur Judson, an important impresario, who put her under contract.

In 1926, Marian toured the eastern and southern states, adding songs to her repertoire. On December 30, 1928, she performed a solo recital at Carnegie Hall. A New York Times critic wrote: “A true mezzo-soprano, she encompassed both ranges with full power, expressive feeling, dynamic contrast, and utmost delicacy.” But despite this success, her engagements were stagnating; she was still performing mainly for black audiences.

Marian then obtained a scholarship through the National Association of Negro Musicians to study in Britain. On September 16, 1930, she performed at London’s Wigmore Hall. She returned to the U.S. only to return to Europe again, on a scholarship from the Julius Rosenwald Fund. She was intent on perfecting her language skills (as most operas were written in Italian and German) and learning the art of lieder singing. At a debut concert in Berlin, she attracted the attention of Rule Rasmussen and Helmer Enwall, managers who arranged a tour of Scandinavia. Enwall continued as her manager for other tours around Europe.

Marian returned to the U.S. for more concerts and then, in 1933, returned to Europe again through the Rosenwald Fund. From September 1933 through April 1934, she performed at 142 concerts in Scandinavia alone, even singing before King Gustav in Stockholm and King Christian in Copenhagen. She received a rare invitation to sing from Jean Sibelius, a 70-year-old famous Finnish composer. He was so moved, he dedicated his song “Solitude” to her, and saying, “The roof of my house is too low for your voice.”

She followed those concerts with appearances throughout Europe. This tour concluded in 1935 with an international festival in Salzburg called the Mozarteum. Arturo Toscanini, a very prestigious conductor, heard her sing and told her, “Yours is a voice such as one hears once in a hundred years.” Another famous impresario, Sol Hurok, also heard her sing shortly after that and made a contract with her for American concerts.

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On December 20, 1935, Marian appeared for the second time at New York’s Town Hall. This time she was a great success. She also gave two concerts at Carnegie Hall, then toured the states from coast to coast. She went on to tour Europe again, and even Latin America, through 1938 – performing about 70 times a year.

Throughout her life, Marian had experienced racism, but the most famous event occurred in 1939. Hurok tried to rent Washington, D.C.’s Constitutional Hall, the city’s foremost center, but was told no dates were available. Washington was segregated and even the hall had segregated seating. In 1935, the hall instated a new clause: “concert by white artists only.” Hurok would have walked away with the response he’d received, but a rival manager asked about renting the hall for the same dates and was told they were open. The hall’s director told Hurok the truth, even yelling before slamming down the phone, “No Negro will ever appear in this hall while I am manager.”

The public was outraged, famous musicians protested, and First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt resigned from the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), who owned the hall. Roosevelt, along with Hurok and Walter White of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), encouraged Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes to arrange a free open-air concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial for Easter Sunday. On April 9, Marian sang before 75,000 people and millions of radio listeners. About her trepidation before the event, she said:

“I said yes, but the yes did not come easily or quickly. I don’t like a lot of show, and one could not tell in advance what direction the affair would take. I studied my conscience. …. As I thought further, I could see that my significance as an individual was small in this affair. I had become, whether I like it or not, a symbol, representing my people.”

Several weeks later, Marian gave a private concert at the White House, where President Franklin D. Roosevelt was entertaining King George VI and Queen Elizabeth of Britain.

In 1943, Marian performed at Constitution Hall, at a benefit for Chinese relief. She insisted the DAR suspend its segregated seating policy for the concert. Later, she said, “I felt no different than I had in other halls. There was no sense of triumph. I felt that it was a beautiful concert hall, and I was happy to sing in it.”

In July 1943, Marian married Orpheus H. Fisher, a Delaware architect she had known since childhood. They lived on her “Marianna Farm” in Connecticut. During World War II and the Korean War, Marian entertained troops in hospitals and bases. By 1956, she had performed over a thousand times.

In January 1955, Marian debuted at the New York Metropolitan Opera as Ulrica in Guiseppe Verdi’s “Un Ballo in Machera” (The Masked Ball) – the first black singer as a regular company member. She was 58 years old and, feeling past her vocal prime, felt she overdid it out of nervousness. Later, in Philadelphia, she was satisfied with her performance.

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In 1957, she toured India and the Far East as a goodwill ambassador through the U.S. State Department and the American National Theater and Academy. She traveled 35,000 miles in 12 weeks, giving 24 concerts. After that, President Dwight Eisenhower appointed her as a delegate to the United Nations Human Rights Committee. She sang at his inauguration, as well as John F. Kennedy’s in 1961. In 1962, she toured Australia. In 1963, she sang at the March on Washington for Job and Freedom.

On April 19, 1965, Easter Sunday, Marian gave her final concert at Carnegie Hall, following a year-long farewell tour.

During her career, she received many awards, including the Springarn Medal in 1939, given annually to a black American who “shall have made the highest achievement during the preceding year or years in any honorable field of endeavor.” In 1941, she received the Bok award, given annually to an outstanding Philadelphia citizen. She used the $10,000 prize money to found the Marian Anderson Scholarships. In 1963, President Lyndon Johnson awarded her the American Medal of Freedom. In 1977, Congress awarded her a gold medal for what was thought to be her 75th birthday. In 1980, the U.S. Treasury Department coined a half-ounce gold commemorative medal with her likeness. In 1986, President Ronald Reagan presented her with the National Medal of Arts.

Rather than fight much of the racism she received, despite her enormous popularity, Marian preferred to avoid situations whenever possible. In Europe, she was welcomed into the finest hotels and restaurants, but in the U.S., she was shifted to third- or fourth-class accommodations. In the South, she often stayed with friends. Simple tasks as arranging for laundry, taking a train, or eating at a restaurant were often difficult. She would take meals in her room and traveled in drawing rooms on night trains. She said:

“If I were inclined to be combative, I suppose I might insist on making an issue of these things. But that is not my nature, and I always bear in mind that my mission is to leave behind me the kind of impression that will make it easier for those who follow.”

Early on, she insisted on “vertical” seating in segregated cities; meaning black audience members would be allotted seats in all parts of the auditorium. Many times, it was the first time blacks would sit in the orchestra section. By 1950, she would refuse to sing where the audience was segregated.

In 1986, Orpheus passed away. In July 1992, Marian moved to Portland, Oregon, to live with her nephew (by her sister Ethel), conductor James DePriest. The following spring, she suffered a stroke and was restricted to a wheelchair. On April 8, 1993, Marian Anderson died of heart failure, at the age of 96. In June, over 2,000 admirers attended a memorial service at Carnegie Hall.

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DATE OF DEATH: April 8, 1993

PLACE OF DEATH: Portland, Oregon

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

detail of Corbis - Bettmann image

Anderson, Marian. My Lord, What a Morning: An Autobiography. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press. 1992. ALSO: University of Illinois Press. 2002. [Originally published 1956.]

Hurok Attractions, Inc. Marian Anderson: A Decade of Great Song in America. New York: S. Hurok. 1945.

Keiler, Allan. Marian Anderson: A Singer's Journey. New York: Scribner. 2000.

Newman, Shirlee P. Marian Anderson: Lady from Philadelphia. Philadelphia: Westminster Press. 1965.

Tedards, Anne. Marian Anderson. New York: Chelsea House Publications. 1988.

Vehanen, Kosti. Marian Anderson: A Portrait. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press. 1970/c.1941.

WEB SITES:

Marian Anderson: a life in song - the Marian Anderson collection at the University of Pennsylvania Library; includes audio selections

Marian Anderson - biography from Afrocentric Voices in "Classical" Music

QUOTE: [On prejudice]: Sometimes, it's like a hair across your cheek. You can't see it, you can't find it with your fingers, but you keep brushing at it because the feel of it is irritating. -- Marian Anderson

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Portrait of Marian Anderson Singing by Carl Van Vechten, published 1940. Source: Carl Van Vechten, photographer, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division (Reproduction Number LC-USZ62-103734-DLC)

Portrait of Marian Anderson by Carl Van Vechten, published 1940. Source: Carl Van Vechten, photographer, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division (Reproduction Number LC-USZ62-114554-DLC)

• Susan Brownell Anthony (1820-1906) - Napoleon of the women's suffrage movement, mother of the 19th Amendment, abolitionist.

Source: World Book Encyclopedia, The Quarrie Corporation (1943) © www.arttoday.com

BIRTHDATE: February 15, 1820

BIRTHPLACE: Adams, Massachusetts

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EDUCATION: Although most girls did not receive a formal education in the early 1800's, Susan B. Anthony's father, Daniel, as a 6th generation Quaker, believed in equal treatment for boys and girls. Consequently, Susan and her three sisters had the same opportunity for advanced education as her two brothers. Susan attended a private Quaker boarding school in Philadelphia.

FAMILY BACKGROUND: The Anthony family was very active in the reform movements of the day. They worked for temperance (the prohibition of alcohol), the anti-slavery movement plus both of Susan B. Anthony's parents (Daniel and Lucy) and her sister Mary signed the "Declaration of Sentiments" at the Second Women's Rights Convention held in Seneca Falls, New York in 1848.

DESCRIPTION OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Susan B. Anthony dedicated her life to "the cause," the woman suffrage movement. The accomplishments of Susan B. Anthony paved the way for the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920 (14 years after her death) which gave women the right to vote. Her accomplishments include the following:

• Founded the National Woman's Suffrage Association in 1869 with life-long friend Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Together they worked for women's suffrage for over 50 years.

• Published "The Revolution" from 1868-1870, a weekly paper about the woman suffrage movement whose motto read, "Men their rights and nothing more, women their rights and nothing less.

• First person arrested, put on trial and fined for voting on November 5, 1872. Unable to speak in her defense she refuse to pay "a dollar of your unjust penalty."

• Wrote the Susan B. Anthony Amendment in 1878 which later became the 19th Amendment giving women the right to vote.

• Helped found the National American Woman's Suffrage Association in 1890 which focused on a national amendment to secure women the vote. She served as president until 1900.

• Compiled and published "The History of Woman Suffrage (4 vols. 1881-1902) with Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Matilda Joslyn Gage.

• Founded the International Council of Women (1888) and the International Woman Suffrage Council (1904) which brought international attention to suffrage.

• An organization genius -- her canvassing plan is still used today by grassroot and political organizations.

• Gave 75-100 speeches a year for 45 years, traveling throughout the the United States by stage coach, wagon, carriage and train.

• Led the only non-violent revolution in our country's history -- the 72 year struggle to win women the right to vote.

DATE OF DEATH: March 13, 1906

PLACE OF DEATH: Susan B. Anthony died in her home in Rochester, New York of pneumonia and heart failure. Her last public words, "Failure is impossible," became the suffrage rallying cry.

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PORTRAYED BY: Long after Susan B. Anthony's death, Charlene Connors, who portrays her, became interested in women's history while working with a variety of women's organizations. She developed a multi-media presentation on the suffrage movement before joining Women in History.

WEB SITES:

• Susan B. Anthony project by Jody Litt• Susan B. Anthony House Museum and National Landmark • Susan B. Anthony - On Women's Right To Vote (speech) from The History Place• Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton and History of Women's Suffrage

from Susan B. Anthony University Center at the University of Rochester

QUOTE: Woman must not depend upon the protection of man, but must be taught to protect herself.

- Susan B. Anthony

• Josephine Baker (1906-1975) - African-American international star, civil rights activist, World War II heroine.

NAME: Freda McDonald aka Josephine Baker

BIRTH DATE: 1906

BIRTH PLACE: St. Louis, Missouri

EDUCATION: Dropped out of school at the age of 12.

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FAMILY BACKGROUND: Josephine Baker's mother was Carrie McDonald and her father was Eddie Carson. Arthur Martin was her stepfather. Her siblings were Richard, Margaret and Willie Mae. Josephine's first husband was Willie Wells; her second husband was Willie Baker; her third husband was Jean Lion; and, her fourth husband was orchestra leader Jo Bouillon. Her twelve adopted children were: Akio (male), Janot (male), Luis (male), Jari (male), Jean-Claude (male), Moise (male), Brahim (male), Marianne (female), Koffi (male), Mara (male), Noel (male), Stellina (female). Josephine's last marriage was to American Artist Robert Brady.

DESCRIPTION OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Overcoming the limitations imposed by the color of her skin, she became one of the world's most versatile entertainers, performing on stage, screeen and recordings. Josephine was decorated for her undercover work for the French Resistance during World War II. She was a civil rights activist. She refused to perform for segregated audiences and integrated the Las Vegas nightclubs. She adopted twelve children from around the world whom she called her "Rainbow Tribe."

DATE OF DEATH: Josephine died in 1975, in her sleep, after a large party given in her honor.

PLACE OF DEATH: She died in Paris and was buried in Monaco. She became the first American woman to receive French military honors at her funeral.

WEB SITES:

• CMG Worldwide Official Site of Josephine Baker • Josephine Baker • University of Georgia Libraries Paris Music Hall Collection - Josephine

Baker costume illustration• Silent Ladies & Gents Photo Gallery • About.com: Josephine Baker • St. Louis Walk of Fame: Josephine Baker • IMDB Mini-Biography • Wikipedia

• Ida B. Wells Barnett (1862-1931) - African-American educator, newspaperwoman, anti-lynching campaigner, founder NAACP.

BACKGROUND:

(1862-1931) Ida B. Wells was born in Holly Springs, Mississippi, months before the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation.

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She was the oldest of eight children. When her parents died in 1880 as a result of a yellow fever plague in Holly Springs, Wells took it upon herself to become a teacher in Holly Springs in order to support her younger siblings.

In spite of hardship, Wells was able to complete her studies at Rust College and in 1888 became a teacher in Memphis, Tennessee.

While living in Memphis, Wells became an editor and co-owner of a local black newspaper called "The Free Speech and Headlight." She wrote her editorials under the pen-name "Iola."

When a respected black store owner and friend of Barnett was lynched in 1892, Wells used her paper to attack the evils of lynching and encouraged the black townsmen of Memphis to go west.

While attending an editor's convention in New York, Wells received word not to return to Memphis because her life would be in danger. Wells took her cause to England to gain support and earned a reputation as a fiery orator and courageous leader of her people.

Upon returning to the United States, she settled in Chicago and formed the Women's Era Club, the first civic organization for African-American women. The name was later changed to the Ida B. Wells Club in honor of its founder.

She never forgot her crusade against lynching, and, in 1895 Wells published "A Red Record," which recorded race lynching in America.

In June of 1895 she married Ferdinand Barnett, a prominent Chicago attorney. Wells-Barnett kept active until the birth of her second son, Herman. She resigned as president of the Ida B. Wells Club and devoted her time to raising her two young sons and subsequently her two daughters.

However, by the start of the 20th century the racial strife in the country was disturbing. Lynching and race riots abounded across the nation.

In 1909, Barnett was asked to be a member of the "Committee of 40," which established the groundwork for the organization now known as the NAACP (National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), the oldest civil rights organization in the country.

Wells-Barnett continued her tireless crusade for equal rights for African-Americans until her death in 1931.

PORTRAYED BY: Stephanie Tolliver

WEB SITES:

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Mob-violence and Anarchy, North and South - Pamphlet: "Lynch Laws in Georgia" by Ida B. Wells-Barnett

Ida Bell Wells-Barnett portrait from University of Maryland Women Studies

The Equal Rights League, from Crusade for Justice Excerpt from Alfreda M. Duster, ea., Crusade for Justice: The Autobiography of Ida B. Wells

Ida B. Wells-Barnett from The Library of Congress American Memory

QUOTE: One had better die fighting against injustice than die like a dog or a rat in a trap.

- Ida B. Wells

• Clara Barton (1821-1912) - Civil War nurse, founder of the American Red Cross.

Image Donated by Corbis - Bettmann

NAME: Clarissa Harlowe Barton

DATE OF BIRTH: December 25, 1821

PLACE OF BIRTH: North Oxford, Massachusetts

DATE OF DEATH: April 12, 1912

PLACE OF DEATH: Glen Echo, Maryland

FAMILY BACKGROUND: Clara was the daughter of Captain Stephen and Sarah (Stone) Barton. Her father was a respected farmer, horse breeder and politician. The youngest of five children, most of her education came from her two brothers and two

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sisters. Although a shy child, she accelerated early in her studies: by the time she was 4 years old, Clara could easily spell complicated words. Her instinctual gift of nursing started at the young age of 11 when she nursed her brother David through a serious illness.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Clara Barton became a teacher in Massachusetts at the age of 17; founded her own school six years later and after ten years of teaching, felt the need to alter her career path. She then pursued writing and languages at the Liberal Institute in Clinton, New York.

Following these studies, Barton opened a free school in New Jersey. The attendance under her leadership grew to 600 but instead of hiring Barton to head the school, the board hired a man instead. Frustrated, she moved to Washington D.C. and began work as a clerk in the U.S. Patent Office; this was the first time a woman had received a substantial clerkship in the federal government.

With the emergence of the Civil War, Barton refused to take a salary from the government's treasury and dedicated herself aiding soldiers on the front. Never before had women been allowed in hospitals, camps or on battlefields; initially, military and civil officials declined her help. Eventually, she gained the trust of these officials and began receiving supplies from all over the country. As a result of her untiring work, she became known as the "Angel of the Battlefield." Officially, she became the superintendent of Union nurses in 1864 and began obtaining camp and hospital supplies, assistants and military trains for her work on the front. She practiced nursing exclusively on battlefields, experiencing first-hand the horrors of war on sixteen different battlefields.

After the war, President Lincoln granted her the ability to begin a letter writing campaign to search for missing soldiers through the Office of Correspondence. Later in her life, Barton continued to search for missing soldiers and also became involved in the suffragist movement. In 1869, she traveled to Europe for rest as directed by her doctor. In Europe she was educated about the concept of the Red Cross as outlined in the Treaty of Geneva and also by observing the Red Cross while traveling with volunteers serving in the Franco-Prussian War. Twelve nations had signed the treaty but the Unites States had not. She returned to the United States; rallied to have the US join in this treaty; and vowed to establish this work in the United States. Barton expanded the original concept of the Red Cross to include assisting in any great national disaster; this service brought the United States the "Good Samaritan of Nations" label. The United States ultimately signed the Geneva Agreement in 1882 .

Barton was the President of the American National Red Cross for twenty-two years. Under her leadership, she adopted the framework of the Red Cross to fit the needs of the United States not only during wartime but in peacetime. The Red Cross's early work included aiding victims and workers in the floods of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers in 1882 and 1884, the Texas famine of 1886, the Florida yellow fever epidemic in 1887, an earthquake in Illinois in 1888, and the 1889 Johnstown, Pennsylvania disaster/flood.

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Internationally, countries noticed and recognized the need for such peacetime assistance and in 1884 the Geneva Convention passed the "American Amendment" to include this concept. The first wartime experience for the American Red Cross was in the Spanish-American War in 1898.

Barton also was highly dedicated to fighting for and furthering the rights of women; she worked closely with Susan B. Anthony, Lucy Stone and others. Barton herself was the most decorated American woman, receiving the Iron Cross, the Cross of Imperial Russia and the International Red Cross Medal. Her final act was founding the National First Aid Society in 1904. She retired as President of the American Red Cross at the age of 83 and spent her remaining years in Glen Echo, Maryland where she died from complications of a cold.

Clara Barton's two "rules of action" were "unconcern for what cannot be helped" and "control under pressure."

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Dock, Lavinia K. et al. History of American Red Cross Nursing. New York: Macmillan Company, 1922.

Oates, Stephen B. A Woman of Valor: Clara Barton and the Civil War. New York: Manwell Macmillan International, 1994.

Pryor, Elizabeth Brown. Clara Baron: Professional Angel. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1987.

WEBSITES:

Clara Barton biography

Clara Barton biography from the American Red Cross

Discovered Historical Documents Uncover the First Official Missing Persons Investigator, Clara Barton by Barbara Maikell-Thomas

Profiles in Caring: Clara Barton

Clara Barton photo from the National Archives (large file)

QUOTE:

An institution or reform movement that is not selfish, must originate in the recognition of some evil that is adding to the sum of human suffering, or diminishing the sum of happiness. I suppose it is a philanthropic movement to try to reverse the process.

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- Clara Barton

• Mary McLeod Bethune (1875-1955) African-American educator, founder of Bethune-Cookman College, Daytona Beach, Florida, Presidential advisor, recipient of Spingarn Medal.

Portrait of Mary McLeod Bethune by Carl Van Vechten. Published 1949. Source: Carl Van Vechten, photographer, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division

(Reproduction Number LC-USZ62-42476DLC)

CHARACTER NAME: Mary McLeod Bethune

BIRTH DATE: July 10, 1875

BIRTH PLACE: Mayesville, South Carolina

FAMILY BACKGROUND: One of 17 children of Samuel and Patsy McLeod, former slaves. Mary worked in the cotton fields with her family. Married Albertus Bethune and had a son.

EDUCATION: Maysville Presbyterian Mission School, Scotia Seminary and the Moody Bible Institute (Dwight Moody's Institute for Home and Foreign Missions).

DESCRIPTION OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Founded the Daytona Normal and Industrial Institute for Negro Girls (now Bethune-Cookman College) in 1904, and served as president from 1904-1942 and from 1946-47. Was a leader in the black women's club movement and served as president of the National Association of Colored Women. Was a delegate and advisor to national conferences on education, child welfare, and home

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ownership.Was Director of Negro Affairs in the the National Youth Adminstration from 1936 to 1944. Served as consultant to the U.S. Secretary of War for selection of the first female officer candidates. Appointed consultant on interracial affairs and understanding at the charter conference of the U.N. Founder of the National Council of Negro Women. Vice-president of the NAACP. Was awarded the Haitian Medal of Honor and Merit, that country's highest award. In Liberia she received the honor of Commander of the Order of the Star of Africa.

DATE OF DEATH: May 18, 1955

PORTRAYED BY: Madelyn Sanders

WEB SITES:

Mary McLeod Bethune from the Florida Memory Project

Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune from Bethune Cookman College

Mary McLeod Bethune Council House

Mary McLeod Bethune Papers: The Bethune Foundation Collection

Mary McLeod Bethune from the National Women's Hall of Fame

Mary McLeod Bethune speaks of the power of education (sound files) from New York Public Library Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture

Profiles in Caring: Mary McLeod Bethune from the National Association for Home Care

QUOTE:

From the first, I made my learning, what little it was, useful every way I could.

- Mary McLeod Bethune

• Sarah Bolton (1841-1916) - Noted Cleveland author of biographies, poetry and a

temperance novel.

BIRTHDATE: September 15, 1841

BIRTHPLACE: Farmington, Connecticut

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EDUCATION: Hartford Female Seminary, founded by Catherine Beecher, sister of Harriet Beecher Stowe

FAMILY BACKGROUND: Father, John S. Knowles - descended from Henry Knowles who settled in Rhode Island in 1635. Mother, desendant of Colonel Nathaniel Stanley and Colonel William Pynchon - one of twenty six incorporators of Massachusetts Bay Colony. Had a younger brother and sister.

DESCRIPTION OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Sarah B. Knowles was active in the temperance and other reform movements, including animal rights. She was published at the age of fifteen and maintained a writing career which embraced poetry, children's literature and biographies throughout her life. Her writings reflected her belief in the ability to better one's world through faith and hard work. After graduating from the Hartford Female Seminary in 1860 she taught school in Natchez, Mississippi until the outbreak of the Civil War. She married Charles E. Bolton in 1866 and in 1872 her son, Charles Knowles Bolton was born. Her accomplishments include the following:

• Met Harriet Beecher Stowe at age 11 (1852)• Associate editor of the Congregationalist from1878-1881.• Traveled in Europe studying women's education and labor conditions, 1881-1883.• Was a leader in the Woman's Temperance Crusade of 1873-74• Was the Assistant Corresponding Secretary of the National Woman's Christian

Temperance Union.• Wrote numerous poems, children's books and biographical sketches, 1864-1902.

DATE OF DEATH: February 21, 1916

PLACE OF DEATH: Cleveland, Ohio. She is buried in Lakeview Cemetery.

PORTRAYED BY: Charlene Connors, who became interested in women's history while working with a variety of women's organizations.

WEB SITES:

The Inevitable p. 2, a poem by Sarah Knowles Bolton

Encyclopedia of Clevelend History: Sarah Knowles Bolton

BOOKS:

Held at Lakewood Public Library:

• Famous English Statesmen of Queen Victoria's Reign. Freeport, N.Y., Books for Libraries Press [1972] Description: 460 p. ports. 23 cm. Location: 942.081 172

• Famous Men of Science. Rev. by Barbara Lovett Cline. New York, Crowell [1961, c1960] Description: 326 p. 21 cm. Location: 509.22 172

Held at Cleveland Public Library:

• Miscellanea : Holographs and clippings of poems] / Sarah K. Bolton. [Cleveland (Ohio)], 1890?

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• The present problem. [A temperance story] New York, G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1874.• Ralph Waldo Emerson. New York, T. Y. Crowell & co. [1904]• Sarah K. Bolton; pages from an intimate autobiography, edited by her son. Privately

printed. Boston, Thomas Todd Co., 1923.• Social studies in England. Special ed. pub. for the Bay View reading circle, Central office,

Flint, Mich. Boston, Lothrop publishing company [c1900]• Stories from life. New York, T. Y. Crowell & Co. [c1886]• Successful women. Boston, Lothrop, [c1888]• Famous leaders among women. New York, Boston, T. Y. Crowell & co. [1895]• Famous men of science. New York, T. Y. Crowell & co. [c1889]• Famous men of science. revised by Edward W. Sanderson, illustrated by Constance Joan

Naar. New York, Thomas Y. Crowell company [1946]• Famous men of science. Rev. by Barbara Lovett Cline. New York, Crowell [1961, c1960]• Famous types of womanhood. New York : Crowell c1892• Famous voyagers and explorers. New York, Boston, T. Y. Crowell & co. [1893]• From heart and nature. New York, T.Y. Crowell & co., 1887.• How success is won. with portraits. Chicago, Interstate Publishing Co. [c1885]• How success is won. By Mrs. Sarah K. Bolton. with portraits. Boston, D. Lothrop and

company [c1885]• How success is won. Freeport, N.Y., Books for Libraries Press [1973]• The inevitable, and other poems. New York, Boston, T. Y, Crowell [c1895]• Lives of girls who became famous. New York, T. Y. Crowell & co. [1886]• Lives of poor boys who became famous. New York, T. Y. Crowell Co., c1922.• Lives of poor boys who became famous. New York, Thomas Y. Crowell company [c1937]• Lives of poor boys who became famous. New York, Crowell [1962]• Charles E. Bolton; a memorial sketch, by his wife Sarah K. Bolton. Cambridge, The

University press, 1907.• A country idyl, and other stories. New York, Boston, T.Y. Crowell & co. [1898]• Every-day living. Boston : L. C. Page, 1900.• Famous American authors. New York, T. Y. Crowell & co. [1887]• Famous American authors. New York, Crowell [c1924]• Famous American authors. New York, Thomas Y. Crowell company [c1938]• Famous American authors. New York, Thomas Y. Crowell [1940]• Famous American authors. Rev by William A. Fahey. New York, Crowell [1954]• Famous American statesmen. New York, Crowell [c1925]• Famous English authors of the nineteenth century. New York, Crowell [c1890]• Famous English statesmen of Queen Victoria's reign. New York, T. Y. Crowel & Co.

[c1891]• Famous European artists. New York, T. Y. Crowell & co. [c1890]• Famous givers and their gifts. New York, Boston, T.Y. Crowell & Company, [c1896]• Famous leaders among men. New York, Thomas Y. Crowell & Co. [1894]

Held at Cuyahoga County Public Library:

• Famous American authors. Rev by William A. Fahey. New York, Crowell [1954]• Famous men of science. Revised by Barbara Lovett Cline. New York, Crowell [1960]• Famous men of science. revised by Edward W. Sanderson, illustrated by Constance Joan

Naar. New York, Thomas Y. Crowell company [1946]• Famous men of science. New York, Crowell [c1960]

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• Lives of girls who became famous. Illustrated by Constance Joan Naar. New York, Crowell Co. [1949]

• Lives of poor boys who became famous. Illustrated by Constance Joan Naar. New York, Crowell [1962]

QUOTE: Be glad today. Tomorrow may bring tears. Be brave today. The darkest night will pass. And golden rays will usher in the dawn.

Sarah Knowles Bolton

• Margaret Bourke-White (1904-1971) - Groundbreaking photo-journalist and author

Self-Portrait, 1943 Margaret Bourke-White

19 1/8" x15 1/4" Vintage Gelatin Silver Print From the Sandor Family Collection

used with permission of (Art)n Laboratory (Art)n

NAME: Margaret Bourke-White

BIRTHDATE: June 14, 1904

BIRTHPLACE: The Bronx, New York

FAMILY BACKGROUND: Her father, Joseph White, was of Polish-Jewish background. He was an inventor and an engineer. He believed in equality in education and opportunity for all his children. Margaret's mother, Minnie Bourke, was of Irish-

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English ancestry and was a loving and nurturing mother. Minnie was completing her college degree at the time of her death. Margaret was married twice; once to Everett Chapman, when she was but 18 years old; and to Erskine Caldwell, the writer, in 1939, after they had worked together. They divorced in 1942.

EDUCATION: Margaret Bourke-White attended several universities throughout the United States while pursuing a degree in Herpetology (the study of reptiles). They included Columbia University in New York, the University of Michigan, Purdue University in Indiana, Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, and she received her degree in 1927 from Cornell University in Ithaca, NY.

Margaret began to study photography as a hobby while a very young woman. She developed the styles and techniques that she needed for various formats on her own. Her father was also somewhat of a camera enthusiast and he exposed her to the wonders of the photographic lens as a youngster.

DESCRIPTION OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Margaret Bourke-White is a woman of many firsts. She was a forerunner in the newly emerging field of photojournalism, and was the first female to be hired as such. She was the first photographer for Fortune magazine, in 1929. In 1930, she was the first Western photographer allowed into the Soviet Union.

Henry Luce hired her as the first female photojournalist for Life magazine, soon after its creation in 1935, and one of her photographs adorned its first cover (November 23, 1936). She was the first female war correspondent and the first to be allowed to work in combat zones during World War II, and one of the first photographers to enter and document the death camps. She made history with the publication of her haunting photos of the Depression in the book You Have Seen Their Faces, a collaboration with husband-to-be Erskine Caldwell. She wrote six books about her international travels. She was the premiere female industrial photographer, getting her start in Cleveland, Ohio, at the Otis Steel Company around 1927.

PLACE OF DEATH: Connecticut

DATE OF DEATH: August 27, 1971

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Books by Margaret Bourke-WhiteYou Have Seen Their Faces (1937; with Erskine Caldwell) North of the Danube (1939; with Erskine Caldwell) Shooting the Russian War (1942) They Called it "Purple Heart Valley" (1944) Halfway to Freedom; a report on the new India (1949) Portrait of Myself (1963)

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Dear Fatherland, rest quietly (1946)The Taste of War (selections from her writings, edited by Jonathon Silverman)

Books about Margaret Bourke-White: For the world to see: the life of Margaret Bourke-White by Jonathon Silverman (1983) Margaret Bourke-White: a biography by Vicki Goldberg (1986) The Photographs of Margaret Bourke-White edited by Sean Callahan (1972)

WEB SITES:

• National Women's Hall of Fame • Margaret Bourke-White: A Photographer's Life by Emily Keller - information

about the book with excerpts and material on Bourke-White's life• Review by Elsa Dorfman - of Vicki Goldberg's Margaret Bourke-White: A

Biography• Filmpicker.com: Photography Greats: Margaret Bourke White • Margaret Bourke-White @ Gallery M: Biography • Photo-Seminars Hall of Fame - Margaret Bourke-White

QUOTE: Work is something you can count on, a trusted, lifelong friend who never deserts you.

- Margaret Bourke-White

• Mary Elizabeth Bowser ( 1839-?) - African-American Union spy in the Confederate White House.

Photo provided by

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James A. Chambers U.S. Army

Deputy, Office of the Chief, Military Intelligence

NAME: Mary Elizabeth Bowser

DATE OF BIRTH: 1839?

PLACE OF BIRTH: Richmond, Virginia

FAMILY BACKGROUND: Mary Elizabeth Bowser was born as a slave to owner John Van Lew, a wealthy hardware merchant. His daughter, Elizabeth, and her mother freed her father's slaves after his death in 1843 or 1851 (sources differ). Accounts record the Van Lew women buying members of their slaves' families from other owners, when they found out they were going to be sold, and then freeing them. Another former slave named Nelson went North with Mary after the Civil War; some sources believe this was her father.

EDUCATION: Mary remained with the Van Lew family after she was freed and worked as a paid servant. Elizabeth sent Mary to the Quaker School for Negroes in Philadelphia in the late 1850s.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: After graduating, Mary returned to Richmond and married William or Wilson Bowser, a free Black man, on April 16, 1861 -- just days before the Civil War began. The ceremony was highly unusual because the church parishioners were primarily white. They settled down just outside Richmond, and Mary continued to work in the Van Lew house.

After the war began, Elizabeth Van Lew asked Mary to help her in the elaborate spying system she had established in the Confederate capitol. Despite Elizabeth being a staunch abolitionist and loyal to the Union, she was a prominent member of Richmond because of her father's wealth and status. But her views and actions (attending to Union soldiers at Libby Prison with food and medicine, in particular) earned her the enmity of her community. Elizabeth used this to her advantage -- taking on a slightly crazy, muttering, slovenly personae that earned her the nickname "Crazy Bet" -- to cover up her serious efforts to help the Union. In addition to the industrious spying and aiding Union prisoners (while also gleaning information from the captives), Elizabeth also helped escaped prisoners by hiding them in a secret room in her mansion. She wrote her information in cipher code, hid the messages in the soles of servants' shoes or hollowed egg shells, then had the notes relayed to Union officers through several helpers and agents.

Mary had considerable intelligence, as well as some acting skills. In order to get access to top-secret information, Mary became "Ellen Bond," a dim-witted, also slightly crazy, but able servant. Elizabeth had a friend take Mary along to help at functions held by Varina Davis, the wife of Confederate President Jefferson Davis. Mary proved herself well and was eventually taken on full-time, working in

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the Confederate White House until just before the end of the war. Of course, they assumed she was a slave.

With the racial prejudice of the day, the assumption that slaves were illiterate and not intelligent, and the way slave servants were trained to seem invisible, Mary was able to glean considerable information simply by doing her job. While serving meals and cleaning up after, she overhead conversations about troop strategy and movement between the president and his advisors and military officers. Being literate, she was able to read letters and documents that were left out in the president's private study. She memorized everything word for word. Apparently President Davis came to realize there was a leak in the house, but did not suspect Mary until late in the war.

Mary passed her information to either Elizabeth, whom she met occasionally at night near the Van Lew farm just outside Richmond, or Thomas McNiven, a reputable Richmond baker. With his business, both at the bakery itself and while making deliveries, he was able to receive and pass on secrets without suspicion. In his stops at the Davis household, Mary would greet him at the wagon and talk briefly. Just before he died in 1904, Thomas told his daughter Jeannette about these activities, and she in turn told her nephew, Robert Waitt Jr., who recorded them in 1952. According to Thomas, Mary was the source of the most crucial information available:

"...as she was working right in the Davis home and had a photographic mind. Everything she saw on the Rebel president's desk, she could repeat word for word. Unlike most colored, she could read and write. She made a point of always coming out to my wagon when I made deliveries at the Davis' home to drop information."

Toward the end of the war, suspicion finally did fall on Mary, although it is not known how or why. She fled in January 1865, but she attempted one last act as a Union spy and sympathizer. She tried to burn down the Confederate Capitol, but was unsuccessful.

After the war, the federal government destroyed the records of Southern spy activities, to protect their lives -- including Mary, Elizabeth and Thomas. This is why details are missing in their stories. Several sources state that Mary recorded her spying activities in a diary, but family members inadvertently discarded it in 1952. Other sources say the family destroyed them on purpose because they were afraid they might fall into the wrong hands. And still other sources say the diary still exists, in the possession of a Black family that refuses to release it. Apparently, the Bowser family rarely discussed her work -- even among family members -- fearing retaliation from lingering Confederate sympathists, and given the political and social climate in the South. There is no record of Mary's life after the war, or her death. It is thought that she returned to the North (Philadelphia?).

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In 1995, the U.S. government honored Mary Elizabeth Bowser for her efforts by inducting her in the U.S. Army Military Intelligence Corps Hall of Fame in Fort Huachuca, Arizona. During the ceremony, her contribution was described thus:

"Ms. Bowser certainly succeeded in a highly dangerous mission to the great benefit of the Union effort. She was one of the highest placed and most productive espionage agents of the Civil War. ... [Her information] greatly enhanced the Union's conduct of the war. ... Jefferson Davis never discovered the leak in his household staff, although he knew the Union somehow kept discovering Confederate plans."

DATE OF DEATH: unknown

PLACE OF DEATH: unknown

PORTRAYED BY: Vernice Jackson

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Buranelli, Vincent. American Spies and Traitors. Enslow, 2004.

Colman, Penny. Spies!: Women in the Civil War. Shoe Tree Press, 1992.

Dannett, Sylvia G.L. Profiles of Negro Womanhood. Educational Heritage, 1964.

Forbes, Ella. African American Women During the Civil War. Garland, 1998.

Hine, Darlene Clark; Elsa Barkley Brown; Rosalyn Terborg-Penn, editors. Black Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia. Indiana University Press, 1993.

Kane, Harnett T. Spies for the Blue and Gray. Doubleday, 1954.

Lebsock, Suzanne. A Share of Honor: Virginia Women 1600 - 1945. The Project, 1984. / Virginia State Library, 1987.

Van Lew, Elizabeth. Ryan, David D., editor. A Yankee Spy in Richmond : the Civil War Diary of "Crazy Bet" Van Lew. Stackpole Books, 1996.

Varon, Elizabeth. Southern Lady, Yankee Spy: The True Story of Elizabeth Van Lew, a Union Agent in the Heart of the Confederacy. Oxford University Press, 2003.

WEB SITES:

Mary Elizabeth Bowser - African Americans: Culture, History, Legacy and Heritage of a Proud People

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Mary Elizabeth Bowser - African American National Biography: a joint project of the W. E. B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research at Harvard University and Oxford University Press

From Slave to Spy: Mary Elizabeth Bowser - Spokesman Magazine, November, 2004 by Anthony Pendleton (Find Articles at BNET)

Mary Elizabeth Bowser: Tea and Secrets - New York Post, March 27, 2008 by Jasmin K. Williams

The Spy Who Served Me - NPR Morning Edition

Mary Elizabeth Bowser - Gibbs Magazine: News, Opinions and Ideas of Black America

Elizabeth "Crazy Bet" Van Lew: Grant's Spy in Richmond - The Home of the American Civil War, Biographies

Elizabeth Van Lew and Mary Elizabeth Bowser - About Famous People

The White House of the Confederacy - The Museum of the Confederacy

• Belle Boyd (1844-1900) - Confederate spy during the Civil War.

CHARACTER NAME: Maria Isabella Boyd

BIRTH PLACE: Martinsburg, Virginia

BIRTH DATE: May 4, 1844

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EDUCATION: Mount Washington Female College of Baltimore, age 12 to 16.

FAMILY BACKGROUND: Belle was from a typical Southern family. Father Ben was a store merchant and grocer. Several brothers died before the Civil War. Belle's father joined the Virginia Cavalry. Belle was left with her sister Mary Jane, age 10, her brother Bill, age 4, her mother and grandmother.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

1861. Soon after the start of the Civil War, Belle was organizing parties to visit the troops. At that time she also shot and killed a Union soldier who had pushed her mother. She was acquitted of the crime. Shortly thereafter, she became a courier for Generals Beauregarde and Jackson, carrying information, delivering medical supplies and confiscating weapons. Belle made a few heroic rides through battle fields in order to get her "secrets" across the lines to the South.

During the War she was imprisoned three times. In 1862 she was imprisoned in old Carroll Prison in Washington, D.C. for one month.

In 1864 she went to England carrying information for the confederates. There she married a Union naval officer.

PLACE OF DEATH: Kilbourne City, Wisconsin now known as Wisconsin Dells,Wisconsin. She is buried in the Spring Grove Cemetery in Wisconsin Dells.

DATE OF DEATH: 1900

WEB SITES:

• Timelines of the Civil War:o The History Place U.S. Civil War 1861-1865 o Library of Congress American Memory Time Line of the Civil War, 1861-

1865 • Belle Boyd biography from The Home of the Civil War • The Belle Boyd House • "Remember The Ladies" Spies • Belle Boyd biography from Women in American History

• Margaret "Molly" Tobin Brown (1867-1932) - Titanic survivor and a woman who was determined to break the rules of "high society."

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NAME: Margaret "Maggie" Tobin Brown, known as "Molly Brown"

DATE OF BIRTH: July 18,1867

PLACE OF BIRTH: Hannibal, Missouri

DATE OF DEATH: October 26, 1932

PLACE OF DEATH:New York, New York

FAMILY BACKGROUND: Margaret Brown was not born into wealth. She was the daughter of Irish immigrants and had a brother, Daniel. As a teenager, Margaret moved to Leadville, Colorado where her brother worked in the mines and she worked in a mercantile store. She married James Joseph Brown in 1886 and the couple moved to neighboring Stumpftown where they began a soup kitchen for mining families. It was here that Margaret first became involved with the women's suffrage movement.

EDUCATION: Margaret attended elementary school in Hannibal; her aunt was the administrator of the school. In 1901 Margaret attended the Carnegie Institute to study language and literature. After the sinking of the Titanic, Margaret studied acting in Paris and New York in the Sarah Bernhard style.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Margaret Brown is widely known as "The Unsinkable Molly Brown," a woman famous for surviving the sinking of the Titanic. She was also an actress, an activist and was a devoted philanthropist.

Her husband started as a miner; moved up to superintendent; and then gained his fortune by inventing a method to reach the gold at the very bottom of mines. In 1894 the Browns moved to Denver and became active in its philanthropic and political circles: Margaret was one of the founders of the Denver Woman's Club which assisted women and children and also worked to begin one of the first juvenile courts in the country. Shortly after she attempted to gain a seat in Congress, even before women received the right to vote.

While the Browns were in Egypt in 1912, they learned that their grandson was ill; Margaret booked her seat on the Titantic to go to him. Margaret's heart and fluency in languages allowed her to aid her fellow passengers during the sinking of the Titanic. The French Legion of Honour recognized Margaret in 1932 by awarding her for her efforts during the sinking and her work with miners and women and children.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Blos, Joan, W. The Heroine of the Titanic: a Tale Both True and Otherwise of the Life of Molly Brown. New York: Morrow Junior Books, 1991. [Lakewood Public Library jBIO Brown]

Iversen, Kristen. Molly Brown: Unraveling the Myth. 1999 [Cleveland Public Library]

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Landau, Elaine. Heroine of the Titanic: the Real Unsinkable Molly Brown. New York: Clarion Books, 2001. [Lakewood Public Library jBIO Brown]

WEB SITES:

• About Molly : Molly Brown House Museum • Unsinkable Molly Brown, Tougher Than Titanic • Molly Brown : Titanic

• Eliza Bryant (1827-1907) - African-American founder of the The Cleveland Home for

Aged Colored People.

BIRTHDATE: 1827

BIRTHPLACE: North Carolina

EDUCATION: Unknown

FAMILY BACKGROUND: Parents, Polly Simmons, a slave, and her master. In 1848 Polly Simmons was freed and moved north with her family, purchasing a home in Cleveland, Ohio with funds from her master.

DESCRIPTION OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Eliza Bryant was active in the movement to welcome and assist African Americans to the Cleveland area, particularly those moving from the southern states. Through this work she learned of the special needs of elderly blacks left alone due to slavery. Existing facilities denied access to African Americans and so, Bryant, with the aid of Sarah Green and Lethia Flemming, began the work of establishing a home for aged blacks around 1893. In January, 1895 a board of trustees was named and the Cleveland Home for Aged Colored People opened on August 11, 1897. Bryant married and had several children.

DATE OF DEATH: May 13, 1907

PLACE OF DEATH: Cleveland, Ohio. She is buried in Woodland Cemetary.

PORTRAYED BY: Sherrie Tolliver

PUBLICATIONS:

The Dictionary of Cleveland Biography. David V. Van Tassel, ed., Indiana University Press, Bloomington and Indianapolis, 1996. p.70-71.

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Eliza Bryant entry in The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History. David V. Van Tassel, ed., Indiana University Press, Bloomington and Indianapolis, 1996. pp. 384-385.

The Eliza Bryant Home Records, held at the Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio.

Held in Cleveland Public Library:

Cleveland Home for Aged Colored People. 1985 Commemorative Program: To Commemorate 89 Years of Commitment and Service to the Elderly. Cleveland, Ohio; [1985].

Annual report of the Cleveland Home for Aged Colored People. Author: Cleveland Home for Aged Colored People. Published: Cleveland, Ohio: The Home, 1896?-

Historical Sketch and Financial Report of the Cleveland Association of the Home for Aged Colored People and the Men's Auxiliary to the Home, from July 1893 to July 1908. Author: Cleveland Home for Aged Colored People. Published: Cleveland, 1908? 12p.

• Abbie Burgess (Grant) (1839-1892) - Lighthouse keeper at Matinicus Rock and Whitehead Light Stations in Maine, commissioned by U.S. Coast Guard.

NAME: Abbie Burgess Grant

BIRTH DATE: 1839

BIRTH PLACE: Maine

EDUCATION: Limited formal schooling. Home-schooled by mother. Abbie could read and write.

FAMILY BACKGROUND: In 1853, Abbie's father, Sam Burgess, was appointed Lighthouse Keeper at Matinicus Rock. Abbie was one of ten children. She had two older sisters, one older brother; five younger sisters; her youngest sibling was a boy. She married Isaac Grant, son of Capt. John Grant, the keeper of Matinicus after her father. They had four children: Francis, Melvina, Mary Louise and Harris. [This information is courtesy of Abbie's great granddaughter, Patricia Grant.]

DESCRIPTION OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Although her father and father-in-law held the title of Lighthouse Keeper at Matinicus Rock, it was Abbie that was in charge of the work. In 1873, Isaac was appointed Keeper at White Head Light Station and he and Abbie tended the lights there. Abbie received the appointment

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of assistant keeper at White Head in 1875. She retired from there in 1890 due to illness.

DATE OF DEATH: 1892

PLACE OF DEATH: Portland, Maine, in a house on Maple Street.

PORTRAYED BY: Linda Wilson

READING:

Clifford, Mary Louise and J. Candace, Women Who Kept the Lights: An Illustrated History of Female Lighthouse Keepers. Williamsburg, Va., Cypress Communications, 1993.

Roop, Peter and Connie, Keep The Lights Burning, Abbie. Minneapolis, Minn., Carolrhoda Books, c1985. (for younger readers)

Jones, Dorothy Holder and Ruth Sexton Sargent Abbie Burgess, Lighthouse Heroine. New York, Funk & Wagnalls [1969] (fiction; for middle readers)

WEB SITES:

The Coast Guard Cutter Abbie Burgess(USCGC Abbie Burgess WLM 553, 1997)

Coast Guard: Abbie Burgess (cutter) - Abbie Burgess launch

Coast Guard: Abbie Burgess Bio

Abigail Burgess Grant

usalights.com - The History of Abbie Burgess Grant

Mantinicus Rock Light History

Lighthouse Keepers in the Nineteenth Century

• Martha Jane "Calamity Jane" Cannary (1852-1903) - A lone woman in the wilds of the Rocky Mountain west

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Image Donated by Corbis - Bettmann

NAME: Martha Jane "Calamity Jane" Cannary Burke

DATE OF BIRTH: May 1, 1852

PLACE OF BIRTH: Princeton, Missouri

FAMILY BACKGROUND: Martha (or Marthy) Jane Cannary was the oldest of six children, having two brothers and three sisters, born to Robert and Charlotte Cannary. Both of her parents were born in Ohio. In 1865, the family emigrated over five months with a wagon train from Missouri to Virginia City, Montana. Her mother died along the way in Black Foot, Montana, in 1866. Shortly after arriving in Virginia City, the family left in the spring of 1866 for Utah, arriving at Salt Lake City in the summer. They remained there a year, until her father died in 1867. As the oldest child, Martha Jane took over as head of the family and took them to Fort Bridger, Wyoming Territory, arriving in May 1868. From there, they traveled to Piedmont, Wyoming, on the Union Pacific Railroad.

EDUCATION: In the frontier country she grew up in, Martha Jane likely received little or no formal education.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Martha Jane set herself apart from other women in that she could work and socialize with hard and tough frontiersmen: from digging for gold, drinking in bars, cussing and dressing like a man, she was mostly accepted by them.

As a young child, she loved adventure and the outdoors and became an expert rider at a young age. On her family's emigration trip, while 13 years old, Martha Jane apparently could already "cuss as fiercely as any man" and had "learned to like the taste of whiskey," writes biographer Doris Faber. As Martha Jane wrote in her brief autobiography in 1896:

"While on the way, the greater portion of my time was spent in hunting along with the men and hunters of the party; in fact, I was at all times with the men when there was excitement and adventures to be had. By the time we reached Virginia City, I was considered a remarkable good shot and a fearless rider for a girl of my age. I remember

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many occurrences on the journey from Missouri to Montana. Many times in crossing the mountains, the conditions of the trail were so bad that we frequently had to lower the wagons over ledges by hand with ropes, for they were so rough and rugged that horses were of no use.

"We also had many exciting times fording streams, for many of the streams in our way were noted for quicksands and boggy places, where, unless we were very careful, we would have lost horses and all. Then we had many dangers to encounter in the way of streams swelling on account of heavy rains. On occasions of that kind, the men would usually select the best places to cross the streams; myself, on more than one occasion, have mounted my pony and swam across the stream several times merely to amuse myself, and have had many narrow escapes from having both myself and pony washed away to certain death, but, as the pioneers of those days had plenty of courage, we overcame all obstacles and reached Virginia City in safety."

Martha Jane's mother helped supplement the family income by taking in washing from nearby mining camps. She died from an ailment called "washtub pneumonia." After both parents had passed away, she went to Wyoming Territory: first to Fort Bridger, arriving May 1, 1868; then to Piedmont by the Union Pacific Railroad (which was still being built). According to some observers at that time, Martha Jane attracted some attention -- described by one as "extremely attractive" and another as a "pretty, dark-eyed girl."

Next she went to Fort Russell in 1870 where, she says, she joined General George Custer as a scout and went to Arizona "for the Indian Campaign." (With the West still vastly wild territory, white settlers and Native Americans were often having conflicts, so U.S. soldiers were sent to subdue the tribes, using scouts who knew the terrain.) However, no evidence exists that Custer was ever at Fort Russell; another source states it is more likely that she served with General George Crook, who was stationed at Fort Fetterman, Wyoming. It was here she began dressing like a man, writing:

"Up to this time, I had always worn the costume of my sex. When I joined Custer, I donned the uniform of a soldier. It was a bit awkward at first, but I soon got to be perfectly at home in men's clothes."

Stories have arisen that Martha Jane was attempting to disguise her gender and was found out on occasion. With the work she did with the army, the uniform would have been necessary not only to best perform her duties, but also to be accepted. One rumor does state that, while driving in a wagon train, "her sex was discovered," writes biographer Roberta Sollid, "when the wagon-master noted she did not cuss her mules with the enthusiasm to be expected from a graduate of Patrick and Saulsbury's Black Hills Stage line, as she had represented herself to be."

While in Arizona, in the winter of 1871, Martha Jane was having "a great many adventures with the Indians, for as a scout I had a great many dangerous missions to perform and, while I was in many close places, always succeeded in getting away safely,

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for by this time I was considered the most reckless and daring rider and one of the best shots in the western country."

After that campaign, Martha Jane returned to Fort Sanders, Wyoming, remaining until the spring of 1872, "when we were ordered out to the Muscle Shell or Nursey Pursey Indian outbreak." Generals Custer, Miles, Terry and Crook were all engaged in this campaign, which lasted until the fall of 1873. It was during this campaign, at the age of 20, that she says she obtained her nickname:

"It was on Goose Creek, Wyoming, where the town of Sheridan is now located. Captain Egan was in command of the Post. We were ordered out to quell an uprising of the Indians, and were out for several days, had numerous skirmishes during which six of the soldiers were killed and several severely wounded. When on returning to the Post, we were ambushed about a mile and a half from our destination. When fired upon, Captain Egan was shot. I was riding in advance and, on hearing the firing, turned in my saddle and saw the Captain reeling in his saddle as though about to fall. I turned my horse and galloped back with all haste to his side and got there in time to catch him as he was falling. I lifted him onto my horse in front of me and succeeded in getting him safely to the Fort. Captain Egan, on recovering, laughingly said: 'I name you Calamity Jane, the heroine of the plains.' I have borne that name up to the present time."

Not everyone, even back then, accepts Jane's version of how her nickname began. One old-timer said, "If she sat on a fence rail, it would rare up and buck her off." The St. Paul Dispatch wrote: "She got her name from a faculty she has had of producing a ruction at any time and place and on short notice." Apparently, around this time, she met William Cody, later known as "Buffalo Bill."

After that campaign, the regiment was ordered to Fort Custer, where Custer city is now, arriving in the spring of 1874. They stayed there until returning to Fort Russell that fall. The next spring, they were ordered to the Black Hills in the South Dakota Territory to protect miners and settlers. They stayed there until fall of 1875 and spent the winter at Fort Laramie. The next spring, they were ordered to the Big Horn River along with General Crook, to join Generals Miles, Terry and Custer again. During this march to the Big Horn, Jane swam the Platte River at Fort Fetterman bearing "important dispatches." It was a 90-mile ride, both wet and cold, and she became severely ill.

After recuperating at Fort Fetterman for two weeks, she rode to Fort Laramie, where she met James Butler "Wild Bill" Hickok. Together, with Colorado Charles Otter, his brother Steve, and Kittie Arnold, they rode to Deadwood, South Dakota, arriving "about June" 1876. The Black Hills Pioneer reported "Calamity Jane has arrived."

"During the month of June, I acted as a pony express rider carrying the U.S. mail between Deadwood and Custer, a distance of fifty miles, over one of the roughest trails in the Black Hills country. As many of the riders before me had been held up and robbed of their packages, mail and money that they carried, for that was the only means of getting mail and money between these points. It was considered the most dangerous route in the

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Hills, but as my reputation as a rider and quick shot was well known, I was molested very little, for the toll gatherers looked on me as being a good fellow, and they knew that I never missed my mark. I made the round trip every two days which was considered pretty good riding in that country. Remained around Deadwood all that summer visiting all the camps within an area of one hundred miles. My friend, Wild Bill, remained in Deadwood during the summer with the exception of occasional visits to the camps."

Legend states that she and Wild Bill were involved during the gold mining years in Deadwood; however, there is no evidence supporting this theory, although it seems she wanted a relationship with him but he did not feel the same. Hickok had just married Agnes Lake Thatcher of Cheyenne, Wyoming, in March of that same year, and was writing letters home to her in Ohio. He was trying to make quick money in the boomtown, not by gold mining but by gambling -- and it proved to be his downfall.

"On the 2nd of August, while setting at a gambling table in the Bell Union saloon, in Deadwood, he was shot in the back of the head by the notorious Jack McCall, a desperado. I was in Deadwood at the time and, on hearing of the killing, made my way at once to the scene of the shooting and found that my friend had been killed by McCall. I at once started to look for the assassian and found him at Shurdy's butcher shop and grabbed a meat cleaver and made him throw up his hands; through the excitement on hearing of Bill's death, having left my weapons on the post of my bed. He was then taken to a log cabin and locked up, well secured as every one thought, but he got away and was afterwards caught at Fagan's ranch on Horse Creek, on the old Cheyenne road and was then taken to Yankton, Dak., where he was tried, sentenced and hung."

Jane remained in the Deadwood area locating claims and going from camp to camp. One morning in the spring of 1877, she rode toward Crook city. She had gone about 12 miles out when she met the overland mail running from Cheyenne to Deadwood:

"Upon looking closely I saw they were pursued by Indians. The horses ran to the barn as was their custom. As the horses stopped I rode along side of the coach and found the driver John Slaughter, lying face downwards in the boot of the stage, he having been shot by the Indians. When the stage got to the station the Indians hid in the bushes. I immediately removed all baggage from the coach except the mail. I then took the driver's seat and with all haste drove to Deadwood, carrying six passengers and the dead driver."

In 1878, a smallpox epidemic hit Deadwood. Eight men were quarantined in a little shack in the mountain area called "White Rocks." According to Dora DeFran, a notorious madam of brothels in the Black Hills, Jane volunteered to care for them -- with only epsom salts and cream of tartar. Three of the men died and, as she buried them, she recited the prayer "Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep." DeFran wrote that "her good nursing brought five of these men out of the shadow of death, and many more later on, before the disease died out." Interestingly, Jane wrote nothing of this in her memoirs.

Shortly afterwards, Jane wrote that she left Deadwood and went to Bear Butte Creek with the Seventh Cavalry. They built Fort Meade and the town of Sturgis that fall and winter.

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The next year, she went to Rapid city and spent a year prospecting for gold. After that, she went to Fort Pierre, driving wagon trains from Rapid city to the fort, and from Fort Pierce to Sturgis. "This teaming was done with oxen as they were better fitted for the work than horses, owing to the rough nature of the country," she wrote. Apparently she was so good at this driving, one observer wrote, that she bet she could "knock a fly off an ox's ear with a sixteen-foot whip-lash three times out of five."

As far as Jane's ability with a gun is concerned, she did wear them and was apparently quite familiar and skilled with them. No evidence exists that she ever ruthlessly killed anyone. According to biographer Robert Bolt: "On one occasion, reported in the [Bozeman, Montana Avant Courier], the cowboys in a saloon in Oakes, North Dakota, began to 'chaff' her. Cannary smiled, whipped out two revolvers, shouting, 'Dance, you tenderfeet, dance.' Dance they did 'with much vigor.' 'Calamity Jane was not a person to be trifled with,' concluded the Bozeman newspaper."

In another account, O.W. Coursey's Beautiful Black Hills, Jane was travelling with a pack train carrying army supplies when a mule went down and the driver "kicked it viciously with his heavy army boots and abused it mercilessly." Jane said, "Don't you kick that mule again." The driver knocked her hat off with his whip, to which she pulled her revolver "quicker than a flash," ordering the driver to "put that hat where you got it." Coursey added that, "Judging by the look in her eyes and the tone of her voice, he promptly obeyed."

In 1881, Jane went to Wyoming; returning to Miles city in 1882 and starting a ranch on "the Yellow Stone" raising stock and cattle. She also kept "a way side inn, where the weary traveler could be accommodated with food, drink, or trouble if he looked for it." She left that in 1883, travelling west and reaching Ogden, California, in late 1883, then San Francisco in 1884. That summer, she left for Texas, reaching El Paso in the fall.

"While in El Paso, I met Mr. Clinton Burk, a native of Texas, who I married in August 1885 [at 33 years old]. As I thought I had travelled through life long enough alone and thought it was about time to take a partner for the rest of my days. We remained in Texas leading a quiet home life until 1889. On October 28th, 1887, I became the mother of a baby girl, the very image of its father, at least that is what he said, but who has the temper of its mother."

Biographers tend to think Jane's marriage occurred sometime in the 1890s; one source dates it at September 25, 1891. While she did not write of any other men, or children, evidence exists that she was involved with a Robert Dorsett in the 1880s. And a court record from November 1888 states that "Charles Townley, an unmarried man, and Jane Doe, alias Calamity Jane, an unmarried woman, [did at times] unlawfully bed, cohabit and live together ... without being then and there married." Apparently she also had relationships with a Wyoming rancher named King and a William Steers. Nothing more is written anywhere of her baby girl, or her name, even in Jane's memoirs. (Although one woman, Jane McCormick, claimed to be her daughter, but this claim is questionable.) Jane continued her autobiography:

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"When we left Texas we went to Boulder, Colorado, where we kept a hotel until 1893, after which we travelled through Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, Washington, Oregon, then back to Montana, then to Dakota, arriving in Deadwood October 9th, 1895, after an absence of seventeen years.

"My arrival in Deadwood after an absence of so many years created quite an excitement among my many friends of the past, to such an extent that a vast number of the citizens who had come to Deadwood during my absence, who had heard so much of Calamity Jane and her many adventures in former years, were anxious to see me. Among the many whom I met were several gentlemen from eastern cities who advised me to allow myself to be placed before the public in such a manner as to give the people of the eastern cities an opportunity of seeing the Woman Scout who was made so famous through her daring career in the West and Black Hill countries. ... My first engagement began at the Palace Museum, Minneapolis, January 20th, 1896, under Kohl and Middleton's management."

At the Palace Museum, Jane was billed as the "famous woman scout of the Wild West," the "heroine of a thousand thrilling adventures," "the Terror of evildoers in the Black Hills," and "the comrade of Buffalo Bill and Wild Bill Hickok." No one knows how many appearances she made, or if she appeared anywhere but in Minneapolis. One biographer figured she was most likely unable to stay sober or restrain herself to management's restrictions. (Reportedly, she had sworn never to go to bed with "a nickel in her pocket or sober." Other sources say she toured with Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show until her drinking and subsequent fighting led to her being fired in 1901.

In 1901, Jane did appear at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. She was also selling copies of her pamphlet autobiography. Apparently her drinking got her into trouble with the police there and Buffalo Bill had to loan her money to get back home. He later said: "I expect she was no more tired of Buffalo than the Buffalo police were of her, for her sorrows seemed to need a good deal of drowning."

Now 51 years old, Jane returned to Deadwood, visiting Wild Bill's grave in Mt. Moriah Cemetery, and even posing for a picture there. In July, she travelled to Terry, South Dakota, a small mining town, and stayed in the Calloway Hotel, where several old friends visited her. On August 1, 1903, at 5:00 p.m. she died. She had requested her funeral to be conducted by the Black Hills Pioneer Society, and supposedly said, "Bury me beside Wild Bill -- the only man I ever loved." And so she was.

DATE OF DEATH: August 1, 1903

PLACE OF DEATH: Terry, So. Dakota

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Commire, Anne, editor. Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia. Waterford, Conn.: Yorkin Publications, 1999-2000.

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DeFran, Dora. Low Down on Calamity Jane. Stickney, SD: Argus Printers, 1981.

Faber, Doris. Calamity Jane: Her Life and Her Legend. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1992.

Krohn, Katherine E. Women of the Wild West. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications Co., 2000.

Mueller, Ellen Crago. Calamity Jane. Laramie: Jelm Mountain Press, 1981.

Riley, Glenda, editor. By Grit & Grace: Eleven Women Who Shaped the American West. Golden, Co., Fulcrum Pub., 1997.

Riley, Glenda, editor. Wild Women of the Old West. Golden, Co.: Fulcrum Pub., 2003.

Sanford, William R. and Carl R. Green. Calamity Jane: Frontier Original. Springfield, N.J.: Enslow Publishers, 1996.

Sollid, Roberta Beed. Calamity Jane : A Study in Historical Criticism. Helena, MT: Montana Historical Society Press, 1995.

WEB SITES:

Calamity Jane from the Adams Museum & House in Deadwood, South Dakota

Life and Adventures of Calamity Jane by Herself -- Black Hills Info Website

Calamity Jane from PageWise

• Rachel Carson (1907-1964) - Marine biologist, science writer, and environmentalist.

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NAME: Rachel Carson

BIRTHDATE: May 27, 1907

BIRTHPLACE: Springdale, PA

EDUCATION:

1925- entered Pennsylvania College for Women (now Chatham College) 1929- graduated with honors, earning a scholarship to continue her studies at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, MD. 1932- M.A. in Zoology from John Hopkins University.

FAMILY BACKGROUND: The youngest of three children, Rachel Carson had a rugged upbringing in a simple farmhouse outside the western Pennsylvania river town of Springdale. She credited her mother with introducing her to the world of nature that became her lifelong passion.

DESCRIPTION OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS: After completing her education, Carson joined the U. S. Bureau of Fisheries as the writer of a radio show entitled "Romance Under the Waters," in which she was able to explore life under the seas and bring it to listeners. In 1936, after being the first woman to take and pass the civil service test, the Bureau of Fisheries hired her as a full-time junior biologist, and over the next 15 years, she rose in the ranks until she was the chief editor of all publications for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

During the 1940s, Carson began to write books on her observations of life under the sea, a world as yet unknown to the majority of people. She resigned from her government position in 1952 in order to devote all her time to writing. The idea for her most famous book, Silent Spring, emerged, and she began writing it in 1957. It was published in 1962, and influenced President Kennedy, who had read it, to call for testing of the chemicals mentioned in the book. Carson has been called the mother of the modern environmental movement.

DATE OF DEATH: April 14, 1964

PLACE OF DEATH: Her home in Silver Spring, MD

PORTRAYED BY: Celeste Earhart

WEB SITES:

Rachel Carson Homestead Rachel Carson Council Rachel Carson National Wildlife RefugeRachel Carson Forum - a center for "new ideas and opinions about environmental

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issues facing Pennsylvania." Former Vice-President Al Gore's Introduction to the 1994 reissue of Silent Spring Rachel Carson is a charter inductee into the Ecology Hall of Fame

BIBLIOGRAPHY: 1941-Under the Sea Wind 1943-Food From the Sea: Fish and Shellfish of New England 1944-Food From the Sea: Fish and Shellfish of the South Atlantic 1951-The Sea Around Us 1955-The Edge of the Sea 1962-Silent Spring 1965-The Sense of Wonder (posthumous)

QUOTE:

It is a wholesome and necessary thing for us to turn again to the earth and in the contemplation of her beauties to know the sense of wonder and humility.

- Rachel Carson

• Rebecca Carter (1766-1827) - Pioneer woman of Cleveland.

NAME: Rebecca Fuller Carter

BIRTH DATE: 1766

BIRTH PLACE: Carmel, New York

EDUCATION: Learned to read and write as a child in Litchfield, Connecticut

FAMILY BACKGROUND: Married Lorenzo Carter in Rutland, Vermont April 28, 1789. Their children were: Alonzo (b. 1-6-1790); Laura (b. 3-3-1792); Henry (1796); Polly (Mary) (10-8-1798); Rebecca (1800); Mercy (4-3-1804); Betsy.

DESCRIPTION OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS: A pioneer woman, hers was the first permanent white family to settle in Cleveland, Ohio. She saw Cleveland grow from 7 people in a wilderness to 500 people in 1825 before the opening of the Ohio Canal. Her home was the center of community activity -- a trading post, school, church, jail, and general meeting place.

DATE OF DEATH: October 19, 1827

PLACE OF DEATH: Cleveland, Ohio. She is buried in the Erie Street Cemetery.

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PORTRAYED BY: Helenmary Ball

WEB SITES:

Lorenzo Carter entry - The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History.

Cleveland Central Cleveland Bicentennial Online Teaching Cleveland - a timeline of events in Cleveland history beginning with the city's frontier settlement days.

Ohio's Historic Canals - includes a map of Ohio's canals.

• Mary Ann Shadd Cary (1823-1893) African-American born pioneer journalist and lecturer.

Photo: Miss Mary Ann Shadd Cary, ca. 1845-55Source: Library and Archives Canada/David Shadd collection/C-029977

NAME: Mary Ann Shadd Cary

DATE OF BIRTH: October 9, 1823

PLACE OF BIRTH: Wilmington, Delaware

DATE OF DEATH: 1893

PLACE OF DEATH: Washington D. C.

FAMILY BACKGROUND: Mary Ann was the eldest child of thirteen children born to Harriet and Abraham Shadd, established leaders in the free Black community. Her father was a key figure in the Underground Railroad and a subscription agent for William Lloyd Garrison's Liberator. As a child, Mary Ann witnessed slavery and the dedication her family had to freeing slaves.

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Mary Ann Shad married Thomas F. Cary of Toronto in 1856. They had two children, Sarah and Linton. They lived in Chatham, Canada where Mary worked at her paper and taught school. Thomas died in 1860.

EDUCATION: At the age of ten, the Shadd's moved to West Chester, Pennsylvania where Mary attended a Quaker School for the next six years. This experience influence dMary later in life, whereby she returned to this location and opened a school for Black children in 1840. Later, she also taught in New York City and Norristown, Pennsylvania.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Mary Ann Shad Cary is noted for her attacks on slavery and promotion of self-reliance. Her gift of writing in a both elegant and targeted way attracted readers to her ideas. She preached against those who took advantage of freed slaves and tried to teach these slaves how to be self reliant. In 1850 the Fugitive Slave Law was passed and Mary and her brother, Isaac, emigrated to Canada with the rest of the American Black exodus.

In Canada, Mary founded a racially integrated school in Canada with the support of the American Missionary Association. At this time she joined abolitionists Mary and Henry Bibb to fight against exploitive antislavery agents known as "begging agents." She simultaneously criticized Black Southern ministry and other Blacks who did not teach intellectual growth and self reliance to other Blacks. In 1852 she wrote "Notes on Canada West" which pursuaded American Blacks to come to Canada.

After the decline of her paper, Mary moved to Washington D.C. and served as a recruiting officer for the Union Army, promoting Black nationalism. In Washington, Mary established a school for Black children and attended Howard University Law School; she became the first Black female lawyer in the United States when she graduated in 1870.

As a lawyer she worked for the right to vote and was one of few woman to receive the right to vote in federal elections. She organized the Colored Women's Progressive Franchise in 1880 which was dedicated to women's rights.

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QUOTE: "Self-reliance Is the Fine Road to Independence."From the paper which served as her voice and in which she served as editor, publisher, and investigative reporter, Provincial Freeman.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Rhodes, Jane. Mary Ann Shadd Cary: the Black Press and Protest in the Nineteenth Century. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1998.

Breaking the ice [videorecording]: The Mary Ann Shadd story. Dir. Sylvia Sweeney. First Run/Icarus Films, 1997.

WEB SITES:

Mary Ann Shadd Cary - Afro-American Almanac

Mary Shadd Cary - Women's Exhibition: Celebrating Women's Achievements

National Women's Hall of Fame

• Carrie Chapman Catt (1859-1947) - Suffragette, founder of the League of Women Voters.

Source: Pageant of America Vol. 9: Makers of a New Nation, Bassett, John Spencer, Yale University Press (1928)

© www.arttoday.com

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DATE OF BIRTH: January 9, 1859

PLACE OF BIRTH: Ripon, Wisconsin

FAMILY BACKGROUND: Carrie Clinton Lane was the second of three children (the only daughter) born to Lucius and Maria (Clinton) Lane. Her parents were both high school graduates (unusual for that time) from West Potsdam, New York, and migrated west in 1855 soon after their wedding. They first lived in Cleveland, Ohio, with Lucius buying a partnership in a coal business. They found they didn’t like city life so they moved to Ripon, Wisconsin, where Lucius worked as a farmer. In 1866, when Carrie was seven years old, they moved to Charles City, Iowa.

EDUCATION: Carrie attended elementary education in a one-room schoolhouse in Charles City. In 1877, she graduated from high school. Her father refused to provide the money for more education so Carrie taught school for a year, earning enough income to enter Iowa State Agricultural College. During her two years there, she supported herself working in the state library and the college kitchen. She graduated in 1880 – the only woman among 18 graduates.

She aspired to become a lawyer so she began reading law in an attorney’s offices in Charles City. The next year, she began teaching high school in Mason City, Iowa, with the intent of earning enough money to study law at the university. However, she found she enjoyed teaching so much she gave up the idea of becoming a lawyer. Less than two years later, she was appointed principal and superintendent of Mason City schools.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: When Carrie was 13 years old, she asked why her mother was not getting dressed up to go to town to vote like her father and his hired man. Her sincere question was met with laughter and the reason that voting was too important a civic duty to leave to women. That day was to be a turning point in her life. Another important point came in high school when she was introduced to Charles Darwin’s “Origin of the Species.” Already skeptical of traditional religion, yet retaining faith in human potential, Carrie embraced this philosophy – seeing evolutionary science as offering the idea of a constantly evolving and improving world, moving toward a free and peaceful society. Both of these events laid the groundwork for Carrie’s life work.

On February 12, 1885, Carrie married Leo Chapman, editor of the Mason City Republican, and she resigned from teaching (as married women were not allowed to teach). She became his business partner, writing a “Woman’s World” column – but not about food or fashion, rather about women’s political and labor issues, and reminding women that if they wanted the vote, they needed to organize. After Leo harshly criticized a local Republican candidate in the paper, he was sued for libel and had to sell the newspaper. In May 1886, he went to San Francisco to find work. However, he caught typhoid fever. Carrie received a telegram about him and left immediately by train, but Leo died before she arrived. She was only 27 years old.

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Left with no house or financial resources, Carrie decided to stay in San Francisco, finding work as a freelance journalist. She was barely making ends meet when one evening a male associate grabbed her and began kissing her. She managed to break away, but the assault left her feeling frightened and outraged – and determined to do something about the vulnerability of working women. She did, however, meet up with a former college student, George Catt, who had become a civil engineer with a bridge-building company. Possibly it was George who inspired Carrie to become a public lecturer, her next career. It was popular at the time and could provide a good living, so she prepared three speeches and, after hiring an agent, began perfecting them along the West Coast.

In 1887, Carried returned to Iowa and began her work for suffrage. She joined the Iowa branch of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, becoming head of its suffrage section. As that local group began breaking apart, she began organizing women and creating suffrage clubs. In 1889, she was elected secretary of the Iowa Woman Suffrage Association and, the next year, was a delegate and minor speaker at the convention of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) in Washington, D.C. (From 1869 until 1890, the women’s suffrage movement had been divided between two organizations – one headed by Lucy Stone and Henry B. Blackwell, and the other by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton – which had differing methods of achieving their goal; they reconciled differences into NAWSA.)

On June 10, 1890, Carrie married George Catt in Seattle, Washington. This did not end her suffrage career. As she said, “My husband used to say that he was as much of a reformer as I, but that he couldn’t work at reforming and earn a living at the same time; but what he could do was to earn living enough for two and free me from all economic burden, and thus I could reform for two.” His work required him to travel about the country, so Carried also accompanied him, but she also traveled on her own to states before an upcoming vote on women’s suffrage, organizing women to campaign. Unfortunately, victory eluded the suffragists. In 1893, they had a major victory when Colorado became the first state, by vote, to allow women suffrage. (Wyoming was the only other state granting women the vote, when admitted into the Union in 1890 as a full-adult suffrage state.) Carrie worked tirelessly on the Colorado victory, as she did all across the country. When she became too exhausted and ill to lecture or travel, she wrote articles from her bed. George moved his business to New York in 1892.

In 1900, Susan B. Anthony, at 80 years old, retired as president of NAWSA and Carrie was elected her successor; a position she held until 1904. In 1902, in a speech before NAWSA, she said:

“The world taught women nothing skillful and then said her work was valueless. It permitted her no opinions and said she did not know how to think. It forbade her to speak in public and said the sex had no orators. It denied her the schools, and said the sex had no genius. It robbed her of every vestige of responsibility, and then called her weak. It taught her that every pleasure must come as a favor from men and when, to gain it, she decked herself in paint and fine feathers, as she had been taught to do, it called her vain.”

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She also founded the International Woman Suffrage Alliance (IWSA), which was officially recognized at a congress held in Washington, D.C., in 1902. Australia, Denmark, Germany, Great Britain, Holland, Norway, Sweden and the U.S. were affiliated with it. Carrie was elected its first president and served until 1923.

Unfortunately, George’s health had been deteriorating for some years, and with her own physical exhaustion, Carrie resigned as president of NAWSA in 1904. The next year, in October, George passed away, leaving her devastated. Then other deaths followed: Susan B. Anthony in February 1906, her younger brother William in September 1907, and her mother in December 1907. Carrie was grief-stricken and had lost all interest in suffrage work. Her doctor and friends encouraged her to travel abroad and she did, for several years, primarily working on IWSA activities. She did accept the vice-presidency of NAWSA, under Dr. Anna Howard Shaw, who served from 1905 to 1915, but still devoted most of her energy to IWSA until the onset of World War I.

In April 1911, Carrie began a world tour – through Sweden, Europe, Africa, India, Sumatra, the Philippines, China, Korea and Japan, among others – founding suffrage organizations and observing the conditions of women. Here and there she found strongholds of feminism. Upon returning, she said she and her companions “left the seeds of revolution behind us, and the hope of liberty in many souls. But we have got much more than we gave – an experience so upsetting to all our preconceived notions that it is difficult to estimate its influence upon us.”

In the meantime, NAWSA had some victories: Idaho voted for women suffrage in 1896; Washington, 1910; California, 1911; three other Western states in 1912; and Illinois, the first victory east of the Mississippi, in 1913. But to reach their goal of a national amendment, they needed a victory in the most populous state in the union: New York. Carrie led the Empire State Campaign Committee with the slogan, “Victory in 1915.” To make sure everyone was aware of their cause, she established a school to train volunteers in organization, public speaking, parliamentary practice and suffrage history, and made sure workers were assigned to every voting precinct in the state. When they failed to gain victory in 1915, they rallied again with the slogan, “Victory in 1917,” and did win.

In 1915, Dr. Shaw resigned as president of NAWSA, and Carrie was again pressured to lead the organization. It was in disarray and members hoped she could save it. She reassumed the position, but was torn between her interests in suffrage and world peace. With World War I beginning, IWSA activities were suspended, leaving Carrie free to lead the New York campaign. A lifetime pacifist, she had helped establish the Woman’s Peace Party early in 1915, although she still focused on suffrage issues, believing the potential for world peace would be much greater after women could vote.

On September 18, 1914, Mrs. Frank Leslie (Miriam Florence Follin Leslie) passed away and bequeathed about $2 million to Carrie personally, with the intent to get women’s suffrage approved in the U.S. Miriam’s husband had died years before, leaving her a nearly bankrupt publishing business, so she legally changed her name to Frank and, through shrewd business dealings, rebuilt her husband’s publications empire into a

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fortune. Of course, various family members disputed the will (and many had been purposely excluded from her husband’s earlier will). When Carrie was pressured by the lawyers to compromise on settlements to the contestants, rather than go through lengthy and costly legal court battles, she wrote to her attorney:

“I ask myself what right have I, to whom Mrs. Leslie entrusted the residue of her estate, to be used for a certain purpose, to begin by giving a large portion of it to people whom she distinctly and deliberately intended should not have it. The duty imposed upon me is not a pleasant one and is likely to be accompanied by no little trouble and expense. Yet my conscience tells me that a principle is at stake, and that since the trust has been given me I have no right not to act in accordance with my best judgment and conscience.”

On February 1, 1917, after long legal battles and some compromises, eating up much of the bequest in legal fees, Carrie received $977,875.02. She put all of it into the Leslie Woman Suffrage Commission, Inc., to administer the fortune – sending suffrage material to newspapers, magazines and activists in an avalanche of articles and information. It turned a stalled movement into an avalanche of pressure, helping them win the New York victory in November 1917. Almost overnight, sentiment for the suffragists doubled.

In 1916, at a NAWSA convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Carrie unveiled her “Winning Plan.” It involved campaigning simultaneously for suffrage on both state and federal levels, and compromising for partial suffrage in resistant states. She ended her speech with these words:

"Do not stand in the way of the next step in human progress. No one living who reads the signs of the times but realizes that woman suffrage must come. We are working for the ballot as a matter of justice and as a step for human betterment."

In 1917, with World War I looming on the horizon, Carrie announced NAWSA’s support of President Wilson, even volunteering their services to the government if it should participate in the war. Despite shocking her pacifist friends and the Woman’s Peace Party (which denounced her actions), it was a politically astute move. It seems she might have come to believe the war was necessary (after her travels in Europe), but also, by helping the president and government through NAWSA’s over two million members, she knew she could call on him later for his personal attention in their cause. If NAWSA had been openly and actively opposed to the war, they could have lost the precious influence they had fought so hard to achieve.

The war ended in 1918, with Carrie campaigning as vigorously as ever for the national amendment. Congress by now had seen the handwriting on the wall and had passed the federal amendment, but 36 states still needed to ratify it. By March, 1919, sensing victory, she established the League of Women Voters (LWV) at the NAWSA 50th Anniversary, “Jubilee Convention,” in St. Louis. It would be NAWSA’s successor and would help educate women to become informed voters. Carrie served as honorary president for the rest of her life. In the spring of 1920, 35 states had ratified the amendment. All suffrage effort concentrated on winning that 36th state. Finally, on

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August 26, 1920, Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify it and the Nineteenth Amendment became part of the Constitution.

Carrie again focused on the IWSA and world peace. By the time she resigned as president of IWSA in 1923, at age 64, the Rome Congress included delegates from 43 countries, and in 25 of those countries women had equal suffrage (many extended during or immediately after World War I). That same year, she also published “Woman Suffrage and Politics: The Inner Story of the Suffrage Movement” with Nettie Rogers Shuler. From this point on, she devoted the rest of her life to world peace. From the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, Native American wars, and “The Great War” (World War I), Carrie had seen much devastation. She hated war and was determined to do what she could to prevent any more conflicts.

She campaigned for American participation in the League of Nations (and later the United Nations), and lectured at every possible opportunity for peace. In 1925, she helped establish the Committee on the Cause and Cure of War (CCCW), serving as chair until 1932. With many members coming from major women’s organizations, the new one quickly had over five million members. By 1930, over eight million women had joined. During the “Red Scare” following Russia’s revolution, Carrie’s pacifism and promotion of improved international relations made her a target of ‘super-patriotic’ groups, such as the Daughters of the American Revolution, who accused her of being a Communist sympathizer. The accusations were unfounded; even Eleanor Roosevelt and social worker Jane Addams were similarly accused.

Unfortunately, the winds of war were again stirring. In 1933, with Hitler’s rise and the Nazi Party persecutions, Carrie helped establish the Protest Committee of Non-Jewish Women Against the Persecution of Jews in Germany. They obtained thousands of signatures to a letter protesting the crimes against the Jews. She also lobbied Congress to amend the U.S. immigration laws to help Jews and other refugees escape. That same year, honoring her work, Carrie received the American Hebrew Medal – the first woman to do so.

She was 80 years old when World War II broke out. Her age and health prevented her from publicly campaigning any more, but she continued corresponding with influential people about helping war refugees and maintaining peace after the war. During her 40 years of continuous office-holding in all the varying organizations, she had never received a salary from any source at any time. On March 9, 1947, at the age of 88, Carrie Chapman Catt died of a heart attack in her home in New Rochelle, New York. By that time, women in most developed countries around the world had equal voting rights.

DATE OF DEATH: March 9, 1947

PLACE OF DEATH: New Rochelle, New York

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

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Baker, Jean H., editor. Votes for Women: The Struggle for Suffrage Revisited. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.

Burnett, Constance (Buel). Five for Freedom: Lucretia Mott, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucy Stone, Susan B. Anthony, Carrie Chapman Catt. New York: Abelard Press, 1953.

Catt, Carrie Chapman, and Nettie Rogers Shuler. Woman Suffrage and Politics: The Inner Story of the Suffrage Movement. New York: C. Scribner, 1923.

Catt, Carrie Chapman; Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt; Jane Addams; Judge Florence E. Allen; Mrs. Wm. Brown Meloney; Dr. Alice Hamilton; Mary E. Woolley; Florence Brewer Boeckel; Emily Newell Blair; and Dorothy Canfield Fisher; Rose Young, editor. Why Wars Must Cease. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1935.

Catt, Carrie Chapman. Then and Now. New York, 1939. [Speech delivered Jan. 9, 1939.]

Catt, Carrie Chapman [compiled by]. Woman Suffrage by Federal Constitutional Amendment. New York: National Woman Suffrage Pub. Co., 1917.

Catt, Carrie Chapman. An Address to the Congress of the United States. New York: National Woman Suffrage Pub. Co., 1917.

Commire, Anne, editor. Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia. Waterford, Conn.: Yorkin Publications, 1999-2000.

Donovan, Sharon. Great American Women's Speeches [sound recording]. New York: Harper/Collins, 1995.

Dumbeck, Kristina. Leaders of Women's Suffrage. San Diego, Calif.: Lucent Books, 2001.

Haesley, Richard, editor. Women's Suffrage. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2003.

Hamilton, Neil A., editor; writers Mark LaFlaur, James M. Manheim, Renée Miller. Lifetimes: The Great War to the Stock Market Crash: American History through Biography and Primary Documents. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 2002.

Peck, Mary Gray. Carrie Chapman Catt: A Biography. New York: The H.W. Wilson Co., 1944.

Van Voris, Jacqueline. Carrie Chapman Catt : A Public Life. New York: Feminist Press at the City University of New York, 1987.

WEB SITES:

Carrie Chapman Catt Childhood Home

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Carrie Chapman Catt from the National Women's Hall of Fame

Carrie Chapman Catt: Suffragist and Peace Advocate - Woman of Courage profile by the St. Lawrence County, NY Branch of the American Association of University Women.

Carrie Chapman Catt: Resources for Researchers from Iowa State where controversy surrounds naming a building in her honor.

Mrs. Frank Leslie: The woman whose will "bought" U.S. women the vote. (Also more about the remarkable Mrs. Frank Leslie -- the "best known woman in America, 1890" -- and the book she wrote in 1877, California: A Pleasure Trip from Gotham to the Golden Gate.)

QUOTE:

"Roll up your sleeves, set your mind to making history, and wage such a fight for liberty that the whole world will respect our sex."

• Cassie L. Chadwick (1857-1907) - Most infamous Cleveland financial con-artist.

DATE OF BIRTH: October 10, 1859

PLACE OF BIRTH: Eastwood (Strathroy, according to some accounts), Ontario, Canada

FAMILY BACKGROUND: She was born Elizabeth Bigley. Her father was an Ontario railway worker.

EDUCATION: Nothing is known of her education.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Cassie Chadwick was Cleveland’s most famous con artist in the early 20th century, with her arrest and trial drawing world-wide attention.

Not much seems to be known about her early years. In 1881, at 22 years old, she was arrested in Woodstock, Ontario, for forgery, but was released on the grounds of insanity. The next year, she married Dr. Wallace S. Springsteen in Cleveland, Ohio, but he threw her out 11 days later when he found out about her past.

Soon after, she changed her name to Lydia Scott and became a fortune-teller; only to change her name again to Madame Lydia de Vere, as it sounded better for a “clairvoyant.” Some accounts say this happened in 1886 and 1887, respectively. One account says she

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was in San Francisco bilking unsuspecting people with her clairvoyance, then returned to Cleveland in 1886.

Most accounts state she was sentenced in 1889 to nine and a half years in the state penitentiary for forgery in Toledo. After serving four years, she was paroled by then-governor William McKinley, and returned to Cleveland. She changed her name yet again to 'Mrs. Hoover' and opened a brothel, or began working as a prostitute (accounts differ). At some point (one account says in 1887), she had a son, whom she named Emil Hoover.

It was around this point that she met and married Dr. Leroy S. Chadwick, a well-respected Cleveland physician, who most likely knew nothing of her past or criminal activities. Most accounts say this was in 1897; another account states they married in 1886. They apparently met at a bordello – either hers, which was said to be on the near West Side, or one on Euclid Avenue (again, sources vary) – with her assuring him she was merely an etiquette instructor for the girls. Another account says she presented herself as a respectable widow (to the widower Chadwick) who ran a respectable boarding house for women. When he responded that the place was a well-known brothel, she fainted and, upon recovery, begged him to take her from the place so no one would think she was complicit in its affairs.

It was apparently around this time that she changed her name to Cassie L. Chadwick. No mention is made as to what the “L” stands for. Nor does any account state specifically when or why she came up with this (first) name. She moved into the doctor's mansion on Euclid Avenue's "Millionaire's Row" and tried in vain to become part of the inner socialite circle. One account says the women at the brothel took care of the son, while other accounts don't make any mention of this.

All accounts concur that in 1897, Cassie set up her biggest scam. On a trip to New York City, in the posh lobby of the Holland House hotel, she was introduced to her husband’s acquaintance, Dillon, who was an Ohio banker. One account says she told Dillon she was the illegitimate daughter of the wealthiest bachelor in America, Andrew Carnegie. To prove it, she and Dillon took a carriage ride to Carnegie’s Fifth Avenue mansion. (Other accounts say she merely asked Dillon to take her there.)

While Dillon waited, Cassie went to the door and was admitted in, where she stayed for about 30 minutes. Upon returning to the carriage, she waved to a well-dressed man in the front window, then tripped while entering the carriage, surreptitiously dropping a piece of paper. Dillon retrieved this for her and noticed it was a promissory note for $2 million signed by Carnegie – whom Cassie said was the man waving from the window.

Dillon wanted details, which Cassie supplied – after swearing Dillon to secrecy. She said that Carnegie, out of shame for her illegitimacy, had given her promissory notes, worth $7 million, but with her own shame she had not drawn on them. She also said she would inherit $400 million when Carnegie died. In truth, the man in the window was the butler, whom Cassie had occupied by purporting to need credentials on a maid she intended to hire.

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Upon returning to Ohio, Dillon set up a safe-deposit box for Cassie’s promissory notes and then shared her ‘secret’ with almost every lender in Northeast Ohio. Eager bankers began offering her loans of up to $1 million, with interest rates of 25 percent, believing millions were available to be gleaned. Instead of demanding repayment, they let Cassie’s loans compound annually, figuring Carnegie would vouch for any debts and they would get their financial rewards after probate. According to one source, her husband was with her when she placed the promissory notes into the safe-deposit box at Wade Park National Bank in Cleveland. Nothing else is mentioned about her husband in any of the accounts.

Cassie then became known as the “Queen of Ohio.” She bought diamond necklaces, clothes to fill 30 closets, and a gold organ for her living room. She entertained lavishly – even frittering $100,000 on a dinner party. For several years she lived the high life, amassing loan debts totaling $2-20 million. Again, accounts differ as to whether her debts totaled $2, $5, or $10-20 million; apparently no one knows exactly how much she had incurred. An Ashtabula newspaper account of her death stated: "The extent of these transactions will never be fully known, but they ran up into the millions. They involved men of high standing in the financial world and caused heavy losses to many bankers."

Banks were not the only ones to loan her money; millionaires did, too. And one of them was to be her downfall. Herbert B. Newton, a Boston, Massachusetts, banker or entrepreneur (accounts differ), loaned her $190,800 and had the gall to request repayment. Cassie was indignant. She explained that all of her securities (worth $10 million) were in the Wade Park bank. Newton went to the police and brought suit against her on November 2, 1904. Upon inspection, Cassie’s promissory notes were found to be obvious forgeries.

News of the forgeries caused trouble for several Ohio banks. Citizen’s National Bank of Oberlin, which had loaned Cassie $200,000, had a run that forced it into bankruptcy. When Carnegie was asked about his ‘daughter,’ he issued a press release: “Mr. Carnegie does not know Mrs. Chadwick of Cleveland. … Mr. Carnegie has not signed a note for more than thirty years.”

According to one source, Cassie was arrested on December 7, 1904, at her suite in Cleveland’s Hotel Breslin – lying in bed with her money belt, containing $100,000. Other accounts say she fled to New York to the Holland House hotel but was soon arrested and returned to Cleveland. (One account says Dr. Chadwick and his adult daughter left hastily on a European vacation, but first he filed for divorce.)

Cassie stood trial in Cleveland; Andrew Carnegie even attended. On March 10, 1905, she was convicted on seven counts of conspiracy against the government and conspiracy to wreck the Citizen’s National Bank of Oberlin. She was sentenced to 10 years according to two sources (14 years according to other sources), and fined $70,000. She brought trunks of finery to prison; animal skin rugs and clothes, which the warden let her keep. On January 1 or 12, 1906, she began her prison term, only to die less than two years later on her birthday, October 10, 1907.

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According to the newspaper account, Cassie's health was already declining during her trial. It said: "She fretted incessantly over her confinement until it became almost impossible for her to sleep. At times she was so peevish the patience of the prison officials was sorely tried." While fairly robust when she entered prison, Cassie lost 30 pounds by the time of her death. Three weeks before, while visiting with her son (who was 20 years old), she suddenly collapsed and was confined to the prison hospital. She remained there until she died. At times she was delirious (although, the account said, she never talked of her criminal activities) and, for some hours before she actually passed away, was in a comatose state. Her son was summoned from Cleveland, but he arrived just 15 minutes after she died. Cassie L. Chadwick (Elizabeth Bigley) was 48 years old.

Cassie was buried in the town of her birth: Eastwood, Ontario. Supposedly she had written to Emil several letters before her death; one of which asked him to get money from her hiding place to buy a tombstone for the family plot in Ontario.

DATE OF DEATH: October 10, 1907

PLACE OF DEATH: Ohio Penitentiary Hospital, Columbus, Ohio

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Commire, Anne, editor. Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia. Waterford, Conn.: Yorkin Publications, 1999-2000.

Crosbie, John S. The Incredible Mrs. Chadwick: The Most Notorious Woman of Her Age. Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 1975.

----------. The History and Story of the Doings of the Famous Mrs. Cassie L. Chadwick, the So Called "Queen of Finance," Showing How She Fleeced the Bankers, as Told by the Press During the Period of Her Exposure, Negotiation, Arrest and Imprisonment in Jail. Cleveland? 1905. [Photocopy reference material available at Cleveland Public Library.]

WEB SITES:

Cassie Chadwick - article from the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History.

Cassie Chadwick - entry from The Free Dictionary.Com

Ashtabula County Ohio Newspaper Clippings -- Farm Book 1 (Part 5) - includes a newspaper account of Cassie Chadwick's death.

• Bessie Coleman (1893-1926) - First African-American woman to get pilot's license.

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NAME: Elizabeth (Bessie) Coleman

DATE OF BIRTH: January 26, 1892. -- There is confusion about her birthdate because when Bessie became well-known, she claimed to be about four years younger, saying she was born in 1896.

PLACE OF BIRTH: Atlanta, Texas

FAMILY BACKGROUND: Bessie was the tenth of thirteen children born to Susan and George Coleman. Her father was one-quarter African-American and three-quarters Choctaw and Cherokee Indian. Her mother was African-American. When she was two years old, her family settled in Waxahachie, Texas, and ran a cotton-picking business. In 1901, frustrated by the racial intolerance and barriers, her father went back to Indian Territory (Oklahoma); his wife and children opted not to go with him. Bessie's older brothers struck out on their own, leaving Susan with four daughters under the age of nine. She found work as a cook and housekeeper while Bessie took care of her sisters and the house.

EDUCATION: While the rest of her siblings worked in the cotton fields, her mother recognized that Bessie was gifted in math. At the age of eight, Bessie worked as the family bookkeeper. As Baptists, Bessie and her siblings learned to read and write by reciting from the Bible each evening. She went to the one-room school in Waxahachie (a four-mile walk every day), completing all eight grades. She borrowed books from the library and read them to the family at night -- often they were of African-American heroes: Paul Laurence Dunbar, Harriet Tubman and Booker T. Washington. After high school and yearning for more, Bessie took her hard-earned savings and enrolled at the Colored Agricultural and Normal University (a teachers college) in Langston, Oklahoma. It was here she read about the Wright Brothers and Harriet Quimby, a woman pilot. But unfortunately, Bessie only had enough money to complete one term at the university.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Bessie returned to Waxahachie after her year of college, working as a laundress. In 1915, at the age of 23, she moved to Chicago, where her brother Walter lived. He was a Pullman porter. In 1917, she married Claude Glenn, but apparently never informed her family, lived with him, or even used his name. She became a manicurist and worked in the White Sox barbershop, even winning a contest through the black weekly newspaper, the Chicago Defender, as the best and fastest manicurist in the area.

In 1920, her other brother John came to the barbershop, a World War I veteran, and began talking about how French women were better. They could even fly airplanes, he said. According to her family, that was exactly what she needed to hear. She's dreamed of "amounting to something" and her brother's taunting inspired her to become a pilot. But pursuing this dream was not easy -- it was hard enough for a white woman to get flying lessons; for black women it was impossible. She sought help and was encouraged by her friend Robert Abbott, founder of the Chicago Defender, to attend an aviation school in

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France, where racism was nonexistent. But she had to learn French first. She did, at a local language school.

After securing funds from Jesse Binga, founder of the Binga State Bank, and other sources, Bessie left for France in November, 1920. In seven months, she completed the ten-month course at the Ecole d'Aviation des Freres Caudon at Le Crotoy in the Somme. She learned to fly in a French Nieuport Type 82, including "tail spins, banking and looping the loop." On June 15, 1921, Bessie received her pilot's license from the renowned Federation Aeronautique Internationale. Her birthdate was listed as 1896 (the year she had given passport authorities in Chicago) rather than 1892 -- making her appear 25 years old instead of the 29 years she actually was. Bessie was not the first black woman (or even the only woman in her class) to receive a license from the FAI -- but she was the first American to obtain her pilot's license from the French school. And she was the first licensed black pilot in the U.S.

After studying for an additional three months in France, Bessie returned to the U.S. in September and was greeted by a surprising amount of press. She planned to become an entertainment aviator but found she needed more training. She returned to France for about six months and visited airplane manufacturers in Germany and Holland. Upon returning to the U.S. in August, 1922, Bessie knew she needed publicity for her performances, so she created an exciting image with a military-style uniform that augmented her beauty.

On September 3, 1922, Bessie gave her first performance at an air show at Curtiss Field, near New York City. The show was sponsored by Robert Abbott and the Chicago Defender. Bessie was proclaimed "the world's greatest woman flyer." She was a success -- praised in both white and black newspapers. In interviews, she had poise, self-assurance and an eloquence that belied her childhood. And she performed in successful shows in Memphis and Chicago.

Bessie briefly began a movie career, and moved to southern California, but broke her contract with the black movie company when she learned she was to play an ignorant black country girl who goes to the big city. She felt the role was demeaning to women. A year later, she gave flying lessons to an advertising executive who offered to buy her an airplane in exchange for airdropping ad leaflets. She got a war surplus JN-4 ("Jenny") army trainer plane, but it stalled on the first flight and crashed. Bessie spent four months recuperating from a broken leg and other injuries. She gave a series of lectures at the Los Angeles YMCA, inspiring others to pursue their dreams and revealing her determination to open a black aviation school.

Her career was stalled at this point, and Bessie returned to Chicago with no job or plane. She did perform in Columbus, Ohio, but it was a year before she found backing for a series of performances in Texas, in the summer of 1925. Successful again, she followed this up with shows in Houston, Dallas, Wharton, Richmond, San Antonio, Fort Worth, and Waxahachie -- insisting at the last one that there be a non-segregated main gate. She

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also began lecturing in black theaters, churches and schools, not only in Texas, but also Georgia.

She became famous; her fans called her Queen Bess or Brave Bessie. But she still endured countless obstacles -- from both whites and blacks. Many black men resented her doing what they could not. And many black women, despite activism for civil liberties and better schools, were often too socially conservative to accept Bessie's vibrant persona. Black newspapers gave her publicity, but they were smaller in circulation. White newspapers often either ignored her altogether, or belittled her.

Early in 1926, Bessie gave exhibitions in Florida. A Baptist minister and his wife invited her to spend two months with them in Orlando. Here, she opened a beauty shop to raise more money for her aviation school. She wrote to a sister that she was nearing enough capital to open the school. She also had began making payments on another plane.With the help of a wealthy Orlando businessman, Bessie made the final payment on the plane, another "Jenny." She arranged to have it flown to her next performance, in Jacksonville, Florida, on May 1, 1926. The mechanic-pilot had to make three forced landings enroute.

On the evening of April 30, Bessie and her mechanic-pilot took the airplane for a test run. It malfunctioned and the mechanic lost control. Too short to see over the cockpit's edge, Bessie was not wearing a seatbelt so she could lean over to check out the field. The plane suddenly accelerated and flipped over. She plummeted 1,500 feet. Upon impact, every bone in her body was crushed and she died. The plane crashed nearby, killing the pilot.

Thousands of people mourned Bessie's death -- from Jacksonville and Orlando to Chicago, where her body was transported by train. Three funerals were held; one in each of those cities. An estimated 10,000 people paid their last respects at the memorial service at Pilgrim Baptist Church in Chicago. She was buried at Lincoln Cemetery. It wasn't until after her death that Bessie received the recognition she deserved:

In 1929, Lt. William J. Powell founded the Bessie Coleman Aero Club, the aviation school she'd longed to establish, in Los Angeles. In 1931, the Challenger Pilots' Association of Chicago did their first annual flyover above Lincoln Cemetery, in honor of her. In 1934, Powell dedicated his book Black Wings to her memory. And in 1977, women pilots in the Chicago region founded the Bessie Coleman Aviators Club.

In 1990, a road near Chicago's O'Hare Airport was re-named Bessie Coleman Drive, and two years later, Chicago declared May 2, 1992, Bessie Coleman Day. In 1995, the U.S. Postal Department issued the Bessie Coleman stamp. And finally, in 2000, Bessie Coleman was inducted into the Texas Aviation Hall of Fame.

DATE OF DEATH: April 30, 1926

PLACE OF DEATH: Jacksonville, Florida

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

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Borden, Louise and Mary Kay Kroeger. Fly High: the Story of Bessie Coleman. New York: Margaret K. McElderry, 2000.

Commire, Anne, editor. Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia. Waterford, Conn.: Yorkin Publications, 1999-2000.

Grimes, Nikki. Talkin' About Bessie: the Story of Aviator Elizabeth Coleman. New York: Orchard Books, 2002.

Plantz, Connie. Bessie Coleman: First Black Woman Pilot. Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow Publishers, 2001.

Rich, Doris L. Queen Bess: Daredevil Aviator. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1993.

Walker, Sally M. Bessie Coleman: Daring to Fly. Minneapolis: Carolrhoda Books, 2003.

WEB SITES:

BessieColeman.com - Well done website by Luke Irvin

Bessie Coleman - Gale Free Resources - Black History Month

National Women's Hall of Fame

World's first African-American woman pilot honored with U.S. Stamp by Agnes Barr, The Ninety-Nines International Organization of Women Pilots

Aeronautics - Bessie Coleman - Allstar Network profile

Bessie Coleman (1896-1926) - Early Illinois Women

• Dorothy Dandridge (1923-1965) - Actress, singer and dancer. Star of Carmen Jones and

Porgy and Bess.

NAME: Dorothy Dandridge

BIRTH DATE: November 9, 1922

FAMILY BACKGROUND:

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Dorothy Dandridge was born in Cleveland on November 9, 1922 to Ruby and Cyrus Dandridge. She had one older sister, Vivian Dandridge. Dorothy was raised by her mother and her mother's friend, a woman by the name of Geneva Williams.

LIFE HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Vivian and Dorothy performed as children. They had an act called The Wonder Children. Their act included singing, dancing, acrobatics, and skits. In the summer of 1938 they were booked at the Cotton Club. They performed along with Etta Jones and were known as the Dandridge Sisters.

Dorothy met Harold Nicholas, the youngest brother in the famous Nicholas Brothers act, while performing at the Cotton Club. They were married in 1942. Dorothy was 19 years old at the time. Harold did not turn out to be an ideal husband. He carried on affairs with other women and did not spend a lot of time at home. Dorothy gave birth to a daughter, Harolyn, in 1943. Dorothy soon discovered that her daughter had brain damage and eventually Dorothy had to put her in someone else's care.

Dorothy eventually divorced Harold and pursued her career. She worked with Phil Moore and refined her night club act. Dorothy's provocative singing act gained her popularity. She was booked in clubs throughout California and Las Vegas. She was often confronted by racism but continued to perform despite this discouragement. Her work in night clubs brought her the popularity she needed to begin getting roles in films. In 1951 Dorothy played in Tarzan's Peril and then in The Harlem Globetrotters.

She returned to the night club scene and appeared at prestigious clubs such as The Mocambo, Cafe de Paris, and La Vie en Rose. She was also the first black woman to perform at the Waldorf Astoria in New York. Dorothy then starred with Harry Belafonte in Bright Road in 1952. In 1954, Dorothy played the much coveted role of Carmen Jones. This movie brought her fame and recognition. She received an Academy Award nomination for her role in the film. She was the first black woman in history to receive the honor of being nominated in the category of Best Actress.

Dorothy played in other movies after this accomplishment, including Porgy and Bess and Island in the Sun. However, she found that despite her fame, it was hard finding work as a black actress. The forces of racism were too strong. In 1963 Dorothy Dandridge filed for bankruptcy after a failed marriage to Jack Denison and a series of bad investments. It seemed that her career had gone downhill. She began to drink heavily and was found dead in her apartment on September 8,1965. She died of an overdose of Tofranil, an antidepressant that had been prescribed for her.

DATE OF DEATH: September 8, 1965

WEB SITES:

Dorothy Dandridge from the Encyclopedia of Cleveland History

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Dorothy Dandridge: The Tragic Life of an Actress Called the Dream Goddess from African-Americans in Motion Pictures

Dorothy Dandridge 1922-1965 A Hollywood Star from Net4TV

The Interview: Donald Bogle talks about life of the late Dorothy Dandridge by Ruby L. Bailey, The Detroit News

IMDB filmography

LIFE COVER FOR 11/01/1954

• Isadora Duncan (1875-1929) - Mother of modern dance.

Image Donated by Corbis - Bettmann

NAME: Isadora Duncan, born Dora Angela Duncan

DATE OF BIRTH: May 27, 1878

PLACE OF BIRTH: San Francisco, California

DATE OF DEATH: September 14, 1927

PLACE OF DEATH: Nice, France. She died when her scarf accidentally became tangled in the wheels of a Bugatti sports car, resulting in a broken neck.

FAMILY BACKGROUND: Isadora was the second daughter and the youngest of four children to parents Joseph Charles and Dora Gray Duncan. Her father was a poet and her

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mother was a pianist and music teacher. When Isadora's parents married, her father was divorced with four children and 30 years her senior. He supported his family through running a lottery, publishing three newspapers, owning a private art gallery, directing an auction business and owning a bank. When the bank fell into financial ruin, he abandoned Isadora's family, moved to Los Angeles where he divorced and remarried again.

Isadora did not believe in marriage but did have love affairs with stage designer Gordon Graig and millionaire (Paris) Eugene Singer and had a child by each. Her children, Deirdre and Patrick were tragically and accidentally drowned in 1913 while with their English governess. Later in her life she married Russian poet, Sergei Esenin in 1922 but separated shortly after.

EDUCATION: As a child, she learned unconventionally to "listen to the music with your soul." Her mother instilled in Isadora a love for dance, theater, Shakespeare and reading. At the young age of 6 years old, she danced for money and taught other children to dance. Dancing lessons took precedence over formal education; however, she read and was inspired by the works of Walt Whitman and Nietzsche.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Isadora is known as the mother of "modern dance," founding the "New System" of interpretive dance, blending together poetry, music and the rhythms of nature. She did not believe in the formality of conventional ballet and gave birth to a more free form of dance, dancing barefoot and in simple Greek apparel. Her fans recognized her for her passionate dancing and she ultimately proved to be the most famous dancer of her time.

In 1895 Isadora and her family moved east to pursue her professional dancing career. She opened In New York as a fairy with August Daly's company in A Midsummer Night's Dream. She was also funded by wealthy New Yorkers to give private appearances. In 1898 she expanded her dancing career by traveling to London on a cattle boat with her mother, her sister Elizabeth and brother, Raymond. Her first professional European performance was at the Lyceum theater in London on February 22, 1900. She turned down substantial dancing offers to join Loie Fuller's touring company and toured Budapest, Vienna, Munich and Berlin. She studied for one year in Greece where she purchased Kopanos Hill outside of Athens to construct an elaborate dancing stage. Her performances were based on interpretations of classical music including Strauss' Blue Danube, Chopin's Funeral March, Tchaikovsky's Symphonie Pathetique and Wagnerian works.

Later in her life she opened a dancing school in Moscow where the Russian government promised to provide her with room and board and a schoolroom. However, after the school was built the government did not support her. To support herself, she returned to the stage unsuccessfully in America and then toured Europe once more. She died in Europe.

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WRITINGS: Isadora's writings included The Dance, in 1909; My Life, her autobiography in 1927; various periodical articles on dancing; and The Art of the Dance a memorial volume published in 1928.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

• Blair, Fredrika. Isadora: Portrait of the Artist as a Woman. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1986.

• Dillan, Millicent. After Egypt: Isadora Duncan and Mary Cassatt. New York: Dutton, 1990.

• Isadora, Rachel. Isadora Dances. New York: Viking, 1998.• Kurth, Peter. Isadora: a Sensational Life. Boston: Little, Brown and Company,

2001.• MacDougall, Allan Ross. Isadora; a Revolutionary in Art and Love. Edinburgh:

New York, 1960.

WEB SITES:

• Isadora Duncan Foundation for Contemporary Dance • Isadora Duncan (1878-1927) by Samuel Dickson - Museum of the City of San

Francisco • Isadora Duncan from KQED Center for Education & Lifelong Learning. • The Early Moderns Tutorial Ch. 2: The Solo Dancers - Isadora Duncan (1877-

1927) • Isadora Duncan, modern dance pioneer (1878 - 1927) - from The Early San

Francisco Stage: An Online Exhibit, San Francisco Performing Arts Library & Museum

QUOTE:

People do not live nowadays. They get about ten percent out of life.

- Isadora Duncan

• Amelia Earhart (1897-1937) - Aviatrix.

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Source: Histoire de L'Aeronautique, Dollfus, Charles & Bouche, Henri, L'Illustration (1938)© www.arttoday.com

NAME: Amelia Earhart

DATE OF BIRTH: July 24, 1897

PLACE OF BIRTH: Atchison, Kansas

DATE OF DEATH: c.1937

PLACE OF DEATH: unknown

FAMILY BACKGROUND: Amelia's father was a railroad attorney in Rydal, Pennsylvania. She married publisher George Palmer Putnam in1931.

Image Donated by Corbis - Bettmann

EDUCATION: As a girl, Amelia Earhart attended Ogontz School in Rydal, Pennsylvania; she earned a degree from Columbia University. Amelia learned to fly in California and made it her life's hobby.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Amelia was a true pioneer for women and aviation. After college, Amelia worked in Boston as a settlement worker. Wilmer Stultz was the aviator which flew Friendship, a trimotor plane. He asked Amelia to join him on the flight from Newfoundland to Wales; by being a passenger on this flight, she became the first woman ever on a transatlantic flight. Upon its landing in Wales at Burry Port on June 18, 1928, Amelia had decided to make flying her career.

She is noted for her solo flights: she make one from Harbour Grace, Newfoundland to Ireland in 1932 and one from Hawaii to America, crowning her the first aviator to fly this route. Amelia chronicled her flights in three books.

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Detail from Corbis-Bettman image

Her legend continues when she entered a flight with Frederick J. Noonan from Miami, Florida to co-navigate the first round-the-world flight. The two flew to the journey's starting point, New Guinea, but after they took flight on July 1, 1937, they never arrived at their destination, Howland Island in the Pacific. She was never to be seen again. Some theorize, based on the accounts of Army veterans, that they were captured, imprisoned and possibly killed by the Japanese on the island of Saipan.

QUOTE: Courage is the price that life exacts for granting peace. The soul that knows it not, knows no release from little things. - Amelia Earhart

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Briand, Paul L. Daughter of the Sky; the Story of Amelia Earhart. New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, 1960.

Earhart, Amelia. Last Flight by Amelia Earhart, arranged by George Palmer Putman. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1937.

King, Thomas F. Amelia Earhart's Shoes: is the Mystery Solved? Walnut Creek: AltaMira Press, 2001.

Rosenthal, Marilyn S and Daniel Freeman. Amelia Earhart: a Photo-Illustrated Biography. Mankato: Bridgestone Books, 1999.

WEB SITES:

Amelia Earhart - Biography

Amelia Earhart and Atchison, Kansas

Spectrum Biography - Amelia Earhart

• Mary Fields (1832?-1914) - African-American entrepreneur, stagecoach driver, pioneer.

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Source: Sister Mary Rose Krupp, Ursuline Convent Offices, 4045 Indian Rd., Toledo, OH 43606. Used with permission.

CHARACTER NAME: Mary Fields

BIRTH DATE: 1832

BIRTH PLACE: Tennessee

EDUCATION: No formal education

FAMILY BACKGROUND: Born a slave, grew up an orphan, never married, had no children. The nuns were her family; Mother Amadeus was her mother. She loved the children of Cascade County and supported the local baseball team as their number one fan.

DESCRIPTION OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Mary Fields lived by her wits and her strength. She traveled north to Ohio, settled in Toledo and worked for the Catholic convent. She formed a strong bond with Mother Amadeus. When the nuns moved to Montana and Mary learned of Mother Amadeus' failing health, she went west to help out. Having nursed Mother Amadeus back to health, she decided to stay and help build the St. Peter's mission school. She protected the nuns. Mary was a pistol-packing, hard-drinking woman, who needed nobody to fight her battles for her. When turned away from the mission because of her behavior, the nuns financed her in her own business. She opened a cafe. Mary's big heart drove her business into the ground several times because she would feed the hungry. In 1895 she found a job that suited her, as a U.S. mail coach driver for

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the Cascade County region of central Montana. She and her mule Moses, never missed a day, and it was in this capacity that she earned her nickname of "Stagecoach", for her unfailing reliability.

DATE OF DEATH: 1914

PLACE OF DEATH: Cascade, Montana. Her grave is marked with a simple cross.

PORTRAYED BY Vernice Jackson

WEBSITES:

Brief Lives: Mary Fields The Ursuline Sisters

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Robert Miller. The Story of Stagecoach Mary Fields (Silver Burdett Press, 1995) Article in Ebony 32 (October 1977), pp.96-98.

• Diana Fletcher (circa 1830's) - Daughter of a former slave father and Kiowa mother, activist, taught in black Cherokee school.

NAME: Diana Fletcher

DATE OF BIRTH: 1838?

PLACE OF BIRTH: Oklahoma (Indian Territory)

EDUCATION: Diana learned traditional Kiowa crafts from her step-mother: sewing, cooking, tanning buffalo hides, making teepees, and basketweaving. When the members of the tribe raised enough money, they built a small school and hired a teacher. The Black Indian schools were operated by what were known as The Five Civilized Tribes: the Creek, Chicasaw, Cherokee, Choctaw, and Seminole. Some sources say Diana taught fellow Native Americans.

FAMILY BACKGROUND: Diana's father was born in Virginia. His parents were born in Africa and brought to America as slaves. While still a young child he was sold to a man who lived in Florida. He ran away and lived with the Seminole Indians. Though still a slave, they treated him better than his former master. He married a Seminole woman. She died on "The Trail of Tears," the forced relocation of Indians to Oklahoma.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Diana's main accomplishment was valuing and preserving her family's history, culture and values, while, at the same time, learning to adjust and adapt to white American society. Because of ignorance, prejudice and racial hostility, the

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U.S. government attempted to force Black Indians, as well as all Native Americans, to reject their heritage. Because people like Diana maintained their traditions, we can now learn about their important contributions to the history of America.

Some sources say Diana attended the Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute in Virginia (later called the Hampton Institute), although listings of students do not reflect this. However, the history of these schools relates to her biography so we include this, and web links below.

The Hampton government boarding school was opened for Black students in 1868, with the intent of educating by training "the head, the hand, and the heart" so pupils could return to their communities as leaders and professionals among their people. In 1878, the institute opened its doors to Indians. The following year, in a grand experiment led by Capt. Richard Henry Pratt, the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Carlisle, Pennsylvannia, was opened as a way to assimilate Indians into "civilized" society, although without the intent of returning graduates to their communities.

Kiowa Indians, as well as thousands of Native Americans from many, many other tribes, did attend these schools. (For more information, see the bibliography and websites listed below.)

DATE OF DEATH: unknown

PLACE OF DEATH: unknown

PORTRAYED BY: Sherrie Tolliver

SPECIAL NOTE: Because not enough records on Diana Fletcher exist for a fully accurate portrayal, Sherrie has created a composite characterization for her performances -- based on historical research of the lives of African-American and Native American people and their relationships during the 19th century. Please see the bibliography and websites listed below.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Botkin, B.A., editor. Lay My Burden Down: A Folk History of Slavery. University of Chicago Press: 1945. Also Delta Publishing: 1994.

Cox, Clinton. The Forgotten Heroes: The Story of the Buffalo Soldiers. Scholastic Paperbacks: 1996.

Crawford, Isabel. Kiowa: A Woman Missionary in Indian Territory. University of Nebraska Press: 1998.

Deagan, Kathleen A. and Darcie A. MacMahon. Fort Mose: Colonial America's Black Fortress of Freedom. University Press of Florida: 1995.

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Field, Ron. Buffalo Soldiers: 1866-91. Opsrey Publishing: 2004.

Forbes, Jack D. Africans and Native Americans: The Language of Race and the Evolution of Red-Black Peoples. University of Illinois Press: 1993.

Johnson, Dolores, illustrator. Seminole Diary: Remembrances of a Slave. Atheneum: 1994. (Children's picture book)

Katz, William Loren. Black Indians: A Hidden Heritage. Simon Pulse Publishing: 1997.

Leckie, William H. The Buffalo Soldiers: A Narrative of the Negro Cavalry in the West. University of Oklahoma Press: 1999.

Littlefield, Daniel F., Jr. Africans and Seminoles: From Removal to Emancipation. University Press of Mississippi:1977.

Mayhall, Mildred P. The Kiowas (Civilization of the American Indian Series). University of Oklahoma Press: 1984.

Minges, Patrick. Black Indian Slave Narratives: Real Voices, Real History. John F. Blair Publisher: 2004.

Mulroy, Kevin. Freedom on the Border: The Seminole Maroons in Florida, the Indian Territory, Coahuila, and Texas. Texas Tech University Press: 1993.

Porter, Kenneth Wiggins. The Black Seminoles: History of a Freedom Seeking People. University Press of Florida: 1996.

Tocakut. Remember, We Are Kiowa: 101 Kiowa Indian Stories. Authorhouse: 2000.

Twyman, Bruce Edward. The Black Seminole Legacy and North American Politics, 1693-1845. Howard University Press: 2000.

Washington, Booker T. Up From Slavery: An Autobiography. Doubleday: 1963.

WEB SITES:

Diana Fletcher - Outlaw Women

Black Indians Want a Place in History - AfricanAmericans.Com

The African-Native American History & Genealogy Web Page - Comprehensive site with many links, created by Angela Y. Walton-Raji

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Black Seminole Indians - Texas State Historical Association

Hampton Institute - a brief history of the college that opened its doors to Native Americans in 1878.

Hampton Institute - a RootsWeb history and collection

The Carlisle Indian Industrial School - a website dedicated to this experimental school

Hampton Normal & Agricultural Institute - a listing of American Indian Students, 1878-1923

Let All That Is Indian Within You Die! - The Reservation Boarding School System in the U.S., 1870-1928

The Trail of Tears - a description of the Cherokee removal

• Dorothy Fuldheim (1893-1989) - Jewish-American news journalist and television

broadcaster; developed format for television news programming.

QUOTE: This is a youth-oriented society, and the joke is on them because youth is a disease from which we all recover.

WEB SITES

Dorothy Fuldheim entry - Encyclopedia of Cleveland History

[President Ronald Reagan] Telephone Interview With Dorothy Fuldheim of WEWS-TV in Cleveland, Ohio July 27, 1984

Dorothy Fuldheim: The Bearded Lady of Mother News from Cleveland Magazine (April 1973)

Dorothy Fuldheim, Papers, 1972-1990 - Kent State University Special Collection

Ohio Associated Press Broadcasters Hall of Fame Member Dorothy Fuldheim

Ohio Women's Hall of Fame - Dorothy Fuldheim

The First Fifty Years of WEWS

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• Lucretia Rudolph Garfield (1832-1918) - Wife of James Garfield, 20th President of the United States was First Lady for six months when her husband was assassinated. "Crete" returned home to Lawnfield in Mentor where her life continued in a non-traditional way.

Ladies of the White House or In the Home of the PresidentsPublished by Bradley & Company

©ArtToday.com

WEB SITES

Biography of Lucretia Garfield - White House history

James A. Garfield National Historic Site - Western Reserve Historical Society

James and Lucretia Garfield Lucretia Garfield's Windmill

Garfield Monument - Encyclopedia of Cleveland History

Lucretia Garfield - National First Ladies' Library

James A. Garfield - The American President, PBS

• Zelma Watson George (1903-1994) - African-American delegate to the U.N., opera singer,

speaker and educator.

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Photo courtesy of L. Morris Jones, M.D., Inc. Used with permission.

NAME: Zelma Watson George

DATE OF BIRTH: December 8, 1903

PLACE OF BIRTH: Hearn, Texas

DIED: July 3, 1994

PLACE OF DEATH: Shaker Heights, Ohio

FAMILY BACKGROUND: Zelma George was the daughter of Samuel and Lena Thomas. After working as a social worker in Illinois and a Dean at Tennessee State Univeristy, she married and moved to Los Angeles where she founded and directed the Avalon Community Center. This marriage ended in divorce and she married for the second time after coming to Cleveland to study African American music. She married attorney Clayborne George in 1944. She had no children.

EDUCATION: Zelma George obtained a Sociology Degree from the University of Chicago and studied voice at the American Conservatory of Music. She earned advanced degrees from New York University in Personnel Administration and Sociology. She studied African American music after obtaining a Rockefeller Foundation grant.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Zelma George had quite a resume of experience and education, from working as a social worker and college dean to being active in music and theater. After moving to Cleveland to study African American music at the Cleveland Public Library, she wrote Chariot's a Comin!, a musical play based upon her research of this subject. She went on to headline in The Medium, an opera by Gian-Carlo Menotti, at Karamu Theater. People consider her to be one of the first Black women to assume this typically White role.

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In the 1950's Zelma George served on national government committees during the Eisenhower administration: she was a good-will ambassador and an alternate U.S. delegate to the United Nations General Assembly from 1960-61. On a return trip

home from lecturing at Bethune-Cookman College, she stopped in Orlando to visit relatives. During a delay at their airport, she took a seat in a waiting room and was approached by a police officer to leave the room: "Get out you Yankee trouble-maker or I'll throw you out!" She responded angrily to the room of 75 people:

"I am a United States delegate to the United Nations. Not long ago I returned from a round-the-world lecture tour at the request of the State Department. I was trying to create for people in foreign lands an image of my country as a land where all men are created equal and freedom is everyone's birthright. Is there no one in this room who will stand up for me now?"

There was no one who spoke up for her.

From 1966-74 she was the Director of the Cleveland Job Corps where it experienced tremendous growth. Even in her retirement and after the death of her husband, she lectured, wrote and taught at Cuyahoga Community College in the Elders Program; her classes were extremely popular due to her experience, knowledge and passion.

She died in Shaker Heights. Today, there is shelter for homeless women and children named in her honor.

AWARDS: She received the Dag Hammerskjold Award, the Edwin T. Dahlberg Peace Award and was selected by the Greater Cleveland Women's History Committee as one of the "Women Who Shaped Cleveland." She was awarded the Daughter of Ohio award by the Civic Recognition Committee of Ohio for Statewide Honors.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

• Cleveland Job Corps Center Committee, Alpha Omega Chapter, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority. Here's Zelma, 1971.

• FirstSearch NewsAbs, 1-8-97 (Zelma George; d. July 3, 1994, age 90; musicologist, performer)

• Interview with Zelma George, c1978: t.p. (Zelma George) leaf i, etc. (Zelma Watson, b. 12-8-03, Hearn, Tex.; m. Claiborne George; Ph. D. in Sociology/Inter cultural Relations, New York Univ., 1954)

• Klyver, Richard. They Also Serve: Twelve Biographies of Notable Cleveland Women 1800-1985. Solon: Evans Printing Company, 1986.

• Morton, Marian J. Women in Cleveland: an Illustrated History. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1995.

• Eyman, Scott, "The Life and Times of the Determined and Gifted—and Indomitable—Zelma George: Daddy Watson's Little Girl." Cleveland, (March, 1983), p. 68.

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• Saxon, Wolfgang, "Zelma George, 90, civic leader, singer and black music scholar" [obit.]. New York Times, 143:49748 (July 5, 1994), pD14.

WEB SITES

• Zelma Watson George entry in The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History • Zelma Watson George entry at Handbook of Texas online • Zelma Watson George in the Ohio Women's Hall of Fame • University of Michigan African American Music Collection interview with Zelma

Watson George

• Emma Goldman (1869-1940) - Vilified in her day as the "most dangerous woman in America," this Russian emigrant earned her title, “Queen of the Anarchists” as labor leader, lecturer, writer, women’s rights activist and free love advocate.

• Julia Boggs Dent Grant (1826-1902) - Wife of Ulysses S. Grant, 18th President of the United States, was a determined woman who despite family objections married the man she loved. Outspoken, she also created her own plans for ending the Civil War and

holding a secret Presidential Inauguration.

Puritan: A Journal for Gentlewomen ©ArtToday.com

NAME: Julia Boggs Dent Grant

DATE OF BIRTH: January 26, 1826

PLACE OF BIRTH: St. Louis, Missouri

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FAMILY BACKGROUND: Julia Dent Grant was the fifth of eight children (four boys and four girls) born to "Colonel" Frederick Dent, a successful St. Louis plantation owner, and Ellen Bray Wrenshall Dent of Pittsburgh, at White Haven, a typical Southern estate. She was raised Methodist; her maternal grandfather, John Wrenshall, being a Methodist minister. She was short and rather stocky, with a determined look in her eye, but apparently had a sparkle and charm, along with a ready smile, that softened her features.

EDUCATION: Julia's mother was raised in a cultured, educated manner, so she made sure all of her children, including the girls, were educated as well. Julia attended the local school run by John F. Long, then enrolled in the Mauro Boarding School for seven years in St. Louis. She liked the literature courses -- reading The Dashing Lieutenant and saying she wanted to marry a soldier one day -- but disliked math.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Julia returned home in 1844 and met Ulysses Simpson Grant for the first time when he came to visit his West Point roommate and Julia's older brother, Frederick T. Dent. She and Ulysses both loved novels and were raised as strict Methodists. He admired her spirit and she shared his love of horses.

Colonel Dent envisioned his favorite daughter marrying someone wealthy, so after four months of courtship, the couple became engaged but kept it a secret. Ulysses was only earning a soldier's salary in the Army. After a year of secret engagement, Ulysses asked the Colonel for his daughter's hand, and her father reluctantly approved, but the marriage would have to wait out the Mexican War. Ulysses wrote to Julia regularly and, after three years, returned to White Haven and married Julia at her family's house, on August 22, 1848. They spent their four-month honeymoon in Louisville, Kentucky, and visiting Ulysses's parents in Ohio (they disapproved of the Dents' being slaveholders and did not attend the wedding). It was Julia's first trip away from home.

Their first four years of marriage were spent on Army bases in Detroit and Sackett's Harbor, New York. Not needing to learn cooking and domestic skills as a child, Julia learned them here for the first time. Their first child, Frederick Dent Grant, was born on May 30, 1850, back home in St. Louis; followed by Ulysses S. Grant, Jr. on July 22, 1852 (nicknamed "Buck" because he was born in Ohio at Ulysses' parents' house); Ellen (Nellie) Wrenshall Grant on July 4, 1855; and Jesse Root Grant on February 6, 1858.

Julia was extremely devoted to her husband and family, and he to them. But it was not an easy life. They were separated for two years when Ulysses was stationed on the Pacific Coast. Although he had been put in command of infantry divisions, he was forced to resign for insubordination. He returned home in 1854, and then failed at everything he tried to do. Julia's father gave them land to build a house and farm; they called it "Hardscrabble." They didn't have much success farming, and the Panic of 1857 financially ruined it. White Haven also failed. Ulysses tried working as a rent collector, but failed at that, too. By 1860, they had moved to Galena, Illinois, where Ulysses worked at his father's harness and tanning business. Then the Civil War began and changed everything.

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Experienced officers like Ulysses were in short supply. He was sent to make a disciplined fighting unit out of a rebellious volunteer regiment in Illinois. No one else had been able to tame them. Ulysses drilled them almost to death and led them in several successful attacks with guerrilla Confederate groups. He was promoted to brigadier general. He's been both praised and criticized for his willingness to fight, even if it cost soldiers' lives. When he trapped the main Confederate army south of Richmond, forcing their surrender in April, 1865, Ulysses ended the bloody Civil War -- and became the most revered man in the Union.

During the war, Julia tended wounded soldiers and sewed uniforms. She also joined her husband as often as was safe and took enormous pride in his accomplishments. Unlike many officers, Ulysses insisted that Julia be with him. Her steady nature, cheerfulness, and common sense helped him stay focused. He often would succumb to doubts, depression and alcoholism (which became a problem when he was on the Pacific Coast) and Julia helped buoy his spirits. After President Lincoln appointed Ulysses as Commander of the Army of the Potomac, in 1864, he would send for Julia to join Ulysses, knowing she was a good influence. Julia also became the center of attention -- something she grew to love.

As the war ended, with Ulysses a hero, the Grants were given gifts, honors and even a house in Galena. With Lincoln's assassination, followed by President Johnson's impeachment, Ulysses rode the tide of popularity all the way to the White House in 1869, serving for two terms. Julia transformed the then-shabby White House into one of elegance and warmth, welcoming visitors with grace and compassion. She was described by many as unpretentious and friendly. The media wrote of her "propriety and dignity." After not speaking during the war, Julia's father moved in with them. Her goal was to create a comfortable home for her family; Ellen was 14 years old and Jesse was 11.

Julia was the first First Lady to serve eight full years since Elizabeth Monroe. She ordered new rugs, furniture, wallpaper and chandeliers, and had the White House thoroughly cleaned. In 1873, she had Grecian columns added to the facade, by the Army Corps of Engineers. The china she purchased, with a yellow border and flowers, remains among the handsomest ever to grace State Dinners. Julia banned smoking, except Ulysses's cigars. Male servants wore dress suits and gloves, and an exceptional cook gave dinners an opulence and splendor rarely seen before or since. Imported French wine flowed and 25-course meals sometimes lasted four hours.

Julia opened the White House on Tuesday afternoons with receptions for "any and all" -- even saying, "Admit all," when asked about colored visitors. However, the staff denied entrance to such visitors without Julia's knowing. Senators' and Cabinet members' wives delighted at being included in receiving lines. Although, Julia might have done this because strabismus (a wandering-eye disorder) necessitated help in identifying visitors. In 1874, Nellie was married in one of the most elaborate weddings ever held at the White House. The Grants bought a cottage at Long Beach in New Jersey, where they spent their summers. It was a wonderful time -- particularly after years of poverty, uncertainty and the horrors of war.

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Knowing Julia loved being First Lady, Ulysses kept secret his decision to not seek re-election for a third term -- and she was extremely disappointed. She had returned the White House to its rightful position as the center of the country's social life. And yet she had managed to also make it a comfortable home for her family. Her last hostess function was a luncheon for newly elected President Rutherford and Lucy Hayes on Inauguration Day 1877. As Julia reluctantly ascended her carriage to leave the White House for the last time, she wept like a child.

Despite being a strong, capable, intelligent woman, Julia was never able to weild much political influence. Ulysses rarely listened to her; preferring her to tend to domestic matters. She did, however, fuel the rumor mill that she had helped her husband in the "Black Friday" controversy, when speculators attempted to corner the gold market. The story was that Ulysses wanted to curb the attempt, and dropped a hint to Julia to write her brother-in-law's wife to persuade him to drop out of the speculation. Ulysses did arrange the sale of the government gold and ended the panic, but history has proven that Julia had no part in this, nor did she receive a bribe for her intervention.

Major accomplishments of President Grant included getting the Fifteenth Amendment passed and signing the act to establish the first national park, Yellowstone, in 1872. But he was deeply haunted by his earlier failures; remaining loyal to anyone who had been nice to him, thus filling his administration with corrupt and incompetent people.

After leaving the White House, the Grants traveled the globe for two and a half years. It was a grand time -- meeting Queen Victoria and other political leaders, being guests of honor at state banquets, and having enthusiastic crowds surrounding them. Upon returning in 1879, their popularity was at its peak and people wanted their presence all over. They settled in a townhouse in New York City off Fifth Avenue. But by the 1880 convention, Ulysses's popularity was waning, as he failed to win the nomination for a third term.

Their son Buck had joined the Wall Street firm of Ferdinand Ward, and Ulysses then joined as a silent partner. However, Ward turned out to be a swindler, stealing investments and collapsing the firm -- scandalizing the Grants' reputations and leaving them in financial ruin. (He had forfeited his military pension upon entering politics, and no Presidential pension existed then.) Shortly after, Ulysses was diagnosed with incurable throat cancer, but he wanted to leave Julia financially supported. Racing against time, bundled in blankets and wracked with pain, he wrote his memoirs, hoping its sale would support his family. He finished it just days before his death on July 23, 1885, with Julia remaining by his side throughout. She was so overcome she couldn't attend his funeral. She was lost, frightened and severely depressed for quite some time. He was laid to rest in New York City.

Ulysses's memoirs -- prompted and arranged by his friend Mark Twain -- were a huge success, enabling Julia to move back to Washington, D.C. Living in comfort as a sort of "Grand Dame," she cultivated friendships with Frances Cleveland, Varina Howell Davis, Caroline Harrison and Edith Roosevelt. She also supported Susan B. Anthony and the

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suffragists. Nellie and her three grandchildren moved in with her. Over time, her mental state improved enough to write (dictate) her own memoirs -- being the first First Lady to do so -- covering the times that her husband's memoirs did not. She never found a publisher, however; Southern Illinois University finally published them in 1975.

On April 27, 1897, the General Grant National Memorial was dedicated with a parade and ceremony, and over a million people attending. Inside, mosaics depict scenes of his victories in the Battles of Vicksburg and Chattanooga, and Robert E. Lee's surrender at Appomattox. About 90,000 people from all over the world donated more than $600,000 to build the granite and marble structure designed by John Duncan. It remains the largest mausoleum in North America.

On December 14, 1902, Julia died at the age of 76. She was laid alongside her husband in the national monument.

DATE OF DEATH: December 14, 1902

PLACE OF DEATH: Washington, D.C.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Commire, Anne, editor. Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia. Waterford, Conn.: Yorkin Publications, 1999-2000.

Fitz-Gerald, Christine Maloney. Julia Dent Grant, 1826-1902. New York: Children's Press, 1998.

Grant, Julia. The Personal Memoirs of Julia Dent Grant (Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant). Edited, with notes and foreword by John Y. Simon; with introduction by Bruce Catton and The First Lady as an author, by Ralph G. Newman. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1988.

Healy, Diana Dixon. America's First Ladies: Private Lives of the Presidential Wives. NY: Atheneum, 1988.

Klapthor, Margaret Brown. The First Ladies. White House Historical Association with the cooperation of the National Geographic Society, 1981.

Larkin, Tanya. What Was Cooking in Julia Grant's White House? New York: PowerKids Press, 2001.

Melick, Arden Davis. Wives of the Presidents. Maplewood, NJ: Hammond, 1977.

Paletta, LuAnn. The World Almanac of First Ladies. NY: World Almanac, 1990.

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Ross, Ishbel. The General's Wife; the Life of Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1959.

WEB SITES:

Biography of Julia Grant - White House history

Julia Grant - National First Ladies' Library

American Experience- Ulysses S. Grant- People & Events- Julia Dent Grant, 1826-1902 - PBS

Julia Dent Grant - White House (Clinton administration) history

General Grant National Memorial

Ulysses S. Grant - The American President, PBS

• Charlotte Forten Grimke (1837-1890) - African-American writer, abolitionist and educator.

NAME: Charlotte Forten Grimke

DATE OF BIRTH: 1837

PLACE OF BIRTH: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

DATE OF DEATH: 1914

FAMILY BACKGROUND: Charlotte belonged to the prominent member of the famous Forten-Purvis family. Her family were activists for Black causes and Charlotte proved to be just as influential an activist and leader of civil rights. Her parents were Robert Bridges and Mary Woods Forten. Her father and his brother in law, Robert Purvis were key members of the Philadelphia Vigilant Committee, an antislavery, slave assistance network. Her mother worked in the Philadelphia Female Anti-Slavery Society. Charlotte's grandfather was James Forten, Sr., a successful abolitionist and sailmaker in Philadelphia. Charlotte married Francis J. Grimke when she was 41,on December 19, 1878. Francis was a Presbyterian minister who graduated from Lincoln University in Pennsylvania and Princeton Theological Seminary. They had one daughter, Theodora Cornelia in June of 1880 who died as an infant.

EDUCATION: Charlotte's father sent her to Salem to attend the Higginson Grammar School; in 1854 she was the only non-white student out of 200. The Higginson school

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was known for emphasis in critical thinking founded in studying history, geography, drawing and cartography. After Higginson, she attended the Normal School in Salem. Charlotte loved to read; some of her favorites were Shakespeare, Milton, Margaret Fuller and William Wordsworth.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: It is obvious that Charlotte's upbringing which included a blending of intellectual pursuits with real life civil liberties devotion proved her to be the noted antislavery, poet, educator and abolitionist herself. She herself became a member of the Salem Female Anti-Slavery Society where she worked to promote the cause through raising money, talking and meeting with others and hearing other prominent speakers and writers of the day, such as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Senator Charles Sumner. She frequently met and dined with other famous anti-slavery proponents such as William Lloyd Garrison, editor of the Liberator;Wendell Philips, the orator and activists Maria Weston Chapman and William Wells Brown.

Charlotte became a teacher in 1856 due to financial difficulties . She taught at Epes Grammar School in Salem but after two years tuberculosis forced her to return to Philadelphia. The school was unhappy to see her go and promised her a position upon her return. While in Salem, her poetry talent emerged, her works published in various antislavery publications such as the Liberator and Anglo African magazine. At home, she became the first black teacher involved in the Civil War's Sea Islands mission. In South Carolina, she touched many students and thoroughly enjoyed her work. She chronicled this time in her essays, "Life on the Sea Islands" which were published in Atlantic Monthly in the May and June issues of 1864.

She held national influence recruiting teachers in the late 1860's and on July 3, 1873 she became one a clerk at the U.S. Treasury Department: she was one of 15 out of a 200 candidates. She wed her husband at this time and tragically the couple lost their child as an infant. Charlotte then aided her husband in his ministry and organized a women's missionary group. Her husband became pastor at the Fifteenth Street Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C. and Charlotte only continued her civil rights efforts. Her last efforts were answering an Evangelist editorial, " Relations of Blacks and Whites: Is There a Color Line in New England?" Her answer asserted that unlike the assertions of the author that Blacks were not prejudiced against, Black American did achieve over extraordinary odds and simply wanted fair and respectful treatment.

WEB SITES:

Africans in America: The Forten Women

Charlotte L. Forten Grimke at Africana.com

Daily Tidbits Celebrating Women's History

Sarah Grimke (1792-1873) and Angelina Grimke Weld (1805-1879): Letters on the Equality of the Sexes 1838; Letters to Catherine E. Beecher 1837 at Sunshine for Women

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Billington, Ray Allen, ed. The Journal of Charlotte Forten: a Free Negro in the Slave Era. New York: Norton, 1981, c1953. [Cleveland Public Library]

Burchard, Peter. Charlotte Forten: a Black Teacher in the Civil War. New York: Crown Publishers, c1995. [Cleveland Public Library Juvenile]

Douty, Esther Morris. Charlotte Forten, Free Black Teacher. Champaign: Garrard Pub. Co., 1971. [Cleveland Public Library Juvenile]

Forten, Charlotte L. A Free Black Girl Before the Civil War: the Diary of Charlotte Forten, 1854. Mankato: Blue Earth Books, c2000. [Cleveland Public Library Juvenile]

Forten, Charlotte L. The Journals of Charlotte Forten Grimké. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988. [Cleveland Public Library]

Lockwood, Lewis C. Two Black Teachers During the Civil War: Mary S. Peake; the Colored Teacher at Fortress Monroe. Life on the Sea Islands [by] Charlotte Forten. New York: Arno Press, 1969. [Cleveland Public Library]

Longsworth, Polly, I, Charlotte Forten, Black and Free. New York: Crowell, c1970. [Cleveland Public Library Juvenile]

Stevenson, Brenda, ed. The Journals of Charlotte Forten Grimké. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988.

• Fannie Lou Hamer (1917-1977) - African-American sharecropper turned civil rights worker and founder of the MS Freedom Democratic Party.

NAME: Fannie Lou Hamer

DATE OF BIRTH: October 6, 1917

PLACE OF BIRTH: Montgomery County, Mississippi

DATE OF DEATH: March 14, 1977

PLACE OF DEATH: Ruleville, Mississippi

FAMILY BACKGROUND: Fannie Lou was the twentieth child to parents Jim and Lou Ella Townsend. As sharecroppers working for area farms, the Townsends saved money to

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buy a farm and mules of their own. However, a malicious white neighbor poisoned their animals to prevent the family from attaining financial freedom. While working on a cotton plantation, Fannie met and married Parry Hamer, a tractor driver on the same plantation.

EDUCATION: Fannie worked as a record keeper after the family she worked for discovered she was literate.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Fannie Lou Hamer is well known a fighter in the American Civil Rights Movement. Despite the prevailing literacy laws, she fought for the right to vote in 1962 as a member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. Fannie believed that Black Americans needed to be educated on various aspects of economics and politics in order to be more successful. She not only championed for rights to vote but also fought against the pervasive poverty in the Black community. She promoted economic assistance for Black Americans. One of her projects was Freedom Farms Corporation; she founded this land coop with the intention of having poor farmers eventually purchase a stake in this land.

Fannie is well-respected for founding the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. The Democratic Party of Mississippi did not allow Blacks. With the founding of this party, they challenged the all-white makeup of political candidates at the 1964 Democratic Convention. She herself ran for Congress but failed because the prevailing party of the day did not permit her name to be placed on the ballot. However, she received more votes outside of the ballot than did her opponent.

During the last decade of her life, Fannie was recognized by various national organizations and colleges for her groundbreaking work on behalf of Black Americans.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Harness, Cheryl. Rabble Rousers: 20 Women Who Made a Difference. New York: N.Y.: Dutton Children's Books, 2003. [j920.720973 Harness Lakewood Public Library]

Jordan, June. Fannie Lou Hamer. New York: Crowell,1972.[jBIO Hamer Lakewood Public Library]

Lamb, Brian. Booknotes: Life Stories: Notable Biographers on the People Who Shaped America. New York: Times Books,1999. [920.02 Booknotes Lakewood Public Library]

WEB SITES:

The Glass Ceiling Biographies: Fannie Lou Townsend Hamer

Fannie Lou Hamer - SNCC 1960-1966 Six Years of the Student Nonviolence Coordinating Committee

Fannie Lou Hamer / FemBio: Notable Women

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Fannie Lou Townsend Hamer - A Woman a Week

Fannie Lou Hamer - by Bonita Jackson

Fannie Lou Hamer Oral History - transcript of an interview for the Mississippi Oral History Program of The University of Southern Mississippi, April 14, 1972.

The Fannie Lou Hamer Project

Who is Fannie Lou Hamer?

• Florence Harding (1860-1924) - Wife of Warren Harding, 29th President of the United States, the first presidential wife able to vote for her husband. Scandal plagued this First

Lady throughout her life.

World Book Encyclopedia; Quarrie Corpoation ©ArtToday.com

NAME: Florence Kling Harding

DATE OF BIRTH: August 15, 1860

PLACE OF BIRTH: Marion, Ohio

FAMILY BACKGROUND: Florence was the eldest child of Amos Kling and Louisa Bouton Kling; her younger brothers were Clifford and Vetallis. Her father owned a hardware store, which led to his owning other businesses and banks, making him the wealthiest man in Marion. Her father was extremely tyrannical and her mother, depressed and submissive. If the Kling children did not meet curfew, Amos would lock their mansion doors and expect them to care for themselves until morning.

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At the age of 19, Florence became pregnant by her young boyfriend, Henry Atherton DeWolfe, a neighbor one year older than she -- most likely to gain freedom from her father. They eloped in March of 1880, moved to Galion, Ohio, and on September 22, 1880, she gave birth to a son, Marshall. Henry turned out to be a spendthrift and a heavy drinker who left her on December 22, 1882. She returned to Marion with Marshall. Refusing to ask her father for help, and he also refusing to help her, Florence instead rented a room and began giving piano lessons. After two years of this, Amos finally asked her to move back with Marshall, suggesting both she and her son go by her maiden name Kling. Florence refused. In September 1884, she filed for separation. Amos then proposed another offer. He would not support Florence raising Marshall, but he would take his grandson as his own, easing her financial hardship. Florence agreed. She and Henry were divorced in 1886.

From this whole ordeal, Florence developed a lifelong empathy for people struggling against society's expectations, and refused to judge the choices people made when attempting to survive. The seeds of feminism were also planted; developing strong beliefs about the rights and abilities of women to determine their own futures without male interference. "No man, father, brother, lover or husband can ruin my life," she said. "I claim the right to live the life the good Lord gave me, myself."

EDUCATION: Florence attended the public schools in Marion and also received training in finance by her father. He firmly believed women should learn business methods so they could earn a living if needed. From the time she could walk, Amos had her at his hardware store, watching and learning everything. Florence loved her business work, but the reality of society meant she would never hold a powerful position or have independent prosperity. She was also a skilled horsewoman, was physically strong, yet also skilled in the womanly arts of needlepoint and housekeeping. After graduating from high school in 1876, and already showing great musical talent, Florence attended the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. However, Amos ordered her back home within the first year.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: She met Warren Gamaliel Harding in the late 1880's; he was five years her junior. One of her piano students was his sister, Charity Harding. He was owner and editor of the Marion Star newspaper. Florence pursued Warren relentlessly, even though he had a girlfriend at the time and was known to be quite "an amiable rake." Amos adamently did not want Florence together with Warren, and even circulated rumors he had previously heard that the Hardings were of mixed blood. In spite of her father's acrimony, Florence married Warren on July 8, 1891, in the house they had built together. They did not have any children.

Unlike other First Ladies, Florence's own career helped to establish her husband's success as a politician. She became the driving force behind the growth and establishment of his newspaper as one of the leading papers in Ohio. She stopped teaching piano after they married and began going to work with Warren and looking at the accounting, whereupon he put her in charge of circulation. She organized local boys as news carriers, even spanking them when necessary, and devised Marion's first home delivery service. She

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was confidante, big sister and boss to the boys, even sending them baskets and a top doctor when they were ill. She boosted their self-esteem, and organized a social club and a value system, with awards for achievements and demerits for bad work. She increased the paper's revenue immediately and consistently.

In 1894, Warren checked into Dr. J.H. Kellogg's famous Battle Creek Sanitarium for the second time (he first went there in 1889). While he was gone, the business manager quit. Florence took over and never left. It was the opportunity she had been waiting for. "I had always told Warren that he wasn't getting the money out of his circulation that he should get," she said. "The papers were just sold over the counter in the business office. There was no delivery. I went down there intending to help out for a few days, and I stayed fourteen years."

When Warren returned to the paper fulltime, he was amazed at her success. At home, she nursed him, trying to prevent another relapse. Warren realized how much he needed her, both at home and work, and his respect for her opinion and independence cemented their marriage. Through Warren, Florence saw the promise of her own aspirations flourish. His optimism, sense of humor and conversationalist skills had an effect on her, bringing the same out of her. His name for her was "The Duchess."

With his charm and ease in conversing, Warren would travel about on free railroad passes he received as editor, attending Ohio Republican meetings and caucuses, where he spoke and introduced others. (The Republican party was newly dominant in Ohio.) He became very popular and a transition into politics seemed only natural. He first became state senator, then lieutenant governor, and won election to the U.S. Senate in 1915. Florence was closely involved in each of his campaigns and, with each success, her pride in and ambition for her husband grew.

When he was nominated as a presidential candidate in the 1920 campaign, Florence enthusiastically backed him. But secretly she was concerned that Warren's extramarital affairs would be exposed. He had had many affairs, including a 15-year relationship with Florence's childhood friend, Carrie Phillips (the only known mistress in U.S. history to successfully blackmail a president), and his Senate aide Grace Cross (who was unsuccessful in her blackmail attempt). He had also begun another relationship in 1917 with Nan Britton, almost 30 years younger than Warren, and which would last throughout his presidency, even allegedly producing a daughter, Elizabeth Ann, in 1919. (Nan received financial support from Warren until he died; then she failed in trying to secure money from the Harding estate after Florence died, so she wrote "The President's Daughter," a tell-all published in 1927.)

Florence was also concerned about her age (now 60) and her health. She had had a kidney removed in 1905 and was prone to debilitating infections. But she put all her concerns aside and campaigned vigorously, even fostering the first use of Hollywood movie stars in a presidential race. The people, weary from The Great War, responded to Warren's campaign slogan, "Back to Normalcy," and elected him in a landslide victory. Florence became the first First Lady to vote for her husband becoming president.

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(Interestingly, Warren had actually voted against the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote.)

The White House and grounds had been closed during Woodrow Wilson's presidency, so Florence delighted in opening them to the public again and exhausting herself with a lively social calendar. Popular events were garden parties for veterans and group tours. She also visited injured veterans in the hospital. (With Prohibition in effect, the Hardings held dry receptions downstairs, while upstairs guests enjoyed liquor and poker games.)

She always maintained her independence, proving to be one of the great feminists of the day. She was her husband's key advisor, was involved in many charities, and crusaded for women's rights. She was the first First Lady to fly in an airplane (and with a woman pilot, no less), and was the first First Lady to appear in newsreels without the president. At the White House, she invited other active women scholars, minds and athletes. In one letter to a women's group, she commented about the partnership between a husband and a wife and their careers:

"If the career is the husband's, the wife can merge her own with it. If it is to be the wife's, as it undoubtedly will be in an increasing proportion of cases, then the husband may, with no sacrifice of self-respect or of recognition, ... permit himself to be the less prominent and distinguished member of the combination."

Despite convention, Warren himself always stressed the influential role his wife had in his career and his deep respect due to her guidance. Due to her influence over appointments, the Veterans Bureau was born under the direction of Charles Forbes. Forbes eventually showed himself to be a criminal, convicted for collusion and profiteering. His corruption was a wounding betrayal. Unfortunately, other scandals were coming to light as well, through many of Warren's appointments of Ohio cronies -- the biggest scandal being the Tea Pot Dome Scandal (in which Secretary of the Interior Albert B. Fall had leased three naval oil reserves, including Tea Pot Dome in Wyoming, to private oil companies without bids in exchange for a bribe).

Rumors of scandals prompted the Hardings to begin a public relations tour, a transcontinental trip called "Voyage of Understanding" in 1923. They visited Alaska and Canada, and were heading east from the west coast when Warren became ill and died on August 2, 1923, in San Francisco. Opinions differ that he died of anxiety about the scandals, a stroke, heart attack, food poisoning or from deliberate poisoning by Florence. The fact that she refused to allow an autopsy of the president contributed to suspicion of her. The official cause of Warren's death is listed as a stroke.

Florence returned to Washington by train with her husband's body. The public, still unaware of the expanse of the impending scandals, greeted the funeral procession in droves. After Warren's death, she tried to preserve their reputations by burning every personal paper she could find. She then returned to Marion, Ohio, where she died of kidney disease 15 months after Warren's death.

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DATE OF DEATH: November 21, 1924

PLACE OF DEATH: Marion, Ohio

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Anthony, Carl Sferrazza. First Ladies: The Saga of the Presidents' Wives and Their Power, Volume 1, 1789-1961. New York: Quill/William Morrow, 1990.

Anthony, Carl Sferrazza. Florence Harding: the First Lady, the Jazz Age, and the Death of America's Most Scandalous President. New York: W. Morrow & Co., 1998

Warren G. Harding Papers [Housed at the Ohio Historical Society]

WEB SITES

• Biography of Florence Kling Harding - White House history • Florence Kling Harding - National First Ladies' Library • Florence Kling Harding - White House (Clinton administration) history • Florence Kling Harding Was Born - America's Story from America's Library

• Caroline Lavinia Scott Harrison (1832-1892) - Wife of Benjamin Harrison, 23rd President of the United States, was the first president-general of the newly formed DAR. An accomplished watercolorist, she designed and painted the Harrison state china and

organized the White House china collection.

World Book Encyclopedia; Quarrie Corporation©ArtToday.com

NAME: Caroline Lavinia Scott Harrison

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DATE OF BIRTH: October 1, 1832

PLACE OF BIRTH: Oxford, Ohio

DATE OF DEATH: October 25, 1892

PLACE OF DEATH: White House

FAMILY BACKGROUND: Caroline Lavinia Scott, "Carrie," was the first wife of President Benjamin Harrison. She was the daughter of John Witherspoon Scott, a teacher and Presbyterian minister and Mary Potts Neal Scott. She had two sisters: Elizabeth Lord and Mary Spears and two brothers: John and Henry. Her family was Presbyterian.

On October 20, 1853 she married Benjamin Harrison; they had one son, Russell Lord, (changed later to Russell Benjamin) Harrison and two daughters, Mary Scott Harrison McKee and an unnamed still born daughter. Caroline served as First Lady from 1889 to 1892.

EDUCATION: Caroline's parents were not only firm believers in education, but devoted their lives to educating young women and girls. As a young girl, she attended the Farmers College where her father taught. Here, she met and fell in love with Benjamin Harrison.

In 1853 she graduated with a music degree from the Oxford Female Institute, which her father was instrumental in founding. While at the institute, Caroline developed her love for English Literature, drama, music, art and painting. While at Oxford and after graduation in Kentucky, Caroline taught music, home economics and painting to students.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Some regard her as the most underrated First Lady. While grandmotherly in appearance compared to her predecessor and successor, Frances Cleveland, she was greatly devoted to women's rights. She only agreed to assist John Hopkins raise money to start a medical school on the condition they must admit women.

In 1890, the newly formed Daughters of the Revolution asked Caroline to become their President; in February 1892, Caroline gave the first recorded speech by a First Lady at the first congress of the DAR. As First Lady, she urged the American public to support their country by "buying American."

Her love of painting translated into her painting the White House china and also into her painting an orchid print made available to the women and girls of America. She began a preservation program for White House china, furniture and other artifacts which pioneered the necessity of historical preservation in the country.

The Harrisons inherited a White House which was rat infested and filthy. Caroline tried to expand the White House but did receive Congress's approval; instead, she did some remodeling and had electricity installed. However, the Harrisons were weary of this new

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energy source and avoided the switches. Caroline's efforts at White House expansion highlighted the need for more space to accommodate the increasing complexity of the role of the President.

She brought in the first Christmas tree to the White House in December of 1889; the Marine Band and Sousa revived dancing to the White House which had not been seen since Sara Polk was First Lady in 1845.

Caroline Harrison was deeply respected for her warmth, intelligence and artistic talent and for her devotion to her family and to her beliefs. During the country's centennial celebrations she became ill with tuberculosis and depression and died only four months before President Harrison's term ended.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Benjamin Harrison, "Papers of Benjamin Harrison," Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, Washinton D.C.

Foster, Harriet Newell McIntyre. Mrs. Benjamin Harrison, the First President-General of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. 1908.[Western Reserve Historical Society]

"Obituary of Caroline Lavinia Scott Harrison," New York Times, 26 October 1892.

Smith, Ophia D. "Caroline Scott Harrison: A Daughter of Old Oxford," National Historical Magazine 75, (April 1941): 4-8, 65.

WEB SITES:

• Biography of Caroline Lavinia Scott Harrison - White House history • Caroline Harrison - National First Ladies' Library • Benjamin Harrison - The American President, PBS

• Lucy Ware Webb Hayes (1831-1889) - Wife of Rutherford B. Hayes, 19th President of the United States, was the first presidential wife to have a college degree. She originated the

annual Easter Egg Roll on the White House lawn.

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Ladies of the White House or In the Home of the PresidentsPublished by: Bradley & Company

©ArtToday.com

NAME: Lucy Ware Webb Hayes

DATE OF BIRTH: August 28, 1831

PLACE OF BIRTH: Chillicothe, Ohio

FAMILY BACKGROUND: Lucy Ware Webb Hayes was the daughter of James Webb and Maria Cook Webb, and sister to two older brothers (James and Joseph). Lucy's father was a medical doctor from Lexington, Kentucky. Going against his Southern conventions, he and his family were highly oppossed to slavery. After inheriting 15-20 slaves from his aunt, Dr. Webb returned to his family home to free them. After freeing the slaves, he worked tirelessly to care for the slaves who were suffering from a cholera epidemic. Despite his efforts, Dr. Webb lost his parents and a brother, and eventually died himself from cholera. Lucy was two years old when he died. When a family friend encouraged Mrs. Webb to sell these slaves after her husband's death, she was adamant in her belief that she would "take in washing" to support her family before selling slaves. The family then lived near Mrs. Webb's family in Chillicothe, Ohio.

EDUCATION: Lucy attended elementary school in Chillicothe. In 1844, her family moved to Delaware, Ohio, to be near her brothers attending the newly formed Ohio Wesleyan University. Both of them became medical doctors. Although women were not allowed to study at Wesleyan, Lucy was permitted to attend classes in the preparatory department, earning a few credits in the collegiate division. Mrs. Webb worried that Lucy would be forced into marriage with a new Methodist minister, so in 1847, she enrolled Lucy in one of the few colleges in the U.S. that granted degrees to women, Cincinnati Wesleyan Female College. Lucy was 16 years old. Lucy excelled here and became a member of the highly respected Young Ladies Lyceum during her last year. She graduated in 1850.

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ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Mrs. Lucy Webb Hayes was the first First Lady to be called "First Lady." Unlike her predecessors, she was extremely popular and well loved by the American people. She was intelligent; the first presidential wife to be college educated. The American public loved her for her easy manner with people. As First Lady she was very much an equal to her husband, sharing his interest in politics and people. One reporter said with sarcasm that when she took a trip without her husband, President Hayes would be "acting President" in her absence.

According to family lore, Rutherford Birchard Hayes first heard the "merry peal" of Lucy's laughter on the Wesleyan campus when she was only fifteen. He was visiting his birthplace in Delaware. In January 1850, he began a new law practice in Cincinnati and they met again while members of a wedding party. At this wedding, Rutherford gave Lucy a gold ring, a prize in his piece of wedding cake. When Lucy and Rutherford were married at her parents' home on December 30, 1852, Lucy gave Rutherford this gold ring; he wore it for the rest of his life. The Hayes had eight children, three who died in infancy: Birchard Austin (1853-1926), Webb Cook (1856-1934), Rutherford Platt (1858-1927), Joseph Thompson (1861-1863), George Crook (1864-1866), Frances "Fanny" (1867-1950), Scott Russell (1871-1923), and Manning Force (1873-1874).

Lucy and Rutherford were partners, respecting each other's ideals and goals. While practicing law in Cincinnati, he was influenced by her anti-slavery sentiments and defended runaway slaves who had crossed the Ohio River. When the Civil War erupted, Lucy's enthusiasm encouraged Rutherford to enlist as a major in the Twenty-third Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He was almost 40 years old, with three small sons. Lucy's brother Joe also joined the Ohio regiment as surgeon. As often as was possible and safe, Lucy visited Rutherford in the field, sometimes camping out there with her mother and children, and helped her brother care for the sick and wounded.

During the war, Lucy found time to visit hospitals and correspond with her husband. Their letters back and forth brought them even closer together; Rutherford wrote in his diary: "Darling wife, how this painful separation is made a blessing by the fine character it develops or brings to view. How I love her more and more!" A couple times during the war, Rutherford was wounded -- the first time was quite minor, while the second time he almost lost his arm. After hit in the left arm with a musket ball, Rutherford continued to lead his men despite the serious and painful injury, until his men insisted upon carrying him from the field. Lucy's brother dressed his wound in the field hospital, probably saving his arm from amputation. He was taken to Middletown, Maryland, to the home of Jacob Rudy.

On both injury occasions, Rutherford requested a telegram be sent to his wife. However, the second time he also requested two other telegrams be sent, but the orderly had only enough money for two telegrams. He chose to send the telegrams to the two men, rather than the wife. When Lucy found out later, she was incensed. A few days later, Lucy received a telegram stating "I am here, come to me. I shall not lose my arm." The telegram had a Washington byline, so Lucy entrusted the children with relatives and caught the morning stage coach. She met up with Rutherford's brother-in-law, William

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Platt, who accompanied her. It took them a week to get to Washington -- but Rutherford was nowhere to be found. She made a round of all the hospitals, including the Patent Office (made into a hospital during the war) and the Surgeon General's Office. William noticed on the original draft of the telegram that Middletown was crossed off and Washington was added. Lucy went back to the Patent Office and called out, "Twenty-third Ohio." Several wounded soldiers anwered her and told her Colonel Hayes was in Middletown. With relief, she finally found her husband and that he was recuperating well.

On the trip back to Ohio a couple weeks later, Lucy and Rutherford were joined by six or seven disabled soldiers from the regiment. When they had to change trains at one point, and finding no seats in the coaches, Lucy led the men into the Pullman car with the fashionable crowd returning from Saratoga. Oblivious to the looks of scorn, Lucy helped her "boys" into empty seats. Later, a telegraph messenger walked through paging Colonel Hayes. Suddenly the "society folk" were interested in the men, offering them grapes and other treats. Lucy disdainfully declined them. The troops affectionately nicknamed her "Mother Lucy." When she stayed in camp with them, she cared for them when they were ill, sewed and repaired their uniforms, and listened to their troubles. During the long war years, she and Rutherford lost two sons before they turned two years old.

Lucy’s interest in her husband’s career and confidence in his ability not only supported and encouraged him as a soldier, but as a congressman, governor of Ohio, and finally President of the United States. In August, 1864, political supporters in Cincinnati nominated Rutherford for Congress from the second district (previously he had served as City Solicitor for Cincinnati). Lucy wrote to Rutherford's Uncle Sardis (who had raised him as a son): "Of course dear Uncle it is gratifying to know how he stands with our citizens and friends -- I wonder if all women or wives have such a unbounded admiration for their better half." Rutherford answered the plea to canvass a campaign, much as expected by his wife and friends, with: "An officer fit for duty who at this crisis would abandon his post to electioneer for a seat in Congress ought to be scalped." Doubtless his concept of duty, war record, and reputation for integrity contributed to Rutherford winning the election anyway in October.

Rutherford did not resign from the Army until May of 1865, after the South surrendered and President Lincoln was assassinated. Although Lucy and the children did not move to Washington to live, she visited Rutherford often and sat in the gallery of the House to listen to debates -- particularly those on Reconstruction. In letters, she wrote her husband that she missed being able to talk politics with him. Her interest was growing. While serving his second term in Congress, Rutherford was nominated for governor of Ohio by the Union Republican party. While he was campaigning, she gave birth to their long-awaited daughter, whom they named after Rutherford's sister (who had passed away shortly after they had married).

Rutherford was elected governor of Ohio in November, 1867, but the two state houses had Democratic majorities. With not much hope of passing controversial legislation, he focused on overdue reform of state institutions. Lucy often accompanied him on visits to prisons, correctional institutions for boys and girls, and hospitals for the mentally ill, deaf

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and mute. She particularly was satisfied in establishing a soldiers' orphans home, without any state support. Eventually the home became a state institution, in 1870, with Lucy exerting pressure on friends in the Senate to have the home approved during the controversy.

During Rutherford's two-term governorship, Lucy began her role as hostess, entertaining and lodging friends and political visitors in their rented houses near the Capitol. She gave birth to their sixth son during this time. In 1871, Rutherford chose not to run for a third term and, in the spring of 1873, the family moved to Fremont, Ohio, into the home at Spiegel Grove that Uncle Sardis Birchard had built with them in mind. In August, Lucy gave birth to her eighth and final baby, another son -- just weeks before she turned 47 years old. Unfortunately, this son, like his two brothers born during the war, did not survive past two years old.

In 1875, leaders of the Republican party pleaded with Rutherford to run for an unprecedented third term as governor. He won, and during this term was nominated for President at the Republican convention in June 1876. At that time, custom decreed that other people do the talking for the nominated candidate. During this campaign, Lucy became a prime newspaper article subject for the first time. A writer for the New York Herald wrote: "Mrs. Hayes is a most attractive and lovable woman..." A year later, another reporter wrote: "Mrs. Hayes is said to be a student of politics, and to talk intelligently upon their changing phases."

The election was extremely close and had to be decided through a special Electoral Commission. Lucy's confidence in Rutherford helped him through this tense difficulty -- which was not concluded until March 2, 1877, after all the electoral votes were counted and Congress declared Rutherford B. Hayes as the duly elected President. With their sons Birchard and Rutherford in college, Lucy and Rutherford moved into the White House with six-year-old Scott, nine-year-old Fanny, and 21-year-old Webb (who served as his father's personal secretary). Presidential wives did not have staffs then, but Lucy invited nieces, cousins and daughters of friends to help her with social duties. Many of them stayed so long they virtually joined the family, and certainly enlivened White House events.

During her time as First Lady, from 1877 to 1881, she was well loved by her staff and visitors alike. Her husband said that she "hated" formal state dinners and that she felt comfortable at informal gatherings. Although most likely a joint decision, Lucy earned the unfortunate name "Lemonade Lucy" for their decision to not serve alcohol at the White House (although the nickname apparently did not come up until they were out of the White House). In actuality, Rutherford realized the political importance of the temperance movement and its advocates to the Republican party. He also felt public officials should maintain a dignified demeanor. Despite the lack of alcohol, Lucy was a very popular hostess.

Lucy continued to work for veterans' benefits, Native American welfare, rehabilitation of the South, and young people while in the White House -- making frequent trips to

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Gallaudet College (even supporting various students), the National Deaf Mute College, and the Hampton Institute (where she sponsored a scholarship for Native American students). She contributed generously to Washington charities, and often sent servants on nightly errands delivering a note and money to someone in need. Lucy also started what has become a tradition: the Easter egg roll. When children were banned from rolling eggs on the Capitol grounds, she invited them to use the White House lawn on the Monday after Easter. By the time she left Washington, Lucy was acclaimed the "most widely known and popular President's wife the country has known."

During their stay at the White House, the Hayeses had bathrooms with running water installed and a crude wall telephone added. With a renovating appropriation delayed (due to strained relations with Congress), Lucy scoured the cellar and attic, finding and restoring furniture. After the appropriation was approved, rather than undertaking extensive redecoration, Lucy decided to enlarge the conservatories by converting the connecting billiard room into a greenhouse, which was viewable from the dining room. Together, the Hayeses committed themselves to finishing the Washington Monument and were the first President and First Lady to visit the West Coast, in 1880. Lucy often accompanied Rutherford on trips.

And it was Lucy who was dubbed the title of "First Lady" -- courtesy of Mary Clemmer Ames, a reporter who called her "the first lady of the land," in an account of President Hayes' inauguration. Other reporters liked the title so much (it was much better than "Presidentess"), they continued to use the title for Lucy, as well as her successors.

When he had accepted the presidency, Rutherford said he would only serve one term and he kept his word. And, for as much as she enjoyed Washington, Lucy was also ready to leave. They returned to Spiegel Grove in March, 1881. Lucy devoted herself to her activities: joining the Woman's Relief Corps (founded in 1883), teaching a Sunday School class, attending reunions of the Twenty-third Ohio Volunteer Infantry, entertaining guests, and continuing her work for better prison conditions and veterans' treatment. Later, she was persuaded to serve as national president of the recently formed Woman's Home Missionary Society of the Methodist Church, which worked for the betterment of poor and destitute women.

On a summer afternoon, while sewing beside her bedroom bay window and watching Scott and Fanny and their friends playing tennis, Lucy suffered a severe stroke. Early in the morning on June 25, 1889, she died in her sleep. She was two months from turning 58 years old. Rutherford was grief-stricken; he had lost his partner in all aspects of his life. Later, he would refer to their marriage as "the most interesting fact" of his life. On his forty-eighth birthday, he had written to Lucy: "My life with you has been so happy -- so successful -- so beyond reasonable anticipations, that I think of you with a loving gratitude that I do not know how to express." Their son Webb wrote: "My Mother was all that a Mother could be and in addition was a most joyous and lovable companion."

Rutherford died three years later; the two are buried together at Spiegel Grove. In 1912, their second son, Colonel Webb Cook Hayes, deeded Spiegel Grove to the state of Ohio,

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including his father's library collection of 12,000 books, and began building a museum on the property. In 1916, he opened the first presidential library and museum in the United States using his own money and some from the state. (See website information below.) In the late 1960s, Lucy's birthplace was restored and opened to the public as the Lucy Webb Hayes Heritage Center (90 West Sixth Street, Chillicothe, OH; 740-775-5829; open Fridays and Saturdays from 1-4 p.m.; $2 admission).

DATE OF DEATH: June 25, 1889

PLACE OF DEATH: Fremont, Ohio

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Barnard, Harry. Rutherford B. Hayes, and his America. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1954.

Commire, Anne, editor. Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia. Waterford, Conn.: Yorkin Publications, 1999-2000.

Geer, Emily Apt. First Lady: The Life of Lucy Webb Hayes. Kent: Kent State University Press, 1984.

Gould, Lewis L., editor. American First Ladies: Their Lives and Their Legacy. New York: Garland Publishing, 1996.

Mahan, Russell L. Lucy Webb Hayes: A First Lady by Example. New York: Nova Science Publishers, 2004.

WEB SITES:

Lucy Webb Hayes - Several articles about her, plus her letters, from the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Center

Lucy Ware Webb Hayes - White House history

Lucy Ware Webb Hayes - National First Ladies' Library

Lucy Ware Webb Hayes - The American President, PBS

Lucy Ware Webb Hayes - LookSmart.com: Biographies and factsheets

Lucy Hayes - by James L. Walker - Bits of Blue and Gray: An American Civil War Notebook

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The Very First "First Lady": Lucy Webb Hayes - by Merre A. Phillips - Seasons of the Sandusky: Magazine for Information, Entertainment and Activities of the Sandusky River Valley and Lake Erie Island Area

• Sally Hemings (1773-1835) - African American who sacrificed her freedom from slavery for the love of President Thomas Jefferson.

NAME: Sally Hemings

DATE OF BIRTH: c.1773

PLACE OF BIRTH: Virginia

DATE OF DEATH: c. 1835

PLACE OF DEATH: Virginia

FAMILY BACKGROUND: Sally Hemings was born to slave master and sea captain, John Wayles and his slave Elizabeth "Betty" Hemings. John Wayles died the year Sally was born. Sally's family then became the property of Thomas Jefferson. Sally's eldest son, Madison Hemmings, accounts that Thomas Jeffereson is the father of Sally's children.

EDUCATION: As a maid in France, Sally received domestic servant training. It is uncertain whether or not she was literate.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Sally Hemings was the personal servant to Thomas Jefferson's daughter, Mary, later known as Maria. At the age of fourteen, Sally escorted Mary to France where Sally became very much a part of French society. Upon returning, she also became the maid to Jefferson's daughter, Martha.

After the death of Thomas Jefferson, Sally stayed at Monticello, caring for Martha and her family. Financial hardships which fell on the Jefferson family prevented Sally from leaving Monticello.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Bear, James A., Jr.. "The Hemings Family of Monticello," Virginia Cavalcade 29. 1979.

Betts, Edwin Morris, ed. Thomas Jefferson's Farm Book. 1953. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1953.

Brodie, Fawn M. Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History. New York: Naughton, 1974

Dabney, Virginius. The Jefferson Scandals: A Rebuttle. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1981.

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Woodson, Byron W. A President in the Family : Thomas Jefferson, Sally Hemings, and Thomas Woodson. Westport: Praeger, 2001.

WEB SITES:

Sally Hemings - Monticello page

Sally Hemings - Gale Group Women's History Month

Statement Regarding Sally Hemings from The Jefferson Legacy Foundation

• Rear Admiral Grace Hopper, USNR (1906-1992) - Computer pioneer and the oldest officer in active duty when she retired in 1986.

Image Donated by Corbis - Bettmann

FULL NAME: Grace Brewster Murray Hopper

BIRTH DATE: 9 Dec. 1906

BIRTHPLACE: New York City

DESCRIPTION OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

"Amazing Grace" was born in 1906. She went on the earn a Ph.D. in Mathematics at a time when women seldom went to college. She joined the WAVES in WWII. When she retired in 1986 at the age of 80, with the rank of Rear Admiral, she was the oldest member of the Navy on active duty. Along the way she also managed to pioneer the field of computing, becoming a programmer on the Mark I at Harvard Labs during WWII. She is recognized for her contributions to technology, has become known as the "Mother of Cobol," and, in 1969, was named the Data Processing Management Associations' "Man of the Year"! Grace Hopper died on January 1, 1992, and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

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DATE OF DEATH: 1 Jan. 1992

FURTHER READING:

Information about Rear Admiral Hopper can be found in Grace Hopper Admiral of the Cyber Sea by Kathleen Broome Williams (2004); Grace Hopper Navy Admiral and Computing Pioneer by Charlene Billings, (1989)

PORTRAYED BY: Linda Witkowski

WEB SITES:

Grace Murray Hopper: Computer Science Pioneer

Grace Murray Hopper

Grace Murray Hopper by Rebecca Norman

Wikipedia: Grace Hopper

QUOTE:

"A ship in port is safe, but that is not what ships are for. Be good ships and sail out to sea and do new things."

• Hedda Hopper (1890-1966) - In the golden age of Hollywood, Hedda could make or break careers. Gossip was her business and J. Edgar Hoover was her penpal.

Image Donated by Corbis - Bettmann

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NAME: Hedda Hopper (born Elda Furry)

DATE OF BIRTH: May 2, 1885

PLACE OF BIRTH: Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania

DATE OF DEATH: February 1, 1966

PLACE OF DEATH: Altoona, Pennsylvania

ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

Known as the "Queen of the Quickies," Hedda Hopper was a "B" movie actress who was in over 120 films. Born Elda Furry, on May 2 1885, in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, she was the daughter of a butcher and one of 7 children. Star struck, she set out first to New York and then to Hollywood to establish a career on the stage and in films. She never really saw success until later in life, when struggling to make ends meet, she took up her pen and began to write. During the Golden Age of Hollywood, Hedda, along with Louella Parsons raised the gossip column to an artform and had the power to make or break careers. She died in Hollywood, at the top of her game, on February 1, 1966.

FURTHER READING:

Information about Hedda can be found in "From Under My Hat" by Hedda Hopper (1953); "The Whole Truth and Nothing But" by Hedda Hopper (1962); "Hedda and Louella" by George Eells (1973).

WEB SITES:

IMDB entry

Wikipedia entry

QUOTE:

"Nobody's interested in sweetness and light!" - Hedda Hopper

• Adella Prentiss Hughes (1869-1950) - Founder of the Cleveland Orchestra and Cleveland

Music Settlement House.

NAME: Adella Prentiss Hughes

DATE OF BIRTH: November 29, 1869

PLACE OF BIRTH: Cleveland, Ohio

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DATE OF DEATH: August 23, 1950

PLACE OF DEATH: Cleveland, Ohio

FAMILY BACKGROUND: Adella was the youngest of three children born to Loren and Ellen Rouse Prentiss. She married Felix Hughes in 1904 and divorced in 1923. She died of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1950 and is buried at Lakeview Cemetery.

EDUCATION: Adella attended Rockwell grammar school, the first public school in Cleveland; Miss Fisher's School for Girls (now Hathaway Brown) from which she graduated in 1886; and graduated from Vassar College in 1890 with a Music Degree.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Adella Prentiss Hughes is long remembered as the founding force of the Musical Arts Association and the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra. Her love and passion for music combined with her business and visionary abilities has given Cleveland a treasured musical and cultural base with the world renown Cleveland Orchestra.

At Vassar, Adella performed as well as arranged tours for the college glee club and banjo club. Following college, Adella toured Europe in 1891 and returned to Cleveland to become a professional accompanist at musical benefits and for visiting artists. She decided to focus on the promotional end of music whereby she brought various orchestras, operas, ballets and chamber music to Grays Armory and Masonic Hall; names such as Richard Strauss, Ignace Jan Paderewski, Madame Ernestine Schumann-Heinck, Nellie Melba, Gustav Mahler, the Diaghileff Ballet Russe and the Boston Grand Opera performed in Cleveland.

For 17 years she was a constant source of music in Cleveland. The Cleveland Music School Settlement was founded by Hughes in 1911 which provided music and dance instruction to children from all parts of the society. In 1915 she founded the Musical Arts Association, the parent organization of the Cleveland Orchestra. In 1918 the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra was born with Nickilai Sokoloff as their first Musical Director and Adella as their first General Manager. The orchestra performed at Grays Armory and Masonic Hall until Severance Hall was opened in 1931. She retired professionally from the Orchestra in 1933 and then assumed the volunteer position of Vice President and Secretary of the Musical Arts Association. She retired fully from public life in 1945 to devote herself to her memoirs, Music is My Life, published in 1947.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Adella Prentiss Hughes Papers [Western Reserve Historical Society]

Hughes, Adella Prentiss. Music Is My Life. Cleveland: World Publishing, 1947

Musical Arts Association Archives, Severance Hall

WEB SITES:

Encyclopedia of Cleveland History

Historical Timeline of the Cleveland Orchestra and Severance Hall

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• Jane Edna Hunter (1882-1971) - African-American social worker, attorney, founder of

Phyllis Wheatley Association of Cleveland.

NAME: Jane Edna Hunter; born Jane Edna Harris.

BIRTHDATE: Dec. 13, 1882.

BIRTH PLACE: Pendleton, South Carolina

FAMILY BACKGROUND: Jane's parents, Edward Harris and Harriet Millner, were sharecroppers. Jane's father was born to a slave woman and the white overseer of a plantation. Jane was light-skinned and felt more akin to her father's side; she was somewhat alienated from her dark-skinned mother. Later in life she admitted rejecting her racial heritage with its poverty and subjugation. In part her life's work sought to give the world what she had not been able to give her mother. Following her father's death when she was ten, Jane and her 3 siblings were raised by various relatives. She had a brief marriage to Edward Hunter, a man 40 years her senior.

EDUCATION: Jane was taught to read and write by the daughter of her employer where she was a live-in servant. At fourteen Jane was invited by missionaries to attend a Presbyterian school in Abbeville, South Carolina. She graduated from Ferguson College in 1896, and subsequently completed nursing training. In 1904 she completed advanced training at Hampton Institute in Virginia. She attended Marshall Law School in Cleveland and passed the Ohio bar examination in 1925.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: The focus of Jane's adult life was the improvement of conditions for African-American women. She sought to protect and guide poor young single girls from the south who migrated north for work as she had. In Cleveland in 1911 she founded the Working Girls Association which became the Phillis Wheatley Association the next year. The Association established a settlement house that provided lodging, training and work placement. Hunter's project became the model for similar projects nationwide.

She founded the Women's Civic League of Cleveland in 1943. She established the Phillis Wheatley Foundation scholarship fund; the foundation later established the Jane Edna Hunter Scholarship Fund. She held executive offices in the National Association for Colored Women (NACW). In 1937 she was a nominee for the NAACP's Spingarn Medal. She was granted honorary degrees from Fisk University, Allen University in South Carolina, Central State University in Ohio and the Tuskegee Institute. In 1940 she penned her autobiography, A Nickel and a Prayer." The Cuyahoga County (Ohio) Department of Children and Family Services building at 3955 Euclid Avenue in Cleveland is named in her honor. There is a Jane Edna Hunter Museum at the Phillis Wheatley Center at 4450 Cedar Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio.

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DATE OF DEATH: Jan. 19, 1971

PLACE OF DEATH: Cleveland, Ohio

WEB SITES

Heroes of Ohio: Jane Edna Hunter, "A Nickel and a Prayer" Encyclopedia of Cleveland History: Jane Edna Hunter Encyclopedia of Cleveland History: Phillis Wheatley Association

• Zora Neale Hurston (1903-1960) - African-American writer from The Harlem Group, influenced Toni Morrison and Alice Walker.

Portrait of Zora Neale Hurston by Carl Van Vechten, published 1938 Source: Carl Van Vechten, photographer, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division

(Reproduction number LC-USZ62-79898DLC).

[Extended profile]

BIRTHDATE: Jan. 7, 1891?

EDUCATION: Graduated from Morgan Academy (high school division of Morgan College (now Morgan State University) in 1918. Attended Howard University and received her B.A. in anthropology from Barnard College, Columbia University in 1928.

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FAMILY BACKGROUND: Her father was a Baptist preacher, tenant farmer, and carpenter. At age three her family moved to Eatonville, Fla., the first incorporated black community in America, of which her father would become mayor. In her writings she would glorify Eatonville as a utopia where black Americans could live independent of the prejudices of white society.

DESCRIPTION OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS: A novelist, folklorist, and anthropologist, Zora Neale Hurston was the prototypical authority on black culture from the Harlem Renaissance. In this artistic movement of the 1920s black artists moved from traditional dialectical works and imitation of white writers to explore their own culture and affirm pride in their race. Zora Neale Hurston pursued this objective by combining literature with anthropology. She first gained attention with her short stories such as "John Redding Goes to Sea" and "Spunk" which appeared in black literary magazines. After several years of anthropological research financed through grants and fellowships, Zora Neale Hurston's first novel Jonah's Gourd Vine was published in 1934 to critical success. In 1935, her book Mules and Men, which investigated voodoo practices in black communities in Florida and New Orleans, also brought her kudos.

The year 1937 saw the publication of what is considered Hurston's greatest novel Their Eyes Watching God. And the following year her travelogue and study of Caribbean voodoo Tell My Horse was published. It received mixed reviews, as did her 1939 novel Moses, Man of the Mountain. Her autobiography Dust Tracks on a Road was a commercial success in 1942, despite its overall absurdness, and her final novel Seraph on the Suwanee, published in 1948, was a critical failure.

Zora Neale Hurston was a utopian, who held that black Americans could attain sovereignty from white American society and all its bigotry, as proven by her hometown of Eatonville. Never in her works did she address the issue of racism of whites toward blacks, and as this became a nascent theme among black writers in the post World War II ear of civil rights, Hurston's literary influence faded. She further scathed her own reputation by railing the civil rights movement and supporting ultraconservative politicians. She died in poverty and obscurity.

DATE OF DEATH: Jan. 28, 1960.

PLACE OF DEATH: Fort Pierce, Fla.

WEB SITES:

Zora Neale Hurston

Zora Neale Hurston on the Turpentine Camps Florida Memory Project

Zora Neale Hurston Festival of the Arts and Humanities Annual festival in Eatonville, Florida

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Excerpt from Their Eyes Were Watching God

Zora Neale Hurston Voices from the Gaps - Women Writers of Color

QUOTE:

Mama exhorted her children at every opportunity to “jump at de sun.” We might not land on the sun, but at least we would get off the ground.

- Zora Neale Hurston

• Anne Hutchinson (1591-1643) – A Puritan woman who defied the male-dominated Massachusetts Bay Colony and after banishment helped settle Rhode Island and New York.

• Mahalia Jackson (1912-1972) - Extraordinary gospel singer and the first African-American woman to gain national acclaim for gospel music.

Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division,Carl Van Vechten collection, [reproduction number, e.g., LC-USZ62-54231]

NAME: Mahalia Jackson

DATE OF BIRTH: October 26, 1911

PLACE OF BIRTH: New Orleans, Louisiana

FAMILY BACKGROUND: Mahalia was the third child to John A. Jackson, a barber and preacher, and Charity Clark, who died at the age of 25 when Mahalia was four years

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old. In 1916, her father sent her to live with her aunt Mahalia "Duke" Paul. Aunt Duke didn't allow secular music in her house, but Mahalia's cousin would sneak in records. Even at a very young age, Mahalia had a booming voice and she would sing hymns and old-time gospel tunes around the house.

EDUCATION: Mahalia attended the McDonough School No. 24 in New Orleans through the eighth grade.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Mahalia Jackson is viewed by many as the pinnacle of gospel music. Her singing began at the age of four in her church, the Plymouth Rock Baptist Church in New Orleans. Her early style blended the freedom and power of gospel with the stricter style of the Baptist Church. As a teenager, through her cousin's aid, she was influenced by such famous singers as Bessie Smith, Ida Cox, Enrico Caruso and Ma Rainey, and her own style began to emerge into a more soulful expression.

In 1927, at the age of 16, she moved to Chicago and found work as a domestic. But soon after, she found plenty of work as a soloist at churches and funerals after joining the Greater Salem Baptist Church choir. Her unique contralto voice caught the attention of many small churches from coast to coast. Larger, more formal churches frowned upon her energetic renditions of songs. After performing with the Prince Johnson Singers, she began recording for Decca Records in 1937. When the records did not sell as well as expected, she became a beautician. However, after five years of touring with composer Thomas A. Dorsey at gospel tents and churches, Mahalia's popularity and success garnered her another record contract, this time with Apollo Records, from 1946 to 1954. She then switched to Columbia Records, from 1954 to 1967, where she attained broad recognition as a spiritual singer.

Throughout the 1950s, Mahalia's voice was heard on radio, television and concert halls around the world. Her shows were packed in Europe, and her audience very enthusiastic at the 1957 Newport Jazz Festival, at a special all-gospel program she requested. In 1954, she began hosting her own Sunday night radio show for CBS. She performed on the Ed Sullivan show in 1956 where she catapulted gospel music into America's mainstream. She sang for President Dwight Eisenhower and at John F. Kennedy's inaugural ball in 1960.

From the 1955 Montgomery Bus Boycott until her death, Mahalia was very prominent in the Civil Rights Movement. Very close with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., she often performed at his rallies--even singing an old slave spiritual before his famous "I Have a Dream" speech at the March on Washington in 1963. She also sang at his funeral five years later.

Despite her doctors ordering her to slow down, Mahalia refused and collapsed while on tour in Munich in 1971. She died of heart failure on January 27, 1972, at her home in Evergreen Park, Illinois.

DATE OF DEATH: January 27, 1972

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PLACE OF DEATH: Chicago, Illinois

BOOKS:

Goreau, Laurraine. Just Mahalia, Baby. Waco: Word Books, 1975.[BIO Jackson]

Schwerin, Jules. Got To Tell It: Mahalia Jackson Queen of Gospel. 1992. [sound recording Cleveland Public Library]

Wolfe, Charles. Mahalia Jackson. New York: Chelsea House, 1990.[Lakewood Public Library jBIO Wolfe]

WEB SITES

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum Inductee: Mahalia Jackson

Mahalia Jackson - the World's Greatest Gospel Singer

Mahalia Jackson - Famous Christians in History

• Rebecca Jackson ( 1795-1871) - African-American eldress of the Shaker sect.

DATE OF BIRTH: February 15, 1795

PLACE OF BIRTH: Hornstown, Pennsylvania

FAMILY BACKGROUND: Rebecca Cox was born to Jane Wisson (or Wilson), a free black woman who married at least twice before dying in 1808. Rebecca never knew her father. She lived with her grandmother until the age of three or four. The grandmother died when Rebecca was seven years old. From the age of ten, she became responsible for two younger siblings. Her mother died when she was 13 years old, so she lived with her 31-year-old brother Joseph Cox, an African Methodist Episcopal (AME) minister, widower and father of six children. In 1830, she married Samuel S. Jackson and they continued living with her brother and his children. They had no children.

EDUCATION: Later in life, Rebecca wrote that, because she had to care for her younger siblings, she was “the only child of my mother that had not learning.”

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Rebecca took care of the house and her brother’s children, and earned a living as a seamstress, even after getting married. Life continued this way for over 20 years.

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In July 1830, at the age of 35, Rebecca experienced a religious awakening during a severe thunderstorm. She had been afraid of such storms for years, and had written that “in time of thunder and lightening I would have to go to bed because it made me so sick.” This time, she was so scared and convinced she was going to die, she began praying for either death or redemption. Suddenly she felt like “the cloud burst” and the lightening that had been “the messenger of death, was now the messenger of peace, joy and consolation.”

After this revelation, Rebecca began having visions, in which she said the presence of a divine inner voice instructed her to use her spiritual gifts. She claimed that in these dreams she could heal the sick, make the sinful holy, speak with angels, and even fly. She left her husband’s bed to live a life of “Christian perfection.” Her inner voice instructed her “to travel some and speak to the people.”

At first, Rebecca recounted her visionary experiences and held prayer meetings in people’s homes. She soon developed a large following – inspiring both blacks and whites, mostly women – through “Covenant Meetings.” She was harshly criticized for “aleading the men” and for refusing to formally join a church; which several Methodist ministers felt was “chopping up” the churches. Morris Brown, Bishop of the AME Church, attended one of Rebecca’s meetings, intending to stop her, but instead declared, “If ever the Holy Ghost was in any place, it was in that meeting. Let her alone now.”

Yet Rebecca was still frustrated by her inability to read and write. Her brother had promised to teach her, but had not been able to do so, being tired every night. She resolved to “not think hard of my brother, … [who] had always been kind and like a father to me.” She continued to rely on him to read and write for her. Until she realized he had made substantial changes in letters she had dictated. She said, “I don’t want thee to word my letter. I only want thee to write it.” Joseph said, “Sister, thee is the hardest one I ever wrote for!” Rebecca took this to heart; thinking there wasn’t much that was too hard for her to do for his or his children’s comfort. But she took solace in her inner voice when it said “the time shall come when you can write.” So she continued praying, and one day the inner voice spoke to her about learning to read. She later wrote:

“I laid down my dress, picked up my Bible, ran upstairs, opened it, and kneeled down with it pressed to my breast, prayed earnestly to Almighty God if it was consisting to His holy will, to learn me to read His holy word. And when I looked on the word, I began to read. And when I found I was reading, I was frightened – then I could not read one word. I closed my eyes again in prayer and then opened my eyes, began to read. So I done, until I read the chapter.” Later, she painstakingly taught herself to write.

Now Rebecca had access to the Bible, and she used it to defend her practice of “holy living.” She had intense criticism from her husband, her brother and the AME clergy who objected to women preaching and her radical notion of celibacy even in marriage. With a revelation that celibacy was necessary for a holy life, Rebecca had criticized churches for “carnality.” Some ministers threatened to expel their church members who let Rebecca into their homes during her travels.

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By 1837, at the height of accusations against her, Rebecca requested that Methodist and Presbyterian ministers formally try her for heresy. The request was refused and she cut off all ties to her husband, family and the church. For the next 10 years, she traveled and preached around Pennsylvania, northern Delaware, New Jersey, southern New England, and New York. During this time, she discovered the United Society of Believers in Christ’s Second Appearing (known primarily as the Shakers), whose religious views were surprisingly similar to hers.

In 1847, Rebecca and her friend and disciple Rebecca Perot joined a Shaker community at Watervliet, near Albany, New York. Impressed by Rebecca’s spiritual gifts, the Shakers welcomed her as a prophet. Both Rebeccas were attracted to the sect’s practice of celibacy and recognition of the feminine, as well as the masculine, aspects of God. They lived there for four years.

But Rebecca was not satisfied with the Shakers’ outreach to blacks. In 1851, this disappointment led to a conflict with authority in which she and Perot returned to Philadelphia on an unauthorized mission, experimenting with seance-style spiritualism. There, she established a small, predominantly black and female, Shaker family. After six years, she ended her estrangement from the Shaker leadership and returned to Watervliet for a year. After the reconciliation, Rebecca returned to Philadelphia again – this time with the moral, legal and financial support of Shaker society.

Rebecca’s Shaker family in Philadelphia combined elements of Shaker theology and black female praying band traditions. Members consisted of anywhere from 12 to 20 members, living in a large house on Erie Street. Other black Shakers who lived in or around Philadelphia also gathered there for services.

Rebecca’s diary entries end in 1864 and she passed away in 1871. She was buried in a Shaker community in New Lebanon, New York. Perot assumed the name “Mother Rebecca Jackson” and leadership of the Philadelphia family, which survived another 40 years. In 1896, Perot and several elderly sisters retired to Watervliet, and many believed Rebecca’s colony had come to an end. But, that same year, in his study of black Philadelphia, W.E.B. DuBois found two Shaker households in the seventh ward, and in 1908, a Shaker editor noted discovery of “a colony of Believers there, and zealous, too.”

In 1980, Rebecca’s writings were published in a single volume, called “Gifts of Power.” After her death, Alonzo G. Hollister, a Shaker leader, collected her writings (including an incomplete narrative of her life) and interviewed Philadelphia family members. For some reason, he was never able to produce a complete, edited manuscript. And Rebecca remained virtually unknown until her manuscripts were rediscovered and published in 1980. In her writings, Rebecca focused on her spiritual experiences more so than her secular life before her revelation.

DATE OF DEATH: 1871

PLACE OF DEATH: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

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BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Braxton, Joanne M. Black Women Writing Autobiography: A Tradition Within a Tradition. Philadelphia: Temple University Press: 1989.

Commire, Anne, editor. Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia. Waterford, Conn: Yorkin Publications, 2000.

Douglass-Chin, Richard J. Preacher Woman Sings the Blues: The Autobiographies of Nineteenth-Century African American Evangelists. Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 2001.

Evans, James H. Spiritual Empowerment in Afro-American Literature: Frederick Douglass, Rebecca Jackson, Booker T. Washington, Richard Wright, Toni Morrison. Lewiston [NY]: E. Mellen Press, 1987.

Hine, Darlene Clark, editor. Black Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia. Brooklyn, NY: Carlson Publishing, 1993.

Jackson, Rebecca Cox. Gifts of Power: The Writings of Rebecca Jackson, Black Visionary, Shaker Eldress. Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1981.

Smith, Jessie Carney. Notable Black American Women. Detroit, MI: Gale Research, 1992.

Williams, Richard E. Called and Chosen: The Story of Mother Rebecca Jackson and the Philadelphia Shakers. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press, 1981.

Woods, Naurice Frank, Jr. Picturing a People: A History of African Americans from 1619 – 1900. Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt Pub. Co. 1997.

WEB SITES:

PBS - Africans in America: Rebecca Cox Jackson

Shaker Historical Museum

The Dream of Washing Quilts by Rebecca Cox Jackson

North American Women’s Letters and Diaries: Rebecca Cox Jackson

Our Philadelphia Story: Today's Active African American Literary Scene in the City of Brotherly Love Has Deep Roots in a Proud Legacy. Black Issues Book Review: Jan.-Feb. 2002.

QUOTE:

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“Oh how thankful I feel for this unspeakable gift of Almighty God to me! Oh may I make a good use of it all the days of my life!”

• Harriet Jacobs (1813-1897) - African-American escaped slave, author and abolitionist.

DATE OF BIRTH: 1813

PLACE OF BIRTH: Edenton, North Carolina

FAMILY BACKGROUND: Harriet's mother Delilah was the daughter of a slave named Molly Horniblow. (Margaret Horniblow was her mistress/owner.) Her father, Daniel Jacobs, was a carpenter and slave to Andre Knox, a doctor, and was the son of Henry Jacobs, a white man. Harriet never knew she was a slave until her mother died when she was six years old. At that time, Harriet and her siblings moved in with their grandmother, Molly.

"[We] lived together in a comfortable home; and, though we were all slaves, I was so fondly shielded that I never dreamed that I was a piece of merchandise." [Quotes are from Harriet's autobiography, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl.]

EDUCATION: When Harriet moved in with her grandmother, her mistress Margaret taught Harriet to read and sew, and both Margaret and Molly gently and firmly instilled Christian virtues in Harriet.

"My mistress had taught me the precepts of God's Word ..... While I was with her, she taught me to read and spell; and for this privilege, which so rarely falls to the lot of a slave, I bless her memory."

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Harriet Jacobs is revered for her autobiographical account, titled Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl: Written by Herself, which was first published in 1861 under a pseudonym, with all of the names changed.

This writing is among the most significant of personal slave histories, of which there are only two other published autobiographies (by Frederick Douglass and Nat Turner). However, most people believed the book was a fictional novel written by a white author -- until its 1987 updated reprint. In the riveting book, Harriet depicts her life, detailing the cruel oppression and sexual harassment by her master, and her ultimate triumph of pride, autonomy and freedom.

"When he told me that I was made for his use, made to obey his command in every thing; that I was nothing but a slave, whose will must and should surrender to his, never before had my puny arm felt half so strong."

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When Margaret Horniblow died, Harriet (now 12 years old), her grandmother Molly and her siblings became the property of Margaret's niece. But since the niece was only five years old, her father, Dr. James Norcom ("Dr. Flint" in Incidents), became their de facto master. And although Margaret had stated that she wanted Molly freed upon her death, Dr. Norcom refused to do this. Molly was 50 years old.

"Dr. Flint called to tell my grandmother that he was unwilling to wound her feelings by putting her up at auction, and that he would prefer to dispose of her at private sale. My grandmother saw through his hypocrisy; she understood very well that he was ashamed of the job. ..... When the day of sale came, she took her place among the chattels, and at the first call she sprang upon the auction-block. Many voices called out, 'Shame! Shame! Who is going to sell you, aunt Marthy? Don't stand there! That is no place for you.' Without saying a word, she quietly awaited her fate. No one bid for her. At last, a feeble voice said, 'Fifty dollars.' It came from a maiden lady, seventy years old, the sister of my grandmother's deceased mistress. ..... The auctioneer waited for a higher bid; ... no one bid above her. ..... She gave the old servant her freedom."

About the time Harriet turned 15 years old, Dr. Norcom began relentlessly pursuing her sexually. While he did have power over her, he was fearful of her grandmother because she was so well-known and respected in the community, so he never forced anything. At first he whispered "foul words" in Harriet's ear. Then his tactics became more overt, but Harriet refused to give in. Dr. Norcom's wife became suspicious of her husband's intentions -- and directed her rage at Harriet.

"He tried his utmost to corrupt the pure principles my grandmother had instilled. He peopled my young mind with unclean images, such as only a vile monster could think of. I turned from him with disgust and hatred. But he was my master, I was compelled to live under the same roof with him -- where I saw a man forty years my senior daily violating the most sacred commandments of nature. He told me I was his property; that I must be subject to his will in all things. ... But where could I turn for protection? No matter whether the slave girl be as black as ebony or as fair as her mistress. In either case, there is no shadow of law to protect her from insult, from violence, or even from death...

"The mistress, who ought to protect the helpless victim, has no other feelings towards her but those of jealousy and rage. Even the little child, who is accustomed to wait on her mistress and her children, will learn, before she is twelve years old, why it is that her mistress hates such and such a one among the slaves. Perhaps the child's own mother is among those hated ones. She listens to violent outbreaks of jealous passion, and cannot help understanding what is the cause. She will become prematurely knowing in evil things. Soon she will tremble when she hears her master's footfall. She will be compelled to realize that she is no longer a child. If God has bestowed beauty upon her, it will prove her greatest curse. That which commands admiration in the white woman only hastens the degradation of the female slave.

"..... The light heart which nature had given me became heavy with sad forebodings. The other slaves in my master's house noticed the change. Many of them pitied me; but none

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dared ask the cause. They had no need to inquire. They knew too well the guilty practices under that roof; and they were aware that to speak of them was an offence that never went unpunished.

"..... I would have given the world to have laid my head on my grandmother's faithful bosom, and told her all my troubles. But Dr. Flint swore he would kill me, if I was not as silent as the grave. ... I was very young, and felt shamefaced about telling her such impure things, especially as I knew her to be very strict on such subjects."

After a time, Mrs. Norcom asked Harriet to look her in the eye and tell the truth; Harriet did. The wife then became a sort of protector, having Harriet sleep in an adjacent room with the Norcoms' daughter. But jealousy reared again, and Harriet was again the focus.

"My master was, to my knowledge, the father of eleven slaves. But did the mothers dare to tell who was the father of their children? Did the other slaves dare to allude to it, except in whispers among themselves? No, indeed! They knew too well the terrible consequences.

"Southern women often marry a man knowing that he is the father of many little slaves. They do not trouble themselves about it. They regard such children as property, as marketable as the pigs on the plantation; and it is seldom that they do not make them aware of this by passing them in the slave-trader's hands as soon as possible, and thus getting them out of their sight."

During this time, Harriet repeatedly asked Dr. Norcom for permission to marry a free black man. Norcom violently refused.

"I loved him with all the ardor of a young girl's first love. But when I reflected that I was a slave, and that the laws gave no sanction to the marriage of such, my heart sank within me. My lover wanted to buy me; but I knew that Dr. Flint [would never consent]. ..... [Dr. Flint told her:] 'Never let me hear that fellow's name mentioned again. If I ever know of your speaking to him, I will cowhide you both; and if I catch him lurking about my premises, I will shoot him as soon as I would a dog. .....

"My lover was an intelligent and religious man. Even if he could have obtained permission to marry me while I was a slave, the marriage would give him no power to protect me from my master. ..... And then, if we had children, I knew they must 'follow the condition of the mother.' ..... He was going to Savannah ... and hard as it was to bring my feelings to it, I earnestly entreated him not to come back. ..... The dream of my girlhood was over. I felt lonely and desolate."

Dr. Norcom had his own plan. Thinking Harriet's reluctance was due to fear of his wife, he would build a cottage for Harriet four miles from town. Harriet refused to move there, knowing her grandmother's position in the community could not protect her in that isolated location.

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"... he talked of his intention to give me a home of my own, and to make a lady of me. ..... I vowed before my Maker that I would never enter it. I had rather toil on the plantation from dawn till dark; I had rather live and die in jail, than drag on, from day to day, through such a living death. ..... What could I do? I thought and thought, till I became desperate, and made a plunge into the abyss.

"But, O, ye happy women, whose purity has been sheltered from childhood, who have been free to choose the objects of your affection, whose homes are protected by law, do not judge the poor desolate slave girl too severely! If slavery had been abolished, I, also, could have married the man of my choice; I could have had a home shielded by the laws; and I should have been spared the painful task of confessing ... I wanted to keep myself pure ... but I was struggling alone ... and I became reckless in my despair."

Harriet had become friends with a young, caring white man named Samuel Tredwell Sawyer ("Mr. Sands" in Incidents), an unmarried attorney. She hoped that by becoming sexually involved, and thus pregnant, Dr. Norcom would angrily sell her -- and perhaps Samuel could buy her and her child. She was 15 years old.

"[T]o be an object of interest to a man who is not married, and who is not her master, is agreeable to the pride and feelings of a slave, if her miserable situation has left her any pride or sentiment. It seems less degrading to give one's self, than to submit to compulsion. There is something akin to freedom in having a lover who has no control over you, except that which he gains by kindness and attachment. ..... the condition of a slave confuses all principles of morality, and, in fact, renders the practice of them impossible.

"I shuddered to think of being the mother of children that should be owned by my old tyrant. I knew that as soon as a new fancy took him, his victims were sold far off to get rid of them; especially if they had children. I had seen several women sold, with babies at the breast. He never allowed his offspring by slaves to remain long in sight of himself and his wife. .....

"At last, [Dr. Flint] came and told me the cottage was completed, and ordered me to go to it. I told him I would never enter it. He said, 'I have heard enough of such talk as that. You shall go, if you are carried by force; and you shall remain there.' I replied, 'I will never go there. In a few months I shall be a mother.' He stood and looked at me in dumb amazement, and left the house without a word. I thought I should be happy in my triumph over him. But now that the truth was out, and my relatives would hear of it, I felt wretched."

Although they had two children together (Joseph and Louisa Matilda), Dr. Norcom adamently refused to sell Harriet, or her children. (Harriet had her first child at age 16.) Harriet lived from that time onward with her grandmother and her children. She refused to tell Dr. Norcom who the father of her children was. As the children grew over the years, the doctor continued to pursue Harriet and would say, "These brats will bring me a

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handsome sum of money one of these days." Once again, Samuel went to a slave trader to have him try to buy Harriet. Dr. Norcom refused again, and later told Harriet:

"'Your new paramour came to me, and offered to buy you; but you may be assured you will not succeed. You are mine; and you shall be mine for life. There lives no human being that can take you out of slavery. I would have done it; but you rejected my kind offer.' .... [When her son became scared, hugging her, Dr. Flint] hurled him across the room. I thought he was dead, and rushed towards him to take him up. 'Not yet!' exclaimed the doctor. 'Let him lie there till he comes to.' 'Let me go! Let me go!' I screamed, 'or I will raise the whole house.' I struggled and got away; but he clinched me again. Somebody opened the door, and he released me. ... Anxiously I bent over the little form, so pale and still; and when the brown eyes at last opened, I don't know whether I was very happy.

"All the doctor's former persecutions were renewed. He came morning, noon, and night. No jealous lover ever watched a rival more closely ...

"[Later, the doctor said:] '... you desire freedom for yourself and your children, and you can obtain it only through me. If you agree to what I am about to propose, you and they shall be free. There must be no communication of any kind between you and their father. I will procure a cottage, where you and the children can live together. Your labor shall be light, such as sewing for my family. ... Let the past be forgotten. If I have been harsh with you at times, your wilfulness drove me to it. You know I exact obedience from my own children, and I consider you as yet a child.' [She refused the offer.]

"He replied, 'I must let you know there are two sides to my proposition; if you reject the bright side, you will be obliged to take the dark one. You must either accept my offer, or you and your children shall be sent to your young master's plantation, there to remain till your young mistress is married; and your children shall fare like the rest of the negro children.'"

She knew she could not trust her master. Dr. Norcom banished her to work on his plantation, managed by his son, who was preparing it for his new wife. Harriet's son stayed to live with her grandmother, since he was ill, but her daughter went with her. She was 21 years old; her son was five and her daughter around two.

"I worked day and night, with wretchedness before me. When I lay down beside my child, I felt how much easier it would be to see her die than to see her master beat her about, as I daily saw him beat other little ones. The spirit of the mothers was so crushed by the lash, that they stood by, without courage to remonstrate. .....

"Ellen broke down under the trials of her new life. Separated from me, with no one to look after her, she wandered about, and in a few days cried herself sick. One day, she sat under the window where I was at work, crying that weary cry which makes a mother's heart bleed. I was obliged to steel myself to bear it. After a while it ceased. I looked out, and she was gone. As it was near noon, I ventured to go down in search of her. The great

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house was raised two feet above the ground. I looked under it, and saw her about midway, fast asleep. I crept under and drew her out. As I held her in my arms, I thought how well it would be for her if she never waked up..."

Soon after, Harriet put her daughter on a cart heading back to town to live with her grandmother. Shortly after the new bride arrived, Harriet learned that her children were to be brought to the plantation to be 'broken in.' Harriet made her decision.

With the help of her friends, Harriet escaped in June of 1835. She first hid in the house of a friend, hoping to get the chance to escape up North after Dr. Norcom relaxed his pursuit of her. But he did not give up. He posted reward notices --

$300 REWARD! Ran away from the subscriber, an intelligent, bright, mulatto girl, named Harriet, 21 years of age. Five feet four inches high. Dark eyes, and black hair inclined to curl; but it can be made straight. Has a decayed spot on a front tooth. She can read and write, and in all probability will try to get to the Free States. All persons are forbidden, under penalty of law, to harbor or employ said slave. $150 will be given to whoever takes her in the state, and $300 if taken out of the state and delivered to me, or lodged in jail.

"The search for me was kept up with more perseverance than I had anticipated. I began to think that escape was impossible. ... [my relatives] advised me to return to my master, ask his forgiveness, and let him make an example of me. [But] I had resolved that, come what would, there should be no turning back."

A sympathetic white woman, a lifelong friend of Harriet's grandmother, came along to volunteer hiding space in her house for a time. From her secret room window, she could see Dr. Norcom walking below on the street.

"Thus far I had outwitted him, and I triumphed over it. Who can blame slaves for being cunning? They are constantly compelled to resort to it. It is the only weapon of the weak and oppressed against the strength of their tyrants.

"I was daily hoping to hear that my master had sold my children... But Dr. Flint cared even more for revenge than he did for money. My brother William and the good aunt who had served in his family twenty years, and my little Benny, and Ellen, who was a little over two years old, were thrust into jail [to compel] my relatives [to talk]. He swore my grandmother should never see one of them again till I was brought back. They kept these facts from me ...

"[My daughter was sick and taken to the doctor's house.] Poor little Ellen cried all day to be carried back to prison. ... She knew she was loved in the jail. Her screams and sobs annoyed Mrs. Flint, [who] said, 'Here, Bill, carry this brat back to the jail. I can't stand her noise. If she would be quiet I should like to keep the little minx. She would make a handy waiting-maid for my daughter by and by. But if she staid here, with her white face, I suppose I should either kill her or spoil her. I hope the doctor will sell them as far as

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wind and water can carry them. As for their mother, her ladyship will find out yet what she gets by running away. She hasn't so much feeling for her children as a cow has for its calf. If she had, she would have come back long ago, to get them out of jail, and save all this expense and trouble. The good-for-nothing hussy! When she is caught, she shall stay in jail, in irons, for one six months, and then be sold to a sugar plantation. I shall see her broke in yet. ...'"

Dr. Norcom became convinced Harriet was in New York and set off to find her, spending considerable money. Her children and brother had been in jail for two months now, costing him more money. Samuel had a slave trader offer Dr. Norcom $900 for her brother and $800 for the children -- very high prices -- but the doctor refused. Yet he needed the money, so he changed his mind, selling the three for $1900, requesting that they be sold out of the state. Instead, they went to live at the grandmother's house.

Dr. Norcom was incensed and threw Harriet's uncle into jail on charges of aiding her escape. Plus, he renewed his pursuit of her, even searching the white woman's house she was hiding in. She moved into a tiny crawlspace her uncle built above a porch/shed on her grandmother's house. This space was only nine feet long and seven feet wide, with a sloping roof that was only three feet high at one end. She couldn't even turn while laying down without hitting her shoulder. The space had no light, heat or ventilation, and rats and mice continually crawled over her. She lived in this crawlspace for seven years, coming out only briefly and rarely at night for exercise. After drilling a small peephole, Harriet could watch her children play outside -- but she could never risk any contact with them.

Harriet managed to have letters mailed from up North so Dr. Norcom would think she was living up there. And, every now and then, Dr. Norcom would take a trip North in pursuit of her. Samuel was elected to Congress and took Harriet's brother with him, but he escaped while on a trip North. In addition, Samuel married. Harriet worried about her children, who were still owned by Samuel. Mrs. Norcom informed the new Mrs. Sawyer who was the father of Harriet's children. Samuel told his new bride the children were motherless; she wanted to see them.

"Mrs. Sands had a sister from Illinois staying with her. This lady, who had no children of her own, was so much pleased with Ellen, that she offered to adopt her, and bring her up as she would a daughter. Mrs. Sands wanted to take Benjamin. When grandmother reported this to me, I was tried almost beyond endurance. Was this all I was to gain by what I had suffered for the sake of having my children free?"

Harriet had her grandmother talk to Samuel, reminding him she was still alive and wanted him to redeem his pledge of emancipating the children. Surprised, he said, "The children are free. I have never intended to claim them as slaves. Linda [Harriet] may decide their fate. In my opinion, they had better be sent to the north. I don't think they are quite safe here. Dr. Flint boasts that they are still in his power. He says they were his daughter's property, and as she was not of age when they were sold, the contract is not

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legally binding." It was decided that her daughter would be sent to live with Samuel's cousin in Brooklyn, New York.

In 1842, Harriet was offered the chance to escape North via a merchant ship. She and another recently escaped slave dressed as sailors to walk down to the harbor -- a nearly impossible task for Harriet, whose limbs were atrophied from seven years in the cramped hiding space. The captain hid the two women in a tiny cabin. They sailed to Philadelphia, stayed with some Quakers for a short while, then travelled to New York City by train. Despite the apparent freedom of blacks in the North, Harriet was stunned by the rascism:

"This was the first chill to my enthusiasm about the Free States. Colored people were allowed to ride in a filthy box, behind white people, at the south, but there they were not required to pay for the privilege. It made me sad to find how the north aped the customs of slavery."

Harriet was reunited with her daughter soon after, but the situation did not appear as beneficial as she had been led to believe it would be:

"She had changed a good deal in the two years since I parted from her. Signs of neglect could be discerned ..... When I asked if she was well treated, she answered yes; but there was no heartiness in the tone ..... [She] was now nine years old, and she scarcely knew her letters. ..... [The family] all agreed in saying that Ellen was a useful, good girl. Mrs. Hobbs looked me coolly in the face, and said, 'I suppose you know that my cousin, Mr. Sands, has given her to my eldest daughter. She will make a nice waiting-maid for her when she grows up.' ..... "

Harriet found employment as a nursemaid for an English couple, Mr. and Mrs. Willis. She did not tell her employer she was fugitive slave.

"I was far from feeling satisfied with Ellen's situation. She was not well cared for. She sometimes came to New York to visit me; but she generally brought a request from Mrs. Hobbs that I would buy her a pair of shoes, or some article of clothing. This was accompanied by a promise of payment ... but some how or other the pay-day never came. [I feared] their pecuniary embarrassments might induce them to sell my precious young daughter."

Harriet was reacquainted with her brother. She had previously tried contacting him through letters but was informed he was sailing on a ship for several months. She received a letter purportedly from Dr. Flint's son, in reply to her letter to his sister (her legal owner) requesting her consent to sell Harriet.

"..... It is difficult for you to return home as a free person. If you were purchased by your grandmother, it is doubtful whether you would be permitted to remain, although it would be lawful for you to do so. If a servant should be allowed to purchase herself, after absenting herself so long from her owners, and return free, it would have an injurious effect. From your letter, I think your situation must be hard and uncomfortable. Come

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home. You have it in your power to be reinstated in our affections. We would receive you with open arms and tears of joy. You need not apprehend any unkind treatment, as we have not put ourselves to any trouble or expense to get you. ... [Actually, Harriet knew firsthand of Dr. Norcom's three trips to New York searching for her.]

"You know my sister was always attached to you, and that you were never treated as a slave. You were never put to hard work, nor exposed to field labor. On the contrary, you were taken into the house, and treated as one of us, and almost as free; and we, at least, felt that you were above disgracing yourself by running away. Believing you may be induced to come home voluntarily has induced me to write for my sister. The family will be rejoiced to see you; and your poor old grandmother expressed a great desire to have you come, when she heard your letter read. In her old age she needs the consolation of having her children round her. .....

"If you are contented to stay away from your old grandmother, your child, and the friends who love you, stay where you are. We shall never trouble ourselves to apprehend you. But should you prefer to come home, we will do all that we can to make you happy. If you do not wish to remain in the family, I know that father, by our persuasion, will be induced to let you be purchased by any person you may choose in our community. You will please answer this as soon as possible, and let us know your decision. Sister sends much love to you. In the mean time believe me your sincere friend and well wisher."

Harriet knew it was not the handwriting or prose of young master Norcom. "I knew, ... though the writing was disguised, I had been made too unhappy by it, in former years, not to recognize at once the hand of Dr. Flint." Harriet had her grandmother send her son via a ship directly to New York, but then she received a letter from a friend that Dr. Norcom was on his way north again to find her. She went to stay with her brother in Boston and wrote her grandmother to send her son there.

"Early one morning, there was a loud rap at my door, and in rushed Benjamin, all out of breath. 'O mother!' he exclaimed, 'here I am! I run all the way; and I come all alone. How d'you do?'

"O reader, can you imagine my joy? No, you cannot, unless you have been a slave mother. Benjamin rattled away as fast as his tongue could go. 'Mother, why don't you bring Ellen here? I went over to Brooklyn to see her, and she felt very bad when I bid her good by. She said, 'O Ben, I wish I was going too.' I thought she'd know ever so much; but she don't know so much as I do; for I can read, and she can't. And, mother, I lost all my clothes coming. What can I do to get some more? I 'spose free boys can get along here at the north as well as white boys.'

"I did not like to tell the sanguine, happy little fellow how much he was mistaken."

Harriet left her son with her brother, after knowing Dr. Norcom was back home. She returned to her nursemaid duties, and a summer vacation with her employers opened Harriet's eyes to more rascism.

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"When the tea bell rang, I took little Mary and followed the other nurses. ... A young man... finally pointed me to a seat at the lower end of [the table]. As there was but one chair, I sat down and took the child in my lap. Whereupon the young man came to me and said, in the blandest manner possible, 'Will you please to seat the little girl in the chair, and stand behind it and feed her? After they have done, you will be shown to the kitchen, where you will have a good supper.'

"This was the climax! I found it hard to preserve my self-control, when I looked round, and saw women who were nurses, as I was, and only one shade lighter in complexion, eyeing me with a defiant look, as if my presence were a contamination. However, I said nothing. I quietly took the child in my arms, went to our room, and refused to go to the table again. Mr. Bruce ordered meals to be sent to the room for little Mary and I. This answered for a few days; but the waiters of the establishment were white, and they soon began to complain, saying they were not hired to wait on negroes. The landlord requested Mr. Bruce to send me down to my meals, because his servants rebelled against bringing them up, and the colored servants of other boarders were dissatisfied because all were not treated alike.

"My answer was that the colored servants ought to be dissatisfied with themselves, for not having too much self-respect to submit to such treatment; that there was no difference in the price of board for colored and white servants, and there was no justification for difference of treatment. I staid a month after this, and finding I was resolved to stand up for my rights, they concluded to treat me well. Let every colored man and woman do this, and eventually we shall cease to be trampled under foot by our oppressors."

Then Harriet found out the brother of the woman Harriet's daughter lived with had apparently written to Dr. Norcom, saying Harriet could be taken quite easily and there were enough witnesses who could vouch for her being his property. Harriet finally admitted she was a fugitive slave, and her employer enlisted a judge and a lawyer, who advised Harriet to vacate the city immediately. She went to her brother again, this time taking her daughter with her.

"She was mine by birth, and she was also mine by Southern law ... I did not feel that she was safe unless I had her with me. Mrs. Hobbs, who felt badly about her brother's treachery, yielded to my entreaties ... She came to me clad in very thin garments, all outgrown ... It was late in October ...

"The day after my arrival [in Boston] was one of the happiest of my life. I felt as if I was beyond the reach of the bloodhounds; and, for the first time during many years, I had both my children together with me. They greatly enjoyed their reunion, and laughed and chatted merrily. I watched them with a swelling heart. Their every motion delighted me.

"I could not feel safe in New York, and I accepted the offer of a friend, [sharing a house]. I represented to Mrs. Hobbs that Ellen must have some schooling, and must remain with me for that purpose. She felt ashamed of being unable to read or spell at her age, so ... I instructed her myself till she was fitted to enter an intermediate school."

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In the spring of 1845, Harriet learned that her beloved former employer died and Mr. Willis wanted to visit relatives in England. He wanted Harriet to come and care for his daughter. Harriet placed her son in a trade, left her daughter at home with the friend to attend school, and then realized the true meaning of freedom.

"For the first time in my life I was in a place where I was treated according to my deportment, without reference to my complexion. I felt as if a great millstone had been lifted from my breast. Ensconced in a pleasant room, with my dear little charge, I laid my head on my pillow, for the first time, with the delightful consciousness of pure, unadulterated freedom. .....

"I remained abroad ten months, which was much longer than I had anticipated. During all that time, I never saw the slightest symptom of prejudice against color. Indeed, I entirely forgot it, till the time came for us to return to America."

Upon returning home, Harriet found her daughter well, but her son was gone. For several months, everyhing had gone well in his apprenticeship. He was well-liked by the master tradesman and his fellow apprentices.

"...but one day they accidentally discovered a fact they had never before suspected--that he was colored! This at once transformed him into a different being. Some of the apprentices were Americans, others American-born Irish; and it was offensive to their dignity to have a 'nigger' among them, after they had been told that he was a 'nigger.' They began by treating him with silent scorn, and finding that he returned the same, they resorted to insults and abuse. He was too spirited a boy to stand that, and he went off. Being desirous to do something to support himself, and having no one to advise him, he shipped for a whaling voyage. When I received these tidings I shed many tears, and bitterly reproached myself for having left him so long."

Harriet received a letter from Dr. Norcom's daughter, now married: "I am very anxious that you should come and live with me. If you are not willing to come, you may purchase yourself; but I should prefer having you live with me." Harriet did not respond, but knew her former owners were apprised of her movements, knowing she'd been to Europe. Her brother offered to send Louisa to boarding school. Then he decided to go to California, and they agreed that Joseph would go with him. Alone again, Harriet looked for employment again. She called on Mr. Willis to see the daughter and found he had remarried, with a new little baby. He asked Harriet to return as nursemaid. Her only hesitation was passage of the new Fugitive Slave Law.

"About the time that I reentered the Bruce family, an event occurred of disastrous import to the colored people. The slave Hamlin, the first fugitive that came under the new law, was given up by the bloodhounds of the north to the bloodhounds of the south. It was the beginning of a reign of terror to the colored population. .....

"I seldom ventured into the streets ... What a disgrace to a city calling itself free, that inhabitants, guiltless of offence, and seeking to perform their duties conscientiously,

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should be condemned to live in such incessant fear, and have nowhere to turn for protection! This state of things, of course, gave rise to many impromptu vigilance committees."

Then Harriet learned that Dr. Norcom was again trying to pursue her, having learned that she was back with her former employer.

"... I learned afterwards that my dress, and that of Mrs. Bruce’s children, had been described to him by some of the Northern tools, which slaveholders employ for their base purposes, and then indulge in sneers at their cupidity and mean servility.

"I immediately informed Mrs. Bruce of my danger, and she took prompt measures for my safety. My place as nurse could not be supplied immediately, and this generous, sympathizing lady proposed that I should carry her baby away. It was a comfort to me to have the child with me; for the heart is reluctant to be torn away from every object it loves. But how few mothers would have consented to have one of their own babes become a fugitive..... When I spoke of the sacrifice ... she replied, 'It is better for you to have baby with you, Linda; for if they get on your track, they will be obliged to bring the child to me; and then, if there is a possibility of saving you, you shall be saved.' "

Harriet's employer, Cornelia Grinnell Willis, spirited her and the baby away to a friend's house in the country. They stayed there a month, until they were certain Dr. Norcom was back home. Some months later, Harriet received a letter from her grandmother that the doctor had died.

"I remembered how he had defrauded my grandmother of the hard earnings she had loaned; how he had tried to cheat her out of the freedom her mistress had promised her, and how he had persecuted her children; and I thought to myself that she was a better Christian than I was, if she could entirely forgive him. I cannot say, with truth, that the news of my old master's death softened my feelings towards him. There are wrongs which even the grave does not bury. The man was odious to me while he lived, and his memory is odious now."

But even with his death, Harriet was not safe. Legally, she was still the property of Dr. Norcom's daughter, who was now married and of age. "I was well aware what I had to expect from the family of Flints; and my fears were confirmed by a letter from the south, warning me to be on my guard, because Mrs. Flint openly declared that her daughter could not afford to lose so valuable a slave as I was."

Harriet checked the newspaper daily for the list of new arrivals. One night she forgot and, instead, checked in the morning.

"Reader, if you have never been a slave, you cannot imagine the acute sensation of suffering at my heart, when I read the names of Mr. and Mrs. Dodge, at a hotel in Courtland Street. It was a third-rate hotel, and that circumstance convinced me of the

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truth of what I had heard, that they were short of funds and had need of my value, as they valued me; and that was by dollars and cents. ...

"It was impossible to tell how near the enemy was. He might have passed and repassed the house while we were sleeping. He might at that moment be waiting to pounce upon me if I ventured out of doors. I had never seen the husband of my young mistress, and therefore I could not distinguish him from any other stranger."

Cornelia secreted Harriet away again. Sure enough, visitors came to the house to inquire about Harriet and her daughter.

"Mrs. Bruce came to me and entreated me to leave the city the next morning. She said her house was watched, and it was possible that some clew [clue] to me might be obtained. I refused to take her advice. ... I was weary of flying from pillar to post. I had been chased during half my life, and it seemed as if the chase was never to end. .....

"I had been told that Mr. Dodge said his wife had never signed away her right to my children, and if he could not get me, he would take them. This it was, more than any thing else, that roused such a tempest in my soul. Benjamin was with his uncle William in California, but my innocent young daughter had come to spend a vacation with me. I thought of what I had suffered in slavery at her age, and my heart was like a tiger's when a hunter tries to seize her young."

Harriet and Louisa set off through a snow storm for New England again. There, Harriet received letters, under an assumed name, from Cornelia that her purported owners were still trying to find her. Cornelia said she was going to end the persecution and buy Harriet's freedom.

"I felt grateful for the kindness that prompted this offer, but the idea was not so pleasant to me as might have been expected. The more my mind had become enlightened, the more difficult it was for me to consider myself an article of property; and to pay money to those who had so grievously oppressed me seemed like taking from my sufferings the glory of triumph. I wrote to Mrs. Bruce, thanking her, but saying that being sold from one owner to another seemed too much like slavery; that such a great obligation could not be easily cancelled; and that I preferred to go to my brother in California.

"Without my knowledge, Mrs. Bruce employed a gentleman in New York to enter into negotiations with Mr. Dodge. He proposed to pay three hundred dollars down, if Mr. Dodge would sell me, and enter into obligations to relinquish all claim to me or my children forever after. He who called himself my master said he scorned so small an offer for such a valuable servant. The gentleman replied, 'You can do as you choose, sir. If you reject this offer you will never get any thing; for the woman has friends who will convey her and her children out of the country.'

"Mr. Dodge concluded that 'half a loaf was better than no bread,' and he agreed to the proffered terms. ....

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"My brain reeled ... So I was sold at last! A human being sold in the free city of New York! The bill of sale is on record, and future generations will learn from it that women were articles of traffic in New York, late in the nineteenth century of the Christian religion. ... I do not like to look upon it. I am deeply grateful to the generous friend who procured it, but I despise the miscreant who demanded payment for what never rightfully belonged to him or his.

"I had objected to having my freedom bought, yet I must confess that when it was done I felt as if a heavy load had been lifted from my weary shoulders. When I rode home in the cars I was no longer afraid to unveil my face and look at people as they passed. I should have been glad to have met Daniel Dodge himself; to have had him seen me and known me, that he might have mourned over the untoward circumstances which compelled him to sell me for three hundred dollars."

Harriet was finally free -- in 1852.

At some point while in New York, maybe during the times recounted in her autobiography, Harriet became involved with abolitionists through Frederick Douglass' paper, The North Star. Over time, friends convinced Harriet to write her autobiography. She considered it for some time before beginning it, and she changed not only her name (using a pseudonym to publish under) but also the names of everyone else. (Some sources believe she began writing this secretly while working for Mr. and Mrs. Willis, before they knew she was a fugitive slave.)

Some parts of her book were published by Horace Greeley in his newspaper, the New York Tribune, and her accounts of the sexual harassment and abuse of herself and other female slaves shocked the American public. In 1858, Harriet finished her book and traveled to England to try to get it published. She found it difficult to get published both there and in the U.S.

In 1860, Thayer & Eldridge publishers planned to print it, and even made stereotype plates, but the firm went bankrupt before it was finished. Harriet tried for years to find another publisher, finally getting the book printed in 1861. Most people reading it thought it a work of fiction by a white writer. And, although she never referenced experiences graphically, her book was the first open discussion about the secret sexual aspect of slavery. Lydia Maria Child, editor of the book, defended the inclusion of the material in her preface:

"This peculiar phase of slavery has generally been kept veiled; but the public ought to be made acquainted with its monstrous features, and I willingly take the responsibility of presenting them with the veil withdrawn. I do this for the sake of my sisters in bondage, who are suffering wrongs so foul, that our ears are too delicate to listen to them."

Harriet's autobiography also upset people by her highlighting the role the Christian church played in maintaining slavery:

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"After the alarm caused by Nat Turner's insurrection had subsided, the slaveholders came to the conclusion that it would be well to give the slaves enough of religious instruction to keep them from murdering their masters. The Episcopal clergyman offered to hold a separate service on Sundays for their benefit.

"When the Rev. Mr. Pike came ... he gave out the portions he wished them to repeat or respond to. His text was, 'Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ. ..... Give strict heed unto my words. You are rebellious sinners. Your hearts are filled with all manner of evil. 'Tis the devil who tempts you. God is angry with you, and will surely punish you, if you don't forsake your wicked ways. ..... If you disobey your earthly master, you offend your heavenly Master. .....'

"A clergyman who goes to the south, for the first time, has usually some feeling, however vague, that slavery is wrong. The slaveholder suspects this, and plays his game accordingly. He makes himself as agreeable as possible; talks on theology, and other kindred topics. The southerner invites him to talk with these slaves. He asks them if they want to be free, and they say, 'O, no, massa.' This is sufficient to satisfy him. He comes home ... to complain of the exaggerations of abolitionists. He ... [has] seen slavery for himself; that it is a beautiful 'patriarchal institution;' that the slaves don't want their freedom. .....

"What does he know of the half-starved wretches toiling from dawn till dusk on the plantations? of mothers shrieking for their children, torn from their arms by slave traders? of young girls dragged down into moral filth? of pools of blood around the whipping post? of hounds trained to tear human flesh? of men screwed into cotton gins to die? The slaveholder showed him none of these things, and the slaves dared not tell of them if he had asked them."

In 1863, Harriet and Louisa moved to Alexandria, Virginia, and were active in the abolition movement before the Civil War. During it, they raised money for black refugees. Harriet also established The Jacobs Free School in Alexandria, providing black teachers for the refugees. In 1865, after the war, they moved to Savannah, Georgia, continuing their relief work. After the war, and short stops to Cambridge and England, they moved to Washington, D.C. in 1877 and worked on civil rights efforts, trying to improve the conditions of recently freed slaves. Harriet also helped establish the National Association of Colored Women.

Harriet died on March 7, 1897, at the age of 84. She is buried in Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

DATE OF DEATH: March 7, 1897

PLACE OF DEATH: Washington, D.C.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

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Lyons, Mary E. Letters From a Slave girl: the Story of Harriet Jacobs. New York: Scribner's, 1992.

Jacobs, Harriet A. Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl: Written by Herself. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1987.

WEB SITES:

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl - American Studies at the University of Virginia (hypertext edition with contextual material)

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl - Scribbling Women (biography, synopsis, interpretation)

Harriet Jacobs - Spartacus Educational (brief profile and excerpts of her writing)

Harriet Ann Jacobs: Writer and Activist, 1813 - 1897

Harriet Jacobs - Africans in America

Harriet Jacobs - Voices from the Gaps, Women Writers of Color

QUOTE:

"... it would have been more pleasant to me to have been silent about my own history ... I want to add my testimony to that of abler pens to convince the people of the free states what slavery really is. Only by experience can anyone realize how deep, and dark, and

foul that pit of abominations. May the blessings of God rest upon this imperfect effort on behalf of my persecuted people."

-- Harriet Jacobs

• “Mother” Mary Harris Jones (1837-1930) - Irish immigrant who lost her family to yellow fever and became the self-proclaimed mother and “hell-raiser” for the downtrodden American laborer, especially children.

NAME: Mary Harris Jones

DATE OF BIRTH: August 1, 1837 (She later claimed it was May 1, 1830)

PLACE OF BIRTH: Cork, Ireland

FAMILY BACKGROUND: Mary Harris was born to Richard and Mary Harris. She came from a long line of social agitators. It was common in Ireland then to see British

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soldiers marching through the streets with the heads of Irish freedom fighters stuck on their bayonets. Her paternal grandfather was hanged by the British for being a freedom fighter. Several sources say her father also was one and, shortly after his father was hanged, was forced to flee Ireland with his family. Another source says he left to work on railway construction crews in the U.S. and Canada. At any rate, they did leave Ireland, eventually settling in Toronoto, Ontario, in 1841.

EDUCATION: Mary attended public schools in Toronto, and graduated from the normal school in 1854 at the age of 17. The next year, she began working as a private tutor in Maine. She received a teaching certificate in Michigan in 1857, at age 20, and taught at St. Mary's Convent school in Monroe, Michigan.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Mary only taught in Michigan for about eight months, moving to Chicago to work as a dressmaker. From there, she moved to Memphis, Tennessee, in 1860 to teach school again. It was here, in 1861, that she met and married George E. Jones, a staunch and prominent member of the Iron Molders' Union. At times, Mary traveled with George in his union organizing. Through him, Mary learned about unions and the psychology of working men. Later, she would advise women that "the wife must care for what the husband cares for, if he is to remain resolute."

Life was good for a while, as Mary and George bore four children in quick succession. But tragedy first struck in 1867, when her husband and all the children died in a yellow fever epidemic, within a week of each other. She stayed in Memphis nursing other victims until the epidemic waned, then moved back to Chicago, working as a dressmaker again. But tragedy soon followed. In 1871, she lost everything she owned in her home and seamstress shop in the great Chicago fire. It was then that Mary embarked upon the path that made her name synonymous with social justice. Probably the seeds were sown earlier, while sewing in the homes of wealthy Chicago families. She later said:

"Often while sewing for lords and barons who lived in magnificent houses on the Lake Shore Drive, I would look out of the plate glass windows and see the poor, shivering wretches, jobless and hungry, walking alongside the frozen lake front.... The contrast of their condition with that of the tropical comfort of the people for whom I sewed was painful to me. My employers seemed neither to notice nor to care."

After the great fire, Mary began to attend meetings of the newly formed Knights of Labor, held in a ragged, fire-scorched building. The fraternity and its ideals must have struck a chord in Mary, bringing forth her compassion and passion. And although she continued to work in Chicago as a seamstress, she had no fixed home. She began volunteering with the Knights of Labor as an organizer -- traveling back and forth across the country, from one industrial area to another, living with the workers in tent colonies and shantytowns near the mills. She in essence adopted the hard workers of America, and they called her 'Mother.' (One source says during a strike, a mine detective bashed the skull of a miner. While Mary cradled his head, the delirious, dying miner thought she was his mother and called her such; the name stuck.) When asked about where she lived, she said:

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"My address is like my shoes. It travels with me. I abide where there is a fight against wrong."

The Industrial Revolution was in full swing. America was changing from an agricultural to an industrial economy. Immigrants and displaced farmers made up the vast array of workers, digging out coal and forging steel. But they were subjected to nightmarish conditions and paid starvation wages. Mary would travel to wherever there was a strike, organizing and helping the workers. She would hold educational meetings, and bolster the men's spirits to keep up the fight. Often she was at odds with union leaders. In 1877, Mary helped in the Baltimore and Ohio railroad workers' strike in Pittsburg. In the 1880s, she organized and ran educational meetings, saying:

"Sit down and read. Educate yourself for the coming conflicts."

On May 1, 1886, labor unions in Chicago organized a strike for an eight-hour work day. (Two years earlier, the Federation of Organized Trades and Labor Unions had called for the eight-hour work day to begin on that day.) Two days into the strike, a fight broke out and two strikers were killed by police; others were wounded. On May 4, spurred by incendiary fliers saying the police had murdered the strikers on behalf of the business owners, thousands of workers gathered in Chicago's Haymarket Square for a rally. Although the people remained calm throughout, when the police ordered everyone to disperse and began marching in formation through the crowd, a bomb was thrown and exploded near them, killing one policeman. (Seven more policemen died later from their injuries.) The police began firing into the crowd, ultimately killing 11 people. Many of the wounded were afraid to seek treatment, for fear of being arrested.

It was because of this event that Mary "changed" her birth date to May 1, 1830 -- May 1 in honor of the strike for an eight-hour work day. This date has become celebrated worldwide as International Workers' Day (except in the U.S., the U.K., Canada, Australia and New Zealand), commemorating the social and economic achievements of the labor movement and remembering the Haymarket Riot. Mary probably moved her birth seven years earlier to embellish the grandmotherly image of 'Mother' Jones.

Prominent strikes Mary participated in include the Pullman railroad strike in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1894; the Pennsylvania anthracite coal miners' strike in 1902; the Ludlow miners' strike in Colorado in 1913; and the nationwide steel workers' strike in 1919. She also helped other workers as well. In 1901, she helped form a union of domestic servants and helped silk weavers (often daughters of miners) fight for better work conditions. In 1909, she helped striking shirtwaist workers; the next year she helped organize women bottlers in Milwaukee breweries. In 1916, she helped streetcar workers in Texas and New York.

At only five feet tall and dressed in black with just a touch of lace at her throat and wrists, Mary was a perfect picture of a grandmother. Yet when she spoke, she was dynamic, energetic and enthusiastic -- bringing her audiences to tears, applause and laughter. She was a gifted storyteller with a brilliant sense of humor. Her intensity was almost

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explosive when she began to speak; her listeners (mostly men) sat up, fully alert, and believed that together they could do anything. She'd smile and scan the people gathered with her bright blue eyes, then say:

"I'm not a humanitarian. I'm a hell-raiser!" Another well-known quote is: "Pray for the dead and fight like hell for the living."

Starting in 1890, she joined the coal miners' fight, becoming an organizer for the newly formed United Mine Workers of America. First she was a volunteer, then she became a union employee. She traveled to West Virginia, Alabama and Colorado, the hardest to organize areas. The miners and their families lived in towns where everything -- the houses, stores and even churches -- was owned by the mining company. She knew the gruesome conditions and hazards of their work, and even went into the mines during strikes to convince scabs (men who worked while others were striking) to quit and support their fellow workers. She warned miners to not trust the churches because they were financially supported by the mine owners. One preacher chastised Mary for holding a union meeting in "a house of God." She said:

"Oh, that isn't God's house. That is the coal company's house. ... God almighty never comes around to a place like this."

Although Mary was raised Catholic, she never claimed allegiance, feeling the organized church had abandoned the revolutionary nature Jesus had espoused. She also felt organized religion was used as a way to keep people from asking questions about their condition. When she spoke to groups, she portrayed Jesus as an organizer of the poor, saying he chose to die rather than betray the poor. On June 20, 1902, at a rally near Clarksburg, West Virginia, Mary was arrested after her speech. When she found out she would be detained in a hotel, she demanded to be put in jail with the other miners who had been arrested. During her career, she was arrested or escorted out of town many times -- only to return again and again.

Remembering lessons she learned from George, Mary often involved the wives and children of miners to dramatize the situation, as well as keep up the men's resolve. In 1902, she told striking miners in Arnot, Pennsylvania, to "stay home with the children for a change and let the women attend to the scabs." Then she led a march of the miners' wives from mine to mine, driving away strikebreakers with brooms and mops. She used this strategy many times at other strikes. In 1907 in Westmoreland, Pennsylvania, she urged strikers' wives to stand at the picket line, with their children. If arrested and imprisoned, she told them to sing as loudly as they could so the townspeople would be happy to have them released.

As for children, Mary traveled to several Southern cotton mills, assessing the working conditions -- although cotton mills were not exclusive to the South. She hired on at some, telling the managers she had children who would be working with her. She described the typical conditions at the mills:

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"Little girls and boys, barefooted, walked up and down between the endless rows of spindles, reaching their little hands into the machinery to repair snapped threads. They crawled under machinery to oil it. They replaced spindles all day long, all day long; all night through. Tiny babies six years old with faces of sixty, did an eight hour shift for ten cents a day."

In 1903, to dramatize the need to abolish child labor, she led a caravan of striking children from the textile mills of Kensington, Pennsylvania, to President Theodore Roosevelt's home in Long Island, New York. They carried banners saying "We want time to play!" and "We want to go to school!" The president refused to meet with them, but the "Children's Crusade" caught the public's attention. She is quoted as saying:

"The employment of children is doing more to fill prisons, insane asylums, almshouses, reformatories, slums, and gin shops than all the efforts of reformers are doing to improve society."

In 1898, Mary helped found the Social Democratic Party. In 1904, she resigned from the UMWA and began lecturing for the Socialist Party of America, traveling throughout the southwest. She became an organizer for the Western Federation of Miners (who mined metal rather than coal), who were much more radical than the UMWA. In 1905, Mary was a founder of the Industrial Workers of the World union -- the only woman amond 27 people signing the manifesto calling for the organization. The predecessor of this union was the Knights of Labor.

While still participating in strikes and organized drives for unions, Mary became concerned as well about the conditions of Mexicans working in the U.S. She also focused energy on raising funds to defend Mexican revolutionaries who had been arrested or deported. She supported the overthrow of the dictatorial Mexican President Porfirio Diaz, and visited his successor, Francisco Madero, until he was assassinated.

In 1911, Mary left the Socialist Party to again work for the United Mine Workers union as an organizer. It was during this time that 'Mother' Jones came to national attention through the Paint Creek-Cabin Creek strike in West Virginia. On September 21, 1912, she led a march of miners' children through Charleston, West Virginia. On February 12, 1913, she led a protest about mining conditions and was arrested.

At the age of 76, Mary was convicted by a military court of conspiring to commit murder and was sentenced to 20 years in prison. This whole ordeal created such a fervor nationally that the U.S. Senate ordered a committee to investigate conditions in the coalfields. Before the investigations began, newly elected governor Hatfield set 'Mother' Jones free. (Because of her adding seven years to her age, everyone believed she was 83 years old.) She didn't waste any time -- traveling to Colorado to help miners in a yearlong strike. She arrived in Trinidad, Colorado, and spoke at the West Theatre:

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"Rise up and strike ... strike until the last one of you drop into your graves. We are going to stand together and never surrender. Boys, always remember you ain't got a damn thing if you ain't got a union!"

Mary was evicted from mine company property several times, but returned again and again. She was arrested and imprisoned twice: first for about two months at Mt. San Rafael Hospital, and later for 23 days in a squalid semi-basement cell at Huerfano County Jail in Walsenburg. This second time was in Ludlow, Colorado, after she'd been told to leave town or be arrested. After her prison term, she was escorted out of town, but she slipped back in with the help of railroad workers.

On April 20, 1914, miners and their families, 20 people in all, were killed in a machine-gun massacre at a tent colony in Ludlow. Mary traveled the country telling the story. She caught the attention of the nation, and its leaders. President Wilson and members of the House Mines and Mining Committee responded by proposing that the union and each mine's owners agree to a truce and create grievance committees.

In 1915 and 1916, Mary helped in the strikes of garment workers and streecar workers in New York. In 1919, she helped steel workers striking in Pittsburg and was arrested again. In 1921, as a guest of the Mexican government, Mary attended the Pan-American Federation of Labor meeting in Mexico -- a highlight of recognition for her role in the labor movement. The next year, she resigned from the UMWA. (Both of her resignations from the UMWA were from disagreements with the presidents; the first time being John Mitchell. She felt Mitchell had been bought off by the mining companies and was serving their interests rather than the workers'. As for John L. Lewis, the later president, she thought he was a self-promoter and detested him until she died.)

In 1924, Mary was sued for libel, slander and sedition. The next year, the publisher of the Chicago Times, a fledgling newspaper at the time, won a shocking $350,000 judgment against her. Early in that year, Mary was attacked by a couple of thugs while staying at a friend's house. She fought them off, causing one to flee and seriously injuring the other, a 54-year-old man who later died from the wounds -- which included a blunt head injury from Mary's trademark black leather boots. Police arrested her, but she was released soon after when the attackers were identified as associates of a prominent local business man.

That same year, 1925, Mary published her autobiography, which she'd probably started writing in 1922 or 1923. She dictated her stories to Mary Field Parton, a reporter, friend and mistress of Clarence Darrow. (He wrote the introduction to the first edition.) Afterwards, she continued to lecture, as her health permitted. She was now 85 years old. Her last known public speaking engagement was in Alliance, Ohio, in 1926, as the guest of honor at a Labor Day celebration. Her last public appearance was at her 100th birthday party (although she was really only 92 years old) on May 1, 1930, in Silver Spring, Maryland.

Mary lived in Silver Spring with a retired coal miner and his wife, Walter and Lillie May Burgess. Seven months after the birthday party, 'Mother' Jones died on November 30,

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1930, at the age of 93. A requiem mass was held at St. Gabriel's in Washington, D.C., then her body was sent to Mount Olive, Illinois, to be buried in the Union Miners Cemetery, in the coalfields of southern Illinois -- near the graves of victims of the Virden, Illinois, mine riot of 1898. (See the website on the cemetery, below, for more on this event.) Mary had requested to be buried there, back in 1924.

Mourners paid tribute to Mother Jones there, both at the Odd Fellows Temple and the Ascension Church, where the memorial service was held. About 10,000 to 15,000 people attended. The Reverend John W.F. Maguire, president of St. Viator's College in Bourbonnais, Illinois, said in his address:

"Wealthy coal operators and capitalists throughout the United States are breathing sighs of relief while toil-worn men and women are weeping tears of bitter grief. The reason for this contrast of relief and sorrow is apparent. Mother Jones is dead."

Starting in 1934, the Progressive Miners of America, who owned the cemetery, raised over $16,000 to erect a monument to 'Mother' Jones. It stands 22 feet high, built of 80 tons of pink Minnesota granite. On October 11, 1936, the dedication ceremony included an estimated 50,000 people. Five special trains and 25 Greyhound buses brought people to Mt. Olive. Others came by car or hitch-hiked. West Virginia Senator Rush D. Holt spoke, as did North Dakota Congressman William Lemke and socialist leader Duncan McDonald. The final speaker was Lillie May Burgess, who said Mother Jones had wanted to live another 100 years to "fight to the end" so that "there would be no more machine guns and no more sobbing of little children."

For years, October 12 was Miner's Day, celebrated with a big gathering in Mt. Olive and a visit to the monument. Mary's work was honored throughout the 1930s, by labor activists and Gene Autry recording "The Death of Mother Jones," whose song origins are obscure. After that, her memory faded and the copyright on her autobiography lapsed. Finally, in 1972, the Charles Kerr Company published a second edition of her autobiography, folk singers revived "The Death of Mother Jones," and in 1976, Mother Jones Magazine was formed, promising journalistic muck-raking much like its namesake.

'Mother' Jones has been criticized as not being a feminist. Her focus, though, was on the rights of workers -- men, women and children. She strongly opposed the suffrage movement, feeling it supported a passive inactivity; whereas she was wholeheartedly about taking action. She pointed out that the women of Ludlow, Colorado, had voting rights in the state, but it did not stop the massacre from happening. She said:

"[Women need to realize that with] what they have in their hands there is no limit to what they could accomplish. The trouble is they let the capitalists make them believe they wouldn't be ladylike."

As a side note, the popular children's song "She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain" is believed to have been inspired by 'Mother' Jones. It first was sung in the late 1800s, spread throughout Appalachia (probably by coal miners), and was widely sung by

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railroad work gangs in the 1890s. In addition to being nicknamed 'Mother' Jones, Mary also was called 'The Miners' Angel' and 'The Grandmother of All Agitators' -- a title she was proud of, saying she hoped to live to be the great-grandmother of agitators.

DATE OF DEATH: November 30, 1930

PLACE OF DEATH: Silver Spring, Maryland

PORTRAYED BY: Ann McEvoy

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Commire, Anne, editor. Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia. Waterford, CT: Yorkin Publications, 2000.

Fetherling, Dale. Mother Jones, the Miner's Angel. Southern Illinois University Press, 1974.

Foner, Phillip S., editor. Mother Jones Speaks: Collected Writings and Speeches. Pathfinder Press, 1983.

Gilbert, Ronnie. Ronnie Gilbert: Face to Face with the Most Dangerous Woman in America. Conari Press, 1993.

Gorn, Elliott. Mother Jones: The Most Dangerous Woman in America. New York: Hill and Wang, 2001.

Jones, Mary Harris and Edward M. Steele, editor. The Speeches and Writings of Mother Jones: Pittsburg Series in Social and Labor History. University of Pittsburg, 1988.

Jones, Mary Harris. The Autobiography of Mother Jones. Dover Publications, 2004.

Josephson, Judith Pinkerton. Mother Jones: Fierce Fighter for Workers' Rights. Lerner Publications, 1996.

Coal Mining and Union Activities. Oral History Collection 1970-1975, 24 items. Sangaman State University, Oral History Office. Springfield, Illinois.

WEB SITES:

Mother Jones: The Miners' Angel - Illinois Labor History Society

Mother Jones - Wikipedia

Mother Jones: The Most Dangerous Woman in America - Book review on Womenshistory.About.Com

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The Haymarket Riot - Wikipedia

The Union Miners' Cemetery - Illinois Labor History Society

She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain - Wikipedia

QUOTE:

"No matter what the fight, don't be ladylike! God almighty made women and the Rockefeller gang of thieves made the ladies."

-- "Mother" Jones

• Sissieretta Jones (1869-1933) - African-American international vocal prima donna of late 19th century, favorite of George Bernard Shaw and several presidents.

NAME: Sissieretta Jones

DATE OF BIRTH: January 5, 1869

PLACE OF BIRTH: Portsmouth, Virginia

FAMILY BACKGROUND: Born Matilda Sissieretta Joyner, she was the daughter of an African Methodist Episcopal minister, Jeremiah Malachi Joyner, and Henrietta Beale Joyner, from whom she inherited her soprano voice. She was nicknamed by family and friends as Sissy or Tilly.

EDUCATION: In 1876, when she was seven years old, Sissieretta’s family moved to Providence for better educational and economic opportunities. There, she attended Meeting Street and Thayer Schools. In 1883, at 14 years of age, she married David Richard Jones, a newsdealer and hotel bellman, and began her formal music training at the Providence Academy of Music, studying with Ada Baroness Lacombe. At age 18, she attended the New England Conservatory in Boston, studying with Flora Batson, the leading singer of the Bergen Star Company.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Sissieretta began singing for the public at a very early age; at school functions, festivals and at her father’s Pond Street Church. It wasn’t long before she was drawing public acclaim. In 1887, she sang to 5,000 people at Boston’s Music Hall in a benefit for the Parnell Defence Fund. This performance attracted the attention of concert managers Abbey, Schoffel and Grau.

They scheduled Sissieretta at the Wallack Theater in New York where she made her successful debut on June 15, 1888. The manager of famed Italian operatic star Adelina Patti attended this show and recommended that she tour the West Indies with the

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Tennessee Jubilee Singers of Fisk University. This six-month tour began her professional concert career and, during it, she was presented with the first of many medals she was often photographed wearing.

Over the next decade, Sissieretta performed with different concert companies and solo – three times at the White House for different presidents, in South America, across Europe, and for the Prince of Wales. She was the first Black performer to appear at Carnegie Concert Hall. She performed with Antonín Dvorák and the National Conservatory of Music. She performed at the Wintergarten in Berlin and at Covent Garden, England. And she became widely known after appearing in the three-day “Grand African Jubilee” in Madison Square Garden in New York in April 1892.

She would combine operatic arias with popular songs like “Old Folks at Home” and “The Last Rose of Summer,” although, over time, her audiences pushed her toward a more ethnic repertoire. Critics acclaimed her voice as one in a million, even hailing her as America’s leading prima donna, but one critic at the New York Clipper, a theatrical journal, dubbed her “the Black Patti” – referring to Italian soprano Adelina Patti – and the name stuck. Sissieretta disliked the name; referring to herself as “Madame Jones.”

In her travels, she received many gifts from admirers, including a medal from President Hippolyte of Haiti, a bar of diamonds and emeralds from the citizens of St. Thomas, an emerald shamrock from the Irish people of Providence, and a diamond tiara from the governor-general of a West Indies island. She often wore her 17 medals across her chest during shows. After performing in Europe, she noticed that she encountered much less racial prejudice there, and said in a letter home:

“It matters not to them what is the color of an artist’s skin. If a man or a woman is a great actor, or a great musician, or a great singer, they will extend a warm welcome. … It is the soul they see, not the color of the skin.”

During her early performing years, her husband David was her manager. However, in 1898, she filed for divorce, citing David’s drunkenness and nonsupport. In 1892, she signed a three-year contract with Major J.B. Pond, a manager of other well-known singers and lecturers such as Mark Twain and Rev. Henry Ward Beecher. Her fees began to rise – even receiving $2,000 for a week’s appearance at the Pittsburgh Exposition, the highest ever paid to a Black artist. (In comparison, Adelina Patti was paid $4,000 a night.)

By 1896, Sissieretta was frustrated by and limited in venues due to racism -- including the Metropolitan Opera, where she was considered to be cast in a lead role but its racial barrier destroyed that dream. (This barrier stayed in place until Marian Anderson became the first Black person to sing a lead role there – in 1955.) So she formed a troupe of about 40 jugglers, comedians, dancers and singers who combined vaudeville, minstrel, musical review and grand opera. Known as the Black Patti Troubadours, and managed by Rudolph Voelckel and John J. Nolan, the group enjoyed great success for almost 20 years

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performing for primarily white audiences in major cities across the U.S. (Later, the group changed its name to the Black Patti Musical Comedy Company.)

In the second half of the show, Sissieretta performed what she called an “operatic kaleidoscope” – an expanded version of her opera excerpts (portions of such operas as Lucia, Il Trovatore, Martha, Faust, and El Capitan), complete with scenery and costumes. By the early 1900s, the shows became more organized, with a definite plot and musical comedy where Sissieretta appeared in the storyline.

Shows included A Trip to Africa (1909-10), In the Jungles (1911-12), Captain Jaspar (1912-13), and Lucky Sam from Alabam’ (1914-15). Many times, they performed in the new Black-owned theaters such as the Howard in Washington, D.C. But Sissieretta became ill and could not participate fully in the 1913-14 season. Her return in the following season was cut short when the company disbanded. By 1915, people were not drawn to such productions anymore. The last performance was, according to one source, at Church’s Auditorium in Memphis, Tennessee, – or, according to another source, at the Gibson Theater in New York.

Sissieretta gave two final performances: at the Grand Theater in Chicago and at the Lafayette Theater in New York City in October 1915. She promised her audiences that she would return but she never did. At the age of 46, she returned home to Providence, devoting her later years to church work, taking in homeless children, and caring for her ailing mother. To make ends meet, she sold three of her four houses and most of her medals and jewels, leaving her penniless when she died of cancer at age 74 in Rhode Island Hospital. In her final years, William Freeman, a real estate agent and president of the local chapter of the NAACP, paid her taxes and water bill, and provided coal and wood. She was buried in Grace Church Cemetery, Providence.

DATE OF DEATH: June 24, 1933

PLACE OF DEATH: Providence, Rhode Island

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Bordman, Gerald Martin. American Musical Theatre: A Chronicle. Oxford University Press. 2001.

Commire, Anne, editor. Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia. Waterford, Conn: Yorkin Publications. 2000.

Hine, Darlene Clark, editor. Black Women in America. Brooklyn, NY: Carlson Publishing. 1993.

Story, Rosalyn M. And So I Sing: African-American Divas of Opera and Concert. Amistad Press. 1993.

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WEB SITES:

Matilda Sissieretta Jones - The Encyclopædia Britannica Guide to Black History

Matilda Sissieretta Joyner Jones - Women in American History by the Encyclopædia Britannica

She sang her way into history - Providence Journal

Chapter One: Sissieretta Jones - Excerpt from And So I Sing by Rosalyn M. Story

Sissieretta Jones - The Black History Pages

The Black Patti (Poster) - American Treasures of the Library of Congress

Afrocentric Voices in "Classical" Music

QUOTE:

The flowers absorb the sunshine because it is their nature. I give out melody because God filled my soul with it.

-- Sissieretta Jones

• Barbara Jordan (1936-1996) - African-American orator and Congresswoman.

The Barbara Jordan Page

Women of the Hall - Barbara Jordan

Barbara Jordan Remembered

Barbara Jordan Quotation

The Texas Handbook Online : Barbara Charline Jordan

• Elizabeth Keckley (1820-?) Personal maid, best friend and confidant to Mary Todd Lincoln. Wrote tell-all book after leaving Mrs. Lincoln's employ.

NAME: Elizabeth Keckley (nee Elizabeth Hobbs)

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BIRTH DATE: ca. 1818/9

BIRTH PLACE: Hillsborough, NC

EDUCATION: Lizzie, as she was referred to, had no formal education. She received her outstanding skills as a seamstress from her mother, who not only sewed for the Colonel's family, but made extra money for the Colonel by sewing for his friends and acquaintances. Lizzie's skills as a seamstress eventually helped earn her freedom and that of her son.

FAMILY BACKGROUND: Lizzie's parents were George and Agnes Hobbs. Her father had a different master from her and her mother, and lived 100 miles from Lizzie. Lizzie's father was allowed to visit only at Easter and Christmas. After age 7 or 8 Lizzie never saw her father again, as his master moved away, taking George with him. Lizzie was with her mother most of the time until her teenage years; then she was given to the Colonel's son and his bride as a wedding gift. Lizzie's skills as a seamstress were taught to her by her mother during her childhood.

Lizzie's only child, George, was named after her father. George's father was a friend and neighbor of the Colonel's son. George was born through an unwanted and forced relationship. Lizzie married James Keckley in 1852 and within a few years found out he wasn't free and was an alcoholic. Lizzie's master had promised she could buy freedom for herself and her son after he died; but she did not have the money when he passed away. Thanks to the generosity of one of her patrons, she was loaned the $1200 she needed for their freedom.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

• While living in Baltimore, Lizzie's first residence of freedom, she started a school for young black girls to teach them sewing and etiquette.

• She became the personal dressmaker for Mary Todd Lincoln after her work on Mary's Inaugural Ball gown pleased President and Mrs. Lincoln very much.

• Lizzie presided over as president and founder of the first Black Contraband Relief Association.

• She represented Wilberforce College at the 1893 Columbian World's Exhibition in Chicago, an event that celebrated the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus' discovery of America.

• Lizzie was Mary Todd Lincoln's best friend and confidante. She seemed to be the only person who understood and tolerated Mary's unstable temperament and sharp tongue.

• Lizzie Keckley wrote a book, Behind the Scenes, about the life of Mary Todd Lincoln, and the happenings in the White House during Lincoln's tenure. The book was very controversial and Mary Todd's eldest son had the book removed from publication.

WEB SITES:

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"Women in the Workplace: Business" - article from Women's History

Click here for an on-line version of Elizabeth Keckley's autobiography, Behind the Scenes, or, Thirty Years a Slave, and four years in the White House. Or, for an electronic facsimile of the original edition, click here.

Freedwoman, Dressmaker & Author Elizabeth Hobbs Keckley (1818-1907)

Historic Dressmakers

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Fleischner, Jennifer. Mrs. Lincoln and Mrs. Keckly : The Remarkable Story of the Friendship Between a First Lady and a Former Slave. New York: Broadway Books. 2003.

Keckley, Elizabeth. Behind the Scenes, Formerly a Slave, but more Recently Modiste, and a Friend to Mrs. Lincoln, or, Thirty Years a Slave, and Four Years in the White House. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. 2001. [Originally published: New York : G.W. Carleton, 1868. This edition originally published: Chicago : R.R. Donnelly, 1998.]

Rutberg, Becky. Mary Lincoln's Dressmaker : Elizabeth Keckley's Remarkable Rise from Slave to White House Confidante. New York: Walker. 1995.

• Marie LaVeau (1796?-1863?) - African-American Voodoo Queen of New Orleans and famous herbalist.

Illustration Source: Fabulous New Orleans, Saxon, Lyle, D. Appleton-Century Company (1936), Artist:

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Suydam, E. H.©Arttoday.com

PORTRAYED BY: Sherrie Tolliver

WEB SITES:

• The Mystica biographical article • Voodoo in New Orleans and the legacy of Marie Laveau • Voodoo Museum biographical sketch • Find a Grave: Maria Laveau • Marie Laveau's Tomb • Emily Dick biography • Anonymous biography

• Edmonia Lewis ( 1843-?) - First successful African-American sculptor.

NAME: Mary Edmonia Lewis

DATE OF BIRTH: Edmonia's birth is unknown. Different accounts state she was born in 1840, 1844 or 1845. At one point, she claimed she was born in 1854. She said her given name was "Wild Fire" by her mother, a Chippewa Indian. (Edmonia began and perpetuated many of the myths surrounding her own origins.)

PLACE OF BIRTH: Historians are unclear of her birthplace. She claimed to be born in Greenbrush, New York, near Albany, but she also said in another account that she was born in Greenhigh, Ohio. One researcher suggests she was born in Newark, New Jersey, in 1844 to middle-class immigrants from the West Indies.

FAMILY BACKGROUND: In a March 1866 interview, published in the London Athenæum, Edmonia claimed her father was a free black from the West Indies and her mother was a "wild Indian ... born in Albany ... of copper color and with straight black hair ... [who] wandered with her people, whose habits she could not forget" and thus Edmonia and her brother were "brought up in the same wild manner." She said her parents died when she was very young and she was then raised by her mother's tribe, leading a "wandering life, fishing, swimming and making moccasins" until she was 12 years old. Researchers have found a man described in an Indian Bureau agent's letter as "colr. man named Lewis," as well as a marriage between an Ojibway (Chippewa) Indian named Catherine and a free African-American named John Mike, who lived on an Indian reservation in what is now Mississauga, Ontario -- leading them to surmise these might be Edmonia's mother's parents.

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Edmonia had an older brother, Samuel W. Lewis, whom she claimed his given name was "Sunrise." He was 12 years older than she and had gone west for the Gold Rush, accruing wealth through real-estate investments and becoming a prominent citizen of Bozeman, Montana. His account differs from hers, saying he assumed Edmonia's guardianship after the parents died. Another note is that it wasn't until 1864 that the first recorded mention of Edmonia's heritage appeared, through an interview-article by Lydia Maria Child in her abolitionist newspaper, The Liberator. In claiming her given name as "Wild Fire" and describing her mother and herself as wild, Edmonia was probably creating the persona for her personality, which she adhered to and insisted upon throughout her career -- of never being tamed, restrained or contained. See this commentary also about the name "Wild Fire."

EDUCATION: Samuel said, when he went west, he arranged for Edmonia to board with a Captain Mills and provided tuition for her to attend a local grammar school in New York. Then he enrolled her at New York Central College, a Baptist abolitionist secondary school in McGrawville, New York. In 1859, Samuel arranged for Edmonia to attend Oberlin College's Young Ladies Preparatory Department. Founded by abolitionists in 1835, Oberlin College was the first in the nation to admit women and African-Americans.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Edmonia Lewis surpassed exorbitant odds to become the first African-American, and Native American, female sculptor -- and was the first such artist to celebrate her racial identity. Her fame and artistic achievement shocked and mortified those who claimed that Negroes lacked the capacity for intelligence and fine art, particularly because Edmonia insisted on standing next to her works in photographs and extensively explaining them. She combined a unique blend of talent, emotion and perspective, and often sculpted those who were heroes to her; leaders in the abolitionist movement and such courageous women as Cleopatra and Hagar, maid to Abraham's wife, Sarah.

While at Oberlin College, in January 1862, Edmonia was accused of poisoning two white female students, who also boarded at John Keep's home (he was a retired Theologian and Oberlin trustee). While awaiting trial, she was seized and beaten so viciously that she was bedridden for weeks. Edmonia was defended in court by John Mercer Langston, an Oberlin graduate and the first African-American admitted to the Ohio bar. She was acquitted and carried from the courtroom on the shoulders of supportive friends, mostly white, and resumed her studies.

In September, Edmonia signed her earliest known surviving work, a drawing for a self-titled statue (which, it appears, she never sculpted). In early 1863, she was accused of stealing brushes, paints and a picture frame. One account says Oberlin denied her final term and graduation, and that she met the famous abolitionist Frederick Douglass, who advised her to head east. Other accounts just say she decided to leave to pursue sculpting. At any rate, she did leave Oberlin before completing her degree. With her brother's financial help, Edmonia moved to Boston to study with master sculptor Edward A. Brackett. John Keep gave her a letter of introduction to abolitionist leader William Lloyd

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Garrison. Through him, she met many wealthy and influential Boston abolitionists, including Lydia Maria Child, who befriended her.

Edmonia became impatient with the apprenticeship; she was eager to start sculpting. Her brother rented her a studio space and she had a sign made for the door, reading "Edmonia Lewis, Artist." She created a medallion of abolitionist martyr John Brown, which had some commercial success among abolitionists. Then, in 1864, she sculpted a bust of Robert Gould Shaw, who had died while leading an all-black regiment in the battle of Fort Wagner. It was exhibited at the Soldiers' Relief Fair that year, and combined with the article Lydia wrote in The Liberator, Edmonia sold 100 plaster copies of this bust. With that income, and her brother's help, she embarked on her dream of studying and working in Italy -- but a month beforehand, she went to Richmond, Virginia, to help freed slaves (the Civil War ended in April of that year).

Edmonia first went to Florence, where she was welcomed and encouraged by America's most famous sculptor, Hiram Powers. Next, she went to Rome, the international center at the time of writers, poets and artists. Wealthy American visitors always toured the artists' studios and often either purchased or commissioned some artwork. Charlotte Cushman was a well-known actress in this community of artists, and she introduced Edmonia at her celebrated social gatherings, plus directed her wealthy friends to Edmonia's studio, which formerly had been used by the great Italian sculptor Antonio Canova. Her studio did indeed become a required stop for wealthy art patrons.

Many female sculptors lived and worked in Rome at that time: Harriet Hosmer, Louisa Lander, Anne Whitney, Margaret Foley, Vinnie Ream and Emma Stebbins. Edmonia was readily accepted into this community, which American novelist Henry James referred to as "that strange sisterhood." In particular, Harriet and Anne took special interest in Edmonia's work. To dispel her own fear that people would not believe she was capable of such work, Edmonia did all her own carving early in her career. Her contemporaries generally modelled a conceptual sculpture, then let Italian artisans carve the marble. She created her first emancipation statue, The Freedwoman and Her Child, then she started on a model for The Morning of Liberty (later called Forever Free). She created Preghiera, a figure she later added to Forever Free. In addition, she opened a showroom on Via della Frezza.

In the winter of 1866-67, Charlotte Cushman financed Edmonia's first full-scale marble work, The Wooing of Hiawatha (also called The Old Arrow-Maker and His Daughter), which was inspired by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's popular poem, Song of Hiawatha. Charlotte purchased the sculpture and donated it to the Boston YMCA, hoping to draw attention to Edmonia's talent. (The YMCA did not accept the sculpture until the following December, 1867.) The interview-article in the Athenaeum in 1866, telling her story of a nomadic Indian childhood as "Wild Fire," helped raise interest in the piece, as well as her companion sculpture, The Wedding (Marriage) of Hiawatha. When she later learned that Longfellow was visiting Rome, she studied his face on the street, then sketched him and sculpted a bust that the poet's family praised. She also created individual busts of Hiawatha and Minnehaha.

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Edmonia finished Forever Free in 1868 and sent it to wealthy abolitionist Samuel Sewall in Boston. Lydia Maria Child scolded her for sculpting it into marble without a commission, and eventually Lydia withdrew her support. Edmonia was honored the following year when the sculpture was presented to Rev. Leonard Grimes, a leading black abolitionist. She also sculpted Hagar in the Wilderness in 1868, shortly after becoming Catholic. While many artists depicted Hagar (Sarah's Egyptian servant, who bore Abraham's son Ishmael, in the Torah, Q'uran and Bible) as a symbol of slavery, Edmonia described hers as the moment when Hagar's despair is relieved by the Angel Gabriel bringing forth the water spring.

She did not have a buyer for Hagar, so Edmonia rented an exhibition room in Chicago's Farwell Hall, through the help of a local businessman. She advertised in the Chicago Tribune, inviting the curious to see the statue for a 25-cent fee, and describing herself as "the young and gifted colored sculptress from Rome." Hundreds viewed the piece, and eventually she sold it for $6,000. During this time, Edmonia met the acclaimed woman physician Harriot Kezia Hunt, who commissioned a life-size statue of Hygieia for her future grave in Mt. Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Edmonia also created an altarpiece that the Marquis of Bute purchased for $2,000, and donated a Madonna sculpture to St. Francis Xavier Church in Baltimore.

In the next few years, Edmonia created medallion portraits of Franz Liszt, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Wendell Phillips; busts of Abraham Lincoln and Horace Greeley (among other commissioned busts); a life-sized statue of John Brown (which she donated to the Union League Club of New York City); Young Augustus (Young Octavian); and her cherub pieces Awake, Asleep, Poor Cupid, and Cupid Caught. She won a gold medal for Asleep and a certificate of excellence for Love Caught in a Trap at the International Exposition of Paintings and Sculpture, held at the Academy of Arts and Sciences in Naples.

In the summer of 1873, Edmonia was the first internationally renowned woman sculptor to exhibit in San Francisco and San Jose, where she won significant praise. She showed Lincoln, Asleep and Awake, Cupid Caught, and The Marriage of Hiawatha, and sold most of the pieces. The Friends of San Jose Library purchased the Lincoln bust, where it remains to this day. She also exhibited works in St. Paul, Minnesota, the following year. Upon returning to Rome, she found her artist friends diligently working on pieces for the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition. Edmonia spent the next year working, too, on what would become her greatest triumph.

Her masterwork, The Death of Cleopatra, is a striking portrayal of Cleopatra after she is bitten by her asp. It garnered Edmonia both acclaim and controversy for such an intimate look at Cleopatra, atypical of her often-portrayed beauty and strength. It was unveiled at the Philadelphia Exposition in 1876, but did not sell like her smaller works (she also exhibited The Old Arrow-Maker and His Daughter and portraits of John Brown, Charles Sumner and Longfellow). She later shipped and exhibited it at the Chicago Interstate Exposition in 1878. It again proved an acclaimed draw, but still did not sell, so she put it into storage. Over the years, this enormous piece (63" x 31-1/4" x 46") was somehow lost

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-- turning up first in a Chicago saloon, then as a grave marker for a racehorse named Cleopatra, and finally rescued from a salvage yard by a fire inspector in 1988. In 1995, it was restored to its glory and place at the Smithsonian National Museum of American Art.

Edmonia went on to create The Veiled Bride of Spring, which she exhibited in New York and Cincinnati; busts of John Cardinal McCloskey, former President Ulysses S. Grant, Bishop Thomas Patrick Roger Foley, and Phillis Wheatley (an acclaimed Colonial African-American poet); The Adoration of the Magi, an altarpiece combining Asian, Caucasian and African-American cherubs for a church in Baltimore; and a statue of the Holy Virgin for the Marquis of Bute.

In 1887, Frederick Douglass visited her in Rome, and she showed him and his second wife around the city and Naples. He later described her as "cheerful and happy and successful." (Most of the American artists living in Rome had returned to the U.S. by this time, but Edmonia loved Rome and chose to remain there.) In 1893, she exhibited Hiawatha and Phillis Wheatley at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, then exhibited the bust of Charles Sumner at the Atlanta World's Fair in 1895. From here, the records of Edmonia grow dim. In 1896, she gave her address as "c/o U.S. Consul Paris, France." One account says she visited New York in September 1898. Some accounts say she remained in Rome and was reportedly seen there. An article in 1909 in The Rosary Magazine described her as "aging ... [and] still with us." Where and when she died is unknown.

DATE OF DEATH: Unknown

PLACE OF DEATH: Unknown

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Blodgett, Geoffrey. "John Mercer Langston and the Case of Edmonia Lewis: Oberlin, 1862" in Journal of Negro History. Vol. 53. July 1968, pp. 201-218.

Buick, Kirsten P. "The Ideal Works of Edmonia Lewis: Invoking and Inverting Autobiography" in American Art, Vol. 9. Summer 1995, pp. 5-19.

Burgard, Timothy Anglin. "Edmonia Lewis and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: Images and Identities" in American Art Review. Vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 114-117.

Commire, Anne, editor. Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia. Waterford, Conn.: Yorkin Publications, 1999-2000.

--------------. "Edmonia Lewis" in The Revolution. Vol. 7. April 20, 1871, p. 8.

--------------. Encyclopedia of African-American Culture and History. Vol. 3, p. 607.

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James, Henry. William Wetmore Story and His Friends; From Letters, Diaries, and Recollections. Edinburgh and London: W. Blackwood and Sons, 1903.

Hartigan, Lynda Roscoe. "Mary Edmonia 'Wildfire' Lewis." in Black Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia. Ed. Darlene Clark Hine et al. 2 vols. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1993.

Hartigan, Lynda Roscoe. Sharing Traditions: Five Black Artists In Nineteenth-Century America: From the Collections of the National Museum of American Art. Washington, D.C.: Published for the Museum by the Smithsonian Institution Press, 1985.

Lewis, Jo Ann. "An Afterlife for 'Cleopatra'" in The Washington Post. June 10, 1996, B1.

Richardson, Marilyn. "Edmonia Lewis" in Harvard Magazine. Vol. 88. March-April 1986, pp. 40-41.

Sterling, Dorothy, ed. We Are Your Sisters: Black Women in the Nineteenth Century. New York: W.W. Norton, 1997, c1984.

Wreford, Henry. "A Negro Sculptress" in The Athenæum. Vol. 39. March 3, 1866.

WEB SITES:

Edmonia Lewis: First Internationally Acclaimed African American Sculptor - website dedicated to her, with bio-chronology, links to photographs of her works, and more

Cleopatra: Lost and Found - virtual tour of Edmonia Lewis' works at the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

Testmanent to Bravery - PBS transcript of interviewer Charlayne Hunter-Gault, with museum curator George Gurney and art historian David Driskell, on the art and legacy of Edmonia Lewis, August 5, 1996.

Edmona Lewis Sculptures - at the San Jose Library.

Edmonia Lewis - African-Americans in the Visual Arts: a Historical Perspective, on Long Island University website

QUOTE:

"Some praise me because I am a colored girl, and I don't want that kind of praise. I had rather you would point out my defects, for that will teach me

something."-- Edmonia Lewis to Lydia Maria Child

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• Ida Lewis (1842-1913) - Heroic lighthouse keeper of Rhode Island, commissioned by U.S. Coast Guard.

WEB SITES

Idawalley Zorada Lewis (-Wilson), Keeper, USLHS - U.S. Coast Guard

Lime Rock Light (Ida Lewis Yacht Club) History

Ida Lewis at Lime Rock Lighthouse - Cape Cod Lighthouse Homepage

Ida Lewis: Famous Female Lighthouse Keeper - excerpted from the book, Women Who Kept the Lights: An Illustrated History of Female Lighthouse Keepers by Mary Louise Clifford and Candace Clifford (Alexandria: Cypress Communications, 2001)

• Mary Todd Lincoln (1818-1882) - Wife of President Abraham Lincoln, misrepresented by popular history and maligned by her peers.

Image Donated by Corbis - Bettmann

DATE OF BIRTH: December 13, 1818

PLACE OF BIRTH: Lexington, Kentucky

FAMILY BACKGROUND: Mary Ann Todd was the fourth of seven children born to Robert Smith and Eliza Parker Todd. As a prosperous storeowner and state senator,

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Robert was quite prominent in Lexington. Eliza died after giving birth to her seventh child, when Mary was six years old. A year and a half later, Robert married Elizabeth (Betsy) Humphreys of Frankfort, Kentucky. This marriage brought nine more children into the house. Mary’s stepmother was not sympathetic toward her stepchildren, which, some historians comment, might have contributed to Mary’s insecurities later in life. Despite growing up in the south with household slaves, Mary very early on grew to abhor slavery.

EDUCATION: Unlike most men of that era, Mary’s father felt women should be well educated. At the age of eight years, Mary began her formal education at Shelby Female Academy. At age 14, Mary entered Madame Victorie Mentelle’s select academy for young ladies, just outside Lexington. After that, she moved to Springfield, Illinois, to live with her sister Frances, who had married Dr. William S. Wallace. After three months, Mary returned to Shelby Female Academy for two more years.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

In 1839, upon finishing her schooling, Mary returned to Springfield to live with another sister, Elizabeth, who had married Ninian W. Edwards. As the son of a former governor of Illinois, the Edwardses were socially prominent and Mary became a popular belle.

In the fall, she met Abraham Lincoln at a dance. He was 10 years her senior and an aspiring lawyer. They fell in love and were engaged at the end of the following year. Mary’s sister and brother-in-law did not approve. In January 1841, perhaps with his poorer background and debt in mind, Abraham asked Mary to release him from the engagement. After much depression, a friend arranged for them to get together again. After another year of clandestine meetings and secret preparations, on November 4, 1842, Mary informed the Edwardses that they were getting married that day. Realizing it was inevitable, the Edwardses had the wedding take place in their home that evening. Inside Mary’s ring was the inscription “Love Is Eternal.”

The Lincolns had four sons: Robert Todd (August 1, 1843), Edward Baker (March 10, 1846), William Wallace (December 21, 1850), and Thomas “Tad” (April 4, 1853). With Abraham earning a modest income, they first lived in an $8-a-week room at the Globe Tavern in Springfield. They soon moved to a small three-room cottage, then six months later, in 1844, they moved to the only home they would ever own.

With Abraham’s work keeping him away, they stayed in touch through letters, with him relying more and more on Mary’s careful analysis of books and political reports. She helped Abraham collect fees for his services and continuously promoted him, even predicting that he would become president. “He is to be President of the United States some day,” she said. “If I had not thought so, I never would have married him, for you can see he is not pretty. But look at him: Doesn’t he look as if he would make a magnificent President?”

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Abraham was elected to the House of Representatives in 1846 and the family moved to Washington, D.C., living first at Brown’s Hotel, then in Mrs. Ann G. Sprigg’s boardinghouse (now the site of the Library of Congress). Before his term ended, Mary returned to Kentucky with the boys in 1848. In 1849 his term ended and, not seeking re-election, Abraham and his family returned to Springfield. Soon, the first of Mary’s tragedies occurred. In July 1849, Mary’s father died of cholera. Less than a year later, in February 1850, Eddie died of diphtheria. He was not even four years old. Afterwards, Mary could not speak his name without crying.

Abraham’s interest in politics remained strong and Mary fully encouraged this. Continuing to dream of the presidency, she convinced him to decline an appointment as governor of the Oregon Territory. In 1855, he lost an election to the U.S. Senate, but she was developing her political acumen. With the debate over slavery heating up, Mary was adamant that Abraham not be perceived as an abolitionist, for then he would be thought a radical and have no chance of election. In 1858, Abraham ran again for the U.S. Senate, but lost to Mary’s former beau, Stephen A. Douglas. Abraham said he would “sink out of view, and shall be forgotten,” but Mary did not agree.

In 1860, the Republican party (still quite new) nominated Abraham for president. Mary made sure she and her husband were portrayed favorably to the public. Her own education and training helped disperse the image of frontier people being ignorant and uncivilized boors. During the campaign, a little girl suggested that Abraham grow a beard to appear more attractive. Most likely Mary agreed.

When Abraham won the election that year, the Civil War was imminent. Before he even assumed office, seven states had seceded, with four more after his inauguration in March. Although Mary had dreamed of a proud entry into Washington, because of an assassination attempt, they had to sneak into the capitol. Her dreams were soon further crushed with harsh criticism, disappointments and more heartache.

Southerners felt Mary was a traitor, turning against her roots, while Northerners felt she was a spy, as many of her relatives sided with the Confederacy. She received criticism when she refurbished the White House (wanting to make it “an appropriate setting for the leader of a great nation”) because she went over the budget appointed by Congress. And she received criticism for holding festive events during wartime, but in doing so, Mary made the political point that the Union government would remain in Washington.

On February 20, 1862, their son Willie died of a fever. Also, during the war, all three of Mary’s half-brothers and a half-sister’s husband were killed. With grief added to the stress of the war and the criticisms, Mary became increasingly impaired both physically and emotionally. At times, she lost herself completely in frenzied outbursts.

Yet despite all the anguish, Mary did much that was laudable. She frequently visited hospitals, bringing food and flowers, reading to the soldiers, writing them letters, and once raising $1,000 for a Christmas dinner. Her closest friend, Elizabeth Keckley, a former slave, made Mary aware of the thousands of Virginia slaves who had moved to

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Washington but lived in harsh conditions. Mary raised money for them through the Contraband Relief Association. And although Mary might not have been the influence for Abraham’s Emancipation Proclamation, she very strongly supported it.

In 1864, Abraham won re-election. On April 9, 1865, with General Robert E. Lee surrendering to General Ulysses S. Grant, the war was officially over. Just five days later, on April 14, Abraham was shot by John Wilkes Booth in the Ford Theater, Mary’s hand in his. The president lingered until passing away at 7:22 a.m. He was buried in Springfield, next to his two sons.

Mary never recovered from this tragedy. On May 22, 1865, she left the White House, living in Chicago with her remaining sons Robert and Tad. After Robert married in September 1868, she and Tad went to Europe, returning in May 1871. Unfortunately, Tad had caught a cold on the trip back and never fully recovered from a respiratory infection. On July 15, 1871, he died. Mary had now lost her mother, father, husband, three half-brothers, and three sons. “One by one,” she said, “I have consigned to their resting place my idolized ones, and now, in this world there is nothing left for me but the deepest anguish and desolation.”

Mary’s mental health deteriorated rapidly. She had delusions, hallucinations and irrational fears of people trying to kill her or stealing from her. Her remaining son, Robert, on his way to becoming a prominent attorney, became concerned for her health and safety. On May 20, 1875, after a juried trial, Mary was declared insane and confined to Bellevue Nursing and Rest Home in Batavia, Illinois. This news shocked the nation. Mary’s supporters believed Robert had ulterior motives and worked to get her released. On September 19, 1875, she was released to live with her sister Elizabeth in the same house in Springfield where she had married Abraham. In June 1876, another court ruled that she had regained her sanity.

Three years later, Mary traveled to Europe again, staying primarily in France at health spas. Her physical health was declining as well, possibly with undiagnosed diabetes, spinal arthritis and other ailments, including migraine headaches. In 1880, she returned to Springfield. The following year, Robert visited with his eldest daughter, Mary Todd Lincoln, and he and his mother reconciled. On July 16, 1882, at the age of 63, Mary passed away, possibly after having a stroke, although the doctor wrote “paralysis” on the death certificate. She was buried next to her husband and three sons at Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield. Her wedding ring, thin from wear, still bore the words “Love Is Eternal.”

DATE OF DEATH: July 16, 1882

PLACE OF DEATH: Springfield, Illinois

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

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• Baker, Jean H. Mary Todd Lincoln: A Biography. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. 1987.

• Commire, Anne, ed. Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia. Waterford: Yorkin Publications. 2001.

• Croy, Homer. The Trial of Mrs. Abraham Lincoln. New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce. 1962.

• Fleischner, Jennifer. Mrs. Lincoln and Mrs. Keckly : The Remarkable Story of the Friendship Between a First Lady and a Former Slave. New York: Broadway Books. 2003.

• Helm, Katherine. The True Story of Mary, Wife of Lincoln; Containing the recollections of Mary Lincoln's sister Emilie (Mrs. Ben Hardin Helm), extracts from her war-time diary, numerous letters and other documents now first published by her neice, Katherine Helm. New York and London: Harper & Brothers. 1928.

• James, Edward T. Notable American Women 1607-1950: A Biographical Dictionary. Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press. 1971, 1974.

• Keckley, Elizabeth. Behind the Scenes, Formerly a Slave, but more Recently Modiste, and a Friend to Mrs. Lincoln, or, Thirty Years a Slave, and Four Years in the White House. Urbana: University of Illinois Press. 2001. [Originally published: New York : G.W. Carleton, 1868. This edition originally published: Chicago : R.R. Donnelly, 1998.]

• Neely, Mark E. The Insanity File : the Case of Mary Todd Lincoln. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press. 1993.

• Randall, Ruth Painter. Mary Lincoln: Biography of a Marriage. Boston: Little, Brown. 1953.

• Randall, Ruth Painter. The Courtship of Mr. Lincoln. Boston: Little, Brown. 1957. • Schreiner, Samuel Agnew. The Trials of Mrs. Lincoln : the Harrowing Never-

Before-Told Story of Mary Todd Lincoln's Last and Finest Years. New York: D.I. Fine. 1987.

• Van der Heuvel, Gerry. Crowns of Thorns and Glory : Mary Todd Lincoln and Varina Howell Davis, the Two First Ladies of the Civil War. New York: Dutton. 1988.

WEB SITES:

• Mary Todd Lincoln - Whitehouse profile • Civil War Women Mary Todd Lincoln • Mary Todd Lincoln - National First Ladies' Library • Mary Todd Lincoln House • Mary Todd Lincoln Research Site • Lincoln Home National Historic Site

QUOTE:

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Clouds and darkness surround us, yet Heaven is just, and the day of triumph will surely come, when justice and truth will be vindicated. Our wrongs will be made right, and we will once more, taste the blessings of freedom.

- Mary Todd Lincoln

• Jenny Lind (1820-1887) - Swedish international opera star, brought to U.S. by P.T. Barnum in the 1850s.

Source: World Book Encyclopedia, The Quarrie Corporation (1943) © Arttoday.com

WEB SITES

Who Was Jenny Lind?

Jenny Lind - Barnum Museum

American Memory: Jenny Lind

America's Story: Jenny Lind

Smithsonian - Mathew Brady's Portraits: Jenny Lind

George Mason University - Jenny Lind Archive

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• Juliette Gordon Low (1860-1927) - Founder of the American Girl Scouts.

Source: Girl Scout Handbook, Girl Scouts, Inc. (1940) © Arttoday.com

BIRTH NAME: Juliette Magill Kinzie Gordon.

BIRTH DATE: Oct. 31, 1860.

BIRTHPLACE: Savannah, Ga.

EDUCATION: Attended several prominent boarding schools.

FAMILY BACKGROUND: From a prominent southern family; her father was a Confederate Captain in the Civil War. After the Civil War ended, he joined a volunteer militia in Savannah. The volunteers were called up during the Spanish American War and Mr. Gordon was commissioned as a general in the volunteers.

DESCRIPTION OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS: The scouting movement owes its success to many historical figures, one of the foremost of which is Juliette Gordon Low, who founded the Girl Scouts of America in 1912. Her vision, benevolence and fortitude has enabled thousands of girls to grow up into fine upstanding citizens in the last fourscore and seven years.

Born Juliette Magill Kinzie Gordon, she was called "Daisy" from the beginning. Growing up she was educated in all the finest boarding schools and exhibited aptitude in sculpting and an interest in animals. When she was about 25 years old, Juliette had an ear infection which was treated with silver nitrate. This damaged her ear and caused her to lose a great deal of her hearing in that ear.

In 1886, Daisy married William Mackay "Willy" Low, a British heir. During the ceremony, a grain of wedding rice lodged in her good ear and became infected. When the doctor attempted to remove the rice, it damaged the nerves in her ear and caused total deafness in that ear. For most of their nineteen years of marriage the Lows resided in

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Willy's native Great Britain. Although they frequented many social events, the union ultimately became unhappy as Willy took to drinking and philandering. They were in the process of divorce when William Mackay Low died suddenly of paralysis in 1905. He left the bulk of his estate to his mistress, leaving Daisy quite dejected. She spent the next several years globetrotting through Europe and India.

While attending a luncheon in England in 1911, she met Lord Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the British Boy Scouts, through whom she became keenly interested in the scouting movement. During that year she organized a troop of Girl Guides (the female equivalent of the Boy Scouts) among poor girls at her estate at Glenlyon, Scotland, and then founded two more troops in London. Then on March 12, 1912, Daisy established the first troop of Girl Guides in the United States in her native Savannah. Through her steadfast promotion the movement grew rapidly, becoming the Girl Scouts of America in 1913. The organization was incorporated in 1915 with the national headquarters at Washington, D.C., with Daisy serving as president until 1920 when she was bestowed the rightful title of founder.

For fifteen years Daisy devoted her time, energy, and finances to the movement. She elicited major support and contributions from communities all around and was a frequent guest at campfires. In an attempt at expanding her organization she tried to merge with the Campfire Girls, however, this failed to materialize due to administrative disputes. Daisy oversaw the composition of the Girl Scout handbook How Girls Can Help Their Country and in 1919 she was naturally the representative at the first international meeting of Girl Scouts and Guides.

In personality Daisy was known for being eccentric and charming. At an early scout board meeting she stood on her head to display the new Girl Scout shoes that she happened to be wearing. Especially because her work was so hands-on she was revered by young girls far and wide.

In 1923 Daisy contracted cancer. She kept her illness a secret and dauntlessly continued her efforts. She was instrumental in organizing the world Girl Scout camp in the United States in 1926. Less than a year later, on Jan. 17, 1927, Juliette Gordon Low died of cancer in Savannah, at the age of sixty-six. The membership in the Girl Scouts by this time numbered 168,000. She was buried in the uniform representing the organization she founded which to this day continues to change the world.

DATE OF DEATH: Jan. 17, 1927, age 66 (of cancer).

PLACE OF DEATH: Savannah, Ga.

WEB SITES:

Georgia Women of Achievement

National Women's Hall of Fame Profile

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Girl Scouts Homepage

Women in History of Scots Descent - Juliette Gordon Low

• Clare Boothe Luce (1903-1987) - Playwright, U.S. Congresswoman and ambassador to Italy.

BIRTH DATE: April 10, 1903.

BIRTHPLACE: New York City.

EDUCATION: Attended St. Mary's School in Garden City, N.Y. and Miss Mason's School, "The Castle," in Tarrytown, N.Y., graduating in 1919. Briefly attended Clare Tree Major's School of Theatre in New York City.

FAMILY BACKGROUND: Father was a businessman and violinist, mother was a dancer. She spent her childhood in Chicago, Memphis, and after her parents separated, with her mother in France.

DESCRIPTION OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Rarely does one public figure become equally famous in each of the individual careers that he or she pursues; however, Clare Boothe Luce did so to the maximum. In her public life spanning several decades she gained equal as an editor, playwright, politician, journalist, and diplomat. In addition, the zeal in which she pursued each one of these careers resulted in her epitomizing the "talk-of-the-town."

Clare Boothe's original ambition was to become an actress and she understudied Mary Pickford before enrolling in Clare Tree Major's School of the Theatre. She lost interest, however, and dropped out to go on a European tour with her parents. Through this she met Mrs. O.H.P. Belmont, a New York society matron and an advocate of women's suffrage. From Mrs. Belmont, Clare herself became interested in women's rights. It was also Mrs. Belmont who introduced her to George Tuttle Brokaw, a New York clothing manufacturer 24 years Clare's senior. On Aug. 10, 1923, Clare and George were married. On Aug. 25, 1924, Clare gave birth to a daughter Ann Clare Brokaw. Sadly, George was an abusive alcoholic and the marriage ended in divorce in 1929.

Clare resumed her maiden name and in 1930 she joined the staff of the fashion magazine Vogue, as an editorial assistant. Having found direction in her life in the wake of a tragedy, Clare developed a serious interest in writing. In 1931, she became associate editor of Vanity Fair magazine, and began writing short sketches satirizing New York society and its figures. These were compiled and published under the title Stuffed Shirts in 1933, the same year that Clare became managing editor of Vanity Fair. In pursuit of a career as a playwright, Clare resigned from Vanity Fair in 1934.

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On Nov. 23, 1935, Clare Boothe, now 32 years old, was married to Henry Robinson "Harry" Luce, who was 37 years old. World-renowned as the publisher, as well as the founder, of Time magazine and the business periodical Fortune (he would later found Life magazine and Sports Illustrated), they had met a party in New York. They soon fell in love, and married just one month after Harry divorced his wife of 12 years, with whom he had two sons. The union of Harry and Clare, which lasted 32 years, was childless.

In the same month as her marriage, Clare's play Abide With Me opened on Broadway. A somber psychological drama about an abusive husband on a collision course with his terrified wife, it was panned by the critics. Her second play The Women, which opened on Broadway in 1936, was a satire on the idleness of wealthy wives and divorcees. It also was received coolly by the critics. However, among the public, it was immensely popular and ran for 657 performances, toured the United States and 18 countries, and was adapted to the screen. In 1938, Kiss the Boys Goodbye, a play Clare said was a political allegory about American Fascism, but was viewed as a comedy about Hollywood's highly publicized search for an actress to portray Scarlett O'Hara in the film Gone With the Wind, became one of the ten best plays of the year. In Margin of Error in 1939, Clare treated the murder of a Nazi agent as both a comedy and a melodrama. It too proved popular and, along with the latter two plays, confirmed Clare Boothe Luce's status as a leading American playwright.

After the beginning of World War II, Clare traveled to Europe in 1940 as a journalist for Harry's publication Life magazine. Her observations of Italy, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and England in the midst of the German offensive were published in Europe in the Spring (1940). In 1941, she and Harry toured China (where Harry had been born to American missionaries) and reported to Life the status of the country--in particular its war with Japan. After the United States entered World War II, Clare went on a tour through Africa, India, China, and Burma for Life. During this tour she would interview General Harold R.L.G. Alexander, commander of British troops in the Middle East; Jawaharlal Nehru; Chiang Kai-Shek; and General "Vinegar Joe" Stilwell, commander of American troops in the China-Burma-India theater.

Claiming these travels as firsthand experience with international affairs, 1942 Clare ran for a seat in the United States House of Representatives representing the Fourth Congressional District of Connecticut, on the Republican ticket. Campaigning on a platform that alleged President Franklin D. Roosevelt brought the United States into World War II unprepared, she won the election with ease. Once in the House, in her maiden speech, Clare assailed Vice President Henry A. Wallace's freedom-of-the-air policy to insure international peace, calling it "globaloney." Clare won the respect of the ultraconservative isolationists in Congress and received an appointment to the Military Affairs Committee. She consistently spoke on behalf of American troops fighting the war and addressed the issues concerning their eventual return to civilian life. On Christmas Day, 1944, she visited American troops in Italy, and returned to Congress advocating immediate aid to Italian war victims. She won reelection to a second term in the House in 1944. Beginning in 1945, Clare began warning against what she asserted was a growing threat of Communism internationally--with particular emphasis on Harry's

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native China--and a soft approach to the problem by the Democratic presidency. Additionally, during her second term, Clare was instrumental in the creation of the Atomic Energy Commission, which brought civilian control over atomic energy. For all her outspoken criticism of the Democratic presidency's foreign policy, during her two terms in the House of Representatives (1943-1947), Clare ironically voted on its behalf most of the time.

This period of Clare Boothe Luce's life would see tragedy, however. On Jan. 11, 1944, her daughter Ann, a nineteen-year-old senior at Stanford University, was killed in an automobile accident. Clare was so devastated by the loss of her only child that she suffered a nervous breakdown. She would undergo psychotherapy but eventually found solace in religious spiritualism, believing that only through God could she find a reason to live on. In 1946, Clare was received into the Roman Catholic Church. That year she did not run for reelection to the House, stating she wanted to return to writing.

In 1947, after her House term expired, Clare wrote a series of articles describing her conversion to Catholicism, which were published in McCall's magazine. In 1949, she wrote the screenplay for the film Come to the Stable, a drama about two nuns trying to raise money to build a children's hospital, and received an Academy Award nomination. Clare rediscovered her former profession as a playwright in 1951 with Child of the Morning. In 1952, she edited the book Saints for Now, a compilation of essays about various saints written by such authors as Evelyn Waugh, Rebecca West, and Whittaker Chambers.

Clare returned to politics during the 1952 presidential election, when she campaigned on behalf of Republican candidate Dwight Eisenhower. He won the election and rewarded Clare for her support with an appointment as ambassador of Italy, which became effective in March 1953 after senate confirmation. Clare pursued her diplomatic task vigorously. She readdressed the issue of anticommunism, with emphasis toward the Italian labor movement, whose leftist forces she feared would interfere with American aid to industry in Italy. Perhaps the most notable event of her tenure was in October 1954, when she helped to settle the dispute between Italy and what was then Yugoslavia over the United Nations territorial lines in Trieste. The resolution gave the city of Trieste to Italy and the surrounding territory to Yugoslavia. Not long afterward, Clare fell seriously ill with arsenic poisoning caused by paint chips falling from the stucco roses that decorated her bedroom ceiling, and was forced to resign in 1956.

Clare took life slowly for the next few years, occupying her time with painting and creating mosaics. Then in 1959, President Eisenhower appointed her ambassador to Brazil. In the senate her appointment encountered strident Democratic opposition from Senator Wayne Morse of Oregon, but was nonetheless confirmed by a 79 to 11 vote. In response to the bitter debate, Clare quipped that Senator Morse's actions were the result of him being "kicked in the head by a horse." This remark proved so controversial that Clare resigned the ambassadorship a few days later on Harry's urging.

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Clare maintained her political activity and, for several years, was associated with the ultraconservative wing of the Republican party. In 1964, she supported Senator Barry Goldwater of Arizona, the Republican candidate for president, and announced her own candidacy for the United States Senate from New York on the the Conservative party ticket. However, Republican party leaders expressed their strong disapproval and Clare withdrew. In the same year, Harry retired as editor-in-chief of Time and Clare joined him by retiring from public life herself. They would spend most of the next few years at their vacation home in Phoenix, Arizona.

On Feb. 28, 1967, Henry Robinson Luce was stricken with a sudden heart attack and died in a Phoenix hospital. He was 68 years old. Clare had a house built in Honolulu, Hawaii, and lived there quietly for many years. While maintaining her political contacts, she stayed out of the limelight. In 1970, she resumed writing plays with Slam the Door Softly, however, it attracted little attention.

In 1981, newly inaugurated President Ronald Reagan appointed Clare to the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board. With that, she moved from Honolulu to an apartment in the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C. She served on the board until 1983, the year President Reagan awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

At her Watergate apartment on Oct. 9, 1987, Clare Boothe Luce died of a brain tumor at the age of 84. She had lived a multifaceted life with equal fame in each facet.

DATE OF DEATH: Oct. 9, 1987, age 84 (of a brain tumor).

PLACE OF DEATH: Washington, D.C.

WEB SITES:

Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame Biography: Clare Boothe Luce 1903-1987

Distinguished Women of Past and Present Biography: Clare Boothe Luce

Women in American History by Encyclopedia Britannica: Luce, Clare Boothe

Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans: Clare Boothe Luce

• Barbara Mabrity (1782-1867) - Lighthouse keeper in Key West, Florida, commissioned by U.S. Coast Guard.

WEB SITES

Key West Arts and Historical Society - Barbara Mabrity

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• Dolley Madison (1768-1849) - First Lady and doyen of Washington society

Real America In Romance, Lakeside Press © www.arttoday.com

MAIDEN NAME: Dolley Payne.

BIRTH DATE: May 20, 1768.

BIRTHPLACE: New Garden settlement (now Guilford County), North Carolina.

EDUCATION: No formal education.

FAMILY BACKGROUND: Born to Quaker parents, her family moved from North Carolina to a plantation in Scotchtown, Hanover County, Virginia when she was an infant. At age 15, she again relocated with her family to Philadelphia.

DESCRIPTION OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Of the early First Ladies in the United States, Dolley Madison, wife of James Madison, fourth President of the United States, has been considered the most colorful. In her eight years in Washington, D.C. (1809-1817), she made the White House a most delightful place to visit. Beautiful gregarious, buoyant, and cheerful, the regular social gatherings she hosted were lively events at which anyone would feel welcome. Through her special inviting manner the often tense political, as well as social, atmosphere of Washington could become wonderfully calm.

Despite her strict Quaker upbringing, Dolley Payne possessed a sparkling personality and a kind heart. On Jan. 7, 1790, she married John Todd, Jr., a Philadelphia lawyer and fellow Quaker. They had two sons John Payne and William Temple. In 1793 a yellow fever epidemic hit Philadelphia, claiming the lives of her husband and son William within weeks of each other. Dolley's characteristic optimism enabled her to get through this tragedy and continue to live life to its fullest. She attended various social functions in

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Philadelphia, then the capital of the United States. At one of which, through Senator Aaron Burr of New York, Dolley was introduced to Representative James Madison of Virginia, renowned as the architect of the United States Constitution. Though 17 years her senior, Dolley and James soon began a courtship, culminating in his proposal of marriage and her acceptance. On Sept. 15, 1794, James Madison, age 43, and Dolley Payne Todd, 26, were married. Because James Madison was an Episcopalian, Dolley was ostracized from the Society of Friends (Quakers) for marrying outside her faith.

Freed of the quaintness of Quaker doctrine, Dolley's liveliness began to manifest itself in her appearance as well as her personality. She began taking snuff, and wearing bright clothing and turbans adorned with jewelry or feathers. In particular Dolley discovered she enjoyed giving large formal dinner parties and entertaining her guests at Montpelier, the Madison family estate in Orange County, Virginia. Her receptions soon attracted attention throughout the state, and this proved favorable to her husband's political career. In 1801, the newly inaugurated President Thomas Jefferson appointed James, a friend and fellow Democratic-Republican, as Secretary of State.

Dolley took to Washington, D.C., society like a duck takes to water, and she was given a golden opportunity when Thomas Jefferson, a widower, asked her to serve as his hostess at White House social functions. Her extroversion served to enliven the often austere atmosphere of the Jefferson administration, in addition to providing the harmony needed to quell the political tensions. The first eight years Dolley was in Washington, her influence fomented the role she would assume after James was elected president in 1808.

Once Dolley Madison became first lady in 1809, her status as the central figure of Washington society was confirmed. The vivacious Dolley's expansive memory for names and ability to make everyone at home in the White House attracted guests by the many. Her lavish dinner parties were noted for the surprise delicacies served. She began holding Wednesday evening "drawing rooms" (receptions) that became immensely popular with politicians, diplomats, and the citizenry. Not only was Dolley renowned for her charm, but her knowledge of politics and current events was significant as well. She proved an asset to James's political career in two ways: her outgoing demeanor complimented his reserved and stonefaced disposition and her political insight influenced his decision-making. Undoubtedly, Dolley was one of the reasons James won reelection in 1812.

During the War of 1812, Dolley's role as first lady was tested when British troops invaded Washington in August 1814. Courageously, she stayed behind until vital state documents and, most notably, the famous portrait of George Washington by Gilbert Stuart were removed to safety. Fleeing Washington with James, they returned three days later to find the White House burned down. While the reconstruction process was underway, James and Dolley resided at the Octagon House for the remainder of his presidency. Nonetheless, Dolley made the most of the situation and the gaiety of Washington society, through her entertaining, returned as potent as always.

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With the conclusion of his second term in 1817, James and Dolley retired to Montpelier. Life on the plantation proved vibrant as Dolley continued to entertain guests as before. However, the prodigality of her son John, with whom both she and James were always too lenient, brought them financial problems. On June 28, 1836, James Madison died at the age of 85. Though childless, their 42-year marriage had been a remarkably blissful and happy one. Unfortunately, John Payne Todd's spending habits soon reduced his mother almost to poverty. This forced Dolley to sell both James's Continental Papers and Montpelier to pay the creditors. In 1837, Dolley returned to Washington and resumed her former status in the social life there. Dolley frequented numerous social and political events and was beloved by all. On July 12, 1849, Dolley Madison died in Washington at age 81. She was buried in the Congressional Cemetery with all the Washington dignitaries attending. Later her remains were moved to Montpelier next to her husband's.

DATE OF DEATH: July 12, 1849, age 81.

PLACE OF DEATH: Washington, D.C.

WEB SITES:

The First Ladies of the United States: Dolley Payne Todd Madison

The Dolley Madison Project: Her Life, Letters, and Legacy

The Dolley Madison Commemorative Coin Biography

Madison Family Home: Montpelier

• Biddy Mason (1818-1891) - Entrepreneur, one of first African-American women to own land in California.

FULL NAME: Bridget "Biddy" Mason

DATE OF BIRTH: August 15, 1818

PLACE OF BIRTH: Sources are unsure; possibly Mississippi or Hancock, Georgia.

FAMILY BACKGROUND: Bridget was born a slave, that much is certain. Some sources say she was born on the plantation of Robert Marion Smith and Rebecca Crosby Smith. Another source says she was born on a plantation in Hancock, Georgia, and that around 1836, she and her sister Hannah were purchased by Robert and Rebecca Smith and taken to their plantation in Logtown, Mississippi.

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EDUCATION: As a slave, Bridget had no formal education. She did learn about midwifery and herbal medicines from the other slave women and healers, and became well-regarded as a midwife.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: In 1847, Robert Smith became a Mormon and moved, with his household and slaves (90 people in all), to Utah Territory. On this arduous 2,000-mile trek across the country, Biddy's responsibility was to herd the cattle, prepare meals, act as a midwife, and take care of her own children. (She had three daughters, Ellen, Ann and Harriet, whose father was reputedly Smith.) In 1851, Smith moved everyone again to San Bernardino, California, where Brigham Young was starting another Mormon community.

Biddy learned through friends in the African-American Los Angeles community that California had been admitted to the Union in 1850 as a free state; slavery was prohibited. But such slave owners were rarely challenged, and if they were, they rarely lost the case. In the winter of 1855, Smith decided to move once again, to Texas, a slave state. Their departure was interrupted by the Los Angeles sheriff, who served Smith a writ of habeas corpus on behalf of Biddy.

Biddy's daughter Ellen had been dating a free black man, Charles Owens, the son of an esteemed business owner in Los Angeles' African-American community. Charles and his friend Manuel Pepper, who was dating the daughter of another of Smith's slaves, helped Biddy file her petition with the court for her freedom. Since California law at the time prohibited blacks, mulattos and Native Americans from testifying in court, Biddy could not speak on her own behalf, but the judge did meet with her privately to hear her story. Robert Smith did not appear in court so, on January 19 (another source says January 21), 1856, the judge granted Biddy her freedom, as well as that of her three daughters (some sources say all the other slaves of Robert Smith were freed as well).

Biddy moved to Los Angeles, accepting the invitation to live with the Owens family. (Her daughter Ellen later married Charles.) She quickly became well regarded as a nurse and midwife, assisting in hundreds of births to mothers of all races and social classes. A couple sources say she was immediately offered a job after the trial by Dr. John S. Griffin, a Los Angeles doctor who had become interested in the case. What is certain is she soon became financially independent, saving her money and living frugally. Ten years later, in 1866, she bought a house and sizeable property on Spring Street for $250 -- becoming one of the first black women to own land in Los Angeles. She instructed her children to never abandon it.

In 1884, Biddy sold a parcel of the land for $1500 and built a commercial building with rental spaces on the remaining land. The area ultimately became the central commercial district of Los Angeles. Through continued wise business and real estate decisions, she acquired many parcels of land that, as the town developed, became prime urban lots -- and she accumulated a fortune of almost $300,000. Her grandson, Robert Curry Owens, a real estate developer and politician, was the wealthiest African-American in Los Angeles at one time.

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Biddy became known as Grandma Mason -- generously donating money to charities (she would occasionally pay the expenses of both Black and white churchs), visiting prison inmates with gifts and aid, and giving food and shelter to the poor of all races. Needy people often lined up in front of 331 South Spring Street. One source says she also ran an orphanage in her house.

In 1872, Biddy and her son-in-law, Charles Owens, founded and financed the Los Angeles branch of the First African Methodist Episcopal Church, the first black church in Los Angeles. It is now known as 8th and Townes, and is presently housed in a modern building at 2270 South Harvard Street.

Biddy died January 15, 1891, at the age of 73, and was buried in an unmarked grave at Evergreen cemetery in the Boyle Heights area of Los Angeles. Nearly a century later, her accomplishments were finally given due respect when a tombstone marked her grave for the first time in a ceremony attended by Mayor Tom Bradley and about 3,000 First A.M.E. Church members, on March 27, 1988. The following year, November 16, 1989, was declared Biddy Mason Day and a memorial of her achievements was erected at the Broadway Spring Center (a parking garage built at the site of her home), between Spring Street and Broadway at Third Street.

DATE OF DEATH: January 15, 1891

PLACE OF DEATH: Los Angeles, California

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Bolden, Tonya. The Book of African-American Women: 150 Crusaders, Creators and Uplifters. Adams Media Corporation, 1996 (reprint 2004).

Commire, Anne, editor. Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia. Waterford, Conn.: Yorkin Publications, 1999-2000.

Demaratus, DeEtta. The Force of a Feather: The Search for a Lost Story of Slavery and Freedom. University of Utah Press, 2002.

Ferris, Jeri Chase. With Open Hands: A Story about Biddy Mason. Carolrhoda Books, 2002.

Mungen, Donna. The Life and Times of Biddy Mason: From Slavery to Wealthy Californian Land Owner. MC Printing Co., 1976.

Robinson, Deidre. Open Hands, Open Hearts: The Story of Biddy Mason. Sly Fox Publishing Co., 1998.

Sherr, Lynn and Jurate Kazickas. Susan B. Anthony Slept Here: A Guide to American Women's Landmarks. Random House, 1994.

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Smith, Jessie Carney, editor. Epic Lives: One Hundred Black Women Who Made a Difference. Visible Ink Press, 1993.

Smith, Jessie Carney, editor. Notable Black American Women. Gale Research, 1992.

Williams, Jean Kinney. Bridget "Biddy" Mason: From Slave to Businesswoman. Compass Point Books, 2005.

WEB SITES:

Bridget "Biddy" Mason - Distinguished Women of Past and Present

From slavery to entreprenur, Biddy Mason - The African American Registry

African American History in the West Vignette: Bridget "Biddy" Mason - Dr. Quintard Taylor, Jr., University of Washington

Biddy Mason Park - Angels Walk LA

Biddy Mason's Place: A Passage of Time - Public Art in LA

Biddy Mason Home Site - Five Views: A History of Black Americans in California: Historic Sites

The Road to California: A Journey to Freedom - Oakland Museum of California [Social Science project with resources]

QUOTE:

"If you hold your hand closed, nothing good can come in. The open hand is blessed, for it gives in abundance, even as it receives."

-- Biddy Mason, 1818-1891

• Rachel Agnes Mason (1867-1903) An Irish immigrant whose family came to America in 1788 because of religious conflict.

• Flora Stone Mather (1852-1910) - Cleveland philanthropist, founder of Flora Stone Mather college at Western Reserve University for women. Sponsored Goodrich House for

urban children.

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WEB SITES

Flora Stone Mather - Encyclopedia of Cleveland History

Flora Stone Mather - Gladys Haddad

• Ida Saxton McKinley (1847-1907) - Wife of William McKinley, 25th President of the United States, developed a unique way of coping with her epileptic seizures during her

public appearances as First Lady.

Puritan: A Journal for Gentlewomen©ArtToday.com

DATE OF BIRTH: June 8, 1847

PLACE OF BIRTH: Canton, Ohio

FAMILY BACKGROUND: Ida Saxton was the second of three children born to James A. and Katherine Dewalt Saxton. The Saxtons were a prominent force in Canton: Ida's grandfather, John Saxton, founded the Ohio Repository, the first newspaper in Canton and her father was a well respected banker and successful businessman.

EDUCATION: Her father sent her to the best local Canton schools, to finishing school, and then on a tour of Europe.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: As a young woman, she exhibited talent in financial matters and was a strong and independent woman. These traits earned her a position at her father's bank as a clerk and eventually she gained the experience and knowledge to manage the bank when her father left the city.

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Ida first met William McKinley at a picnic in 1868 and then again in 1870 while working at the bank. At their second meeting they fell deeply in love. McKinley was a young lawyer with a promising future; they were married on January 25, 1871. They formed a loving and devoted marriage.

The McKinleys had two daughters. Katherine ("Katie") was born on Christmas Day in 1871. Just after her first birthday, Ida's mother, whom Katie was named after, died. In April 1873, Ida gave birth to their second daughter, Ida, who tragically died at the age of four months. Phlebitis and epileptic seizures overcame Ida's health, only to have her condition worsen when Katie died in 1875, leaving Ida a confirmed invalid.

Despite her poor health, Ida remained supportive of and active in her husband's career as congressman, governor of Ohio, and president. She travelled with him whenever possible and lived with him in Washington. He accommodated his work and their life to suit her needs. He was greatly devoted to her and carefully and lovingly made sure she had everything she needed and wished for.

In the 1896 Presidential election, unfounded rumors began circulating about Ida's illness, so a campaign biography was written about her and added to her husband's biography. For the first time, a (future) First Lady's image appeared on a campaign pin. Ida tried to be at William's side as much as possible and he, in return, ran his campaign primarily from Canton to stay close to her.

While at the White House, the McKinleys didn't let Ida's health interfere with her role as First Lady. Beautifully dressed at formal receptions, Ida would receive guests while sitting in a blue velvet chair holding a fragrant bouquet, to politely refrain from shaking hands. Despite protocol, she always sat beside the President at state dinners; William always watching for signs of an impending seizure. If one came on, he would momentarily cover her face with a handkerchief or quickly wheel her out of the room. In those days, guests were discreet and newspapers silent about her "fainting spells."

After William was re-elected to his second term, he was shot on September 6, 1901. Even then, he thought of Ida; telling his secretary to be careful in how he told Ida the news. He lingered for eight days, Ida holding his hand, until he passed away on September 14, 1901. After his death, Ida returned to Canton to live with her younger sister, visiting her husband's grave almost daily. She lived primarily in seclusion, although she did receive President Theodore Roosevelt when he came to Canton. Ida passed away in 1907 and is buried at Canton's McKinley Memorial Mausoleum with her husband and two young daughters.

DATE OF DEATH: May 26, 1907

PLACE OF DEATH: Canton, Ohio

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

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• Anthony, Carl Sferrazza. First Ladies: the Saga of the Presidents' Wives and Their Power. New York: W. Morrow, 1990.

• Belden, Henry S III. Grand Tour of Ida Saxton McKinley and Sister Mary Saxton Barber, 1869. Canton: Henry S. Belden III, 1985.

• Hartzell, Josiah. Sketch of the Life of Mrs. William McKinley. Washington, D.C.: The Home Magazine Press, 1896.

• Leech, Margaret. In the Days of McKinley. New York: Harper, 1959. [Cleveland Public Library]

• Morgan, H. Wayne. William McKinley and His America. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1963.

WEB SITES

• Ida Saxton McKinley - White House history • Ida Saxton McKinley - National First Ladies' Library • Ida Saxton McKinley - The American President, PBS • Ida Saxton McKinley - McKinley Memorial Library and Museum, Niles, Ohio

President and Mrs. McKinleyHow I Worked My Way Around The World

Published by Christian Herald Press©ArtToday.com

• Maria Mitchell (1818-1889) - Astronomer and professor at Vassar College. First female member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

NAME: Maria Mitchell

BIRTH DATE: August 1, 1818

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BIRTH PLACE: Nantucket, Massachusetts

EDUCATION: Maria Mitchell attended Cyrus Peirce's School for Young Ladies. In her younger years she was taught chiefly by her father. She was largely self-educated afterward.

FAMILY BACKGROUND: Maria was the third child of William and Lydia Mitchell, a Quaker family with ten children.

DESCRIPTION OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS: On October 1, 1847 Maria Mitchell discovered a telescopic comet, an accomplishment for which she received a gold medal from King Frederick of Denmark. She was the first woman elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American Philosophical Society. She was a Professor of Astronomy at Vassar College. She founded and was president of the American Association for the Advancement of Women. She led one session of the Women's Congress. Maria was given an honorary degree from Columbia College. A crater on the moon was named for her. Posthumously, a tablet with her name was put in the New York University Hall of Fame, her name was carved in a frieze at the Boston Public Library, and she was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.

DATE OF DEATH: June 28, 1889

PLACE OF DEATH: Lynn, Massachusetts

PORTRAYED BY: Linda Wilson

READINGS:

McPherson, Stephanie Sammartino, Rooftop Astronomer: a story about Maria Mitchell. Minneapolis, Carolrhoda Books, Inc., 1990. (for middle readers)

Gormley, Beatrice, Maria Mitchell: The Soul of an Astronomer. Grand Rapids, MI, William B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1995. (for middle readers)

Wright, Helen, Sweeper in the Sky: The Life of Maria Mitchell, First Woman Astronomer in America. New York, Macmillan, 1949.

Morgan, Helen L. Maria Mitchell, First Lady of American Astronomy. Philadelphia, Westminster Press, 1977.

WEB SITES: The Nantucket Maria Mitchell Association.

A Maria Mitchell biography from Distinguished Women of Past and Present.

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Eclipse Chasing with Maria Mitchell a virtual solar eclipse expedition, sponsored by Vassar College and Arlington Central High School. Includes a brief biography, transcripts of newspaper articles about her trip to Colorado for the eclipse of 1878, and a chapter from her journals: Maria Mitchell: Life, Letters, and Journals.

The Contributions of Women to the United States Naval Observatory: The Early Years (before 1920).

Insiders' Guide - Nantucket - a description of the Island and brief history.

• Louise Nevelson (1899-1988) - Russian born New York sculptor famous for her shadow box, wall sculptures and her flamboyant personality.

• Annie Oakley (1860-1926) - World famous markswoman from Ohio.

NAME: Phoebe Ann Oakley Mozee. She was named Phoebe Ann by her mother, but called Annie by her sisters. Annie promoted the Mozee spelling of the family name. While it has been variously recorded as Mauzy and Moses, Mosey is the version most commonly found in family sources. She took the stage name Oakley, reportedly after Oakley, Ohio.

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BIRTH DATE: Aug. 13, 1860.

BIRTHPLACE: Patterson Township, Darke County, Ohio.

EDUCATION: Annie did not attend school.

FAMILY BACKGROUND: Quaker parents Jacob and Susan were originally from Pennsylvania. After a tavern fire ended their livelihood as innkeepers, they moved to a rented farm in Ohio. Father, who had fought in the War of 1812, died in 1866 from pneumonia and overexposure in freezing weather. Annie was the fifth of seven children. Her mother remarried, had another child and was widowed a second time. During this time Annie was put in the care of the superintendent of the county poor farm, where she learned to embroider and sew. She spent some time in near servitude for a local family where she met with mental and physical abuse. When she reunited with her family, her mother had married a third time.

DESCRIPTION OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Whether it be a pistol, rifle, or shotgun, the legendary markswoman Annie Oakley was masterful with them all. Dubbed "Little Sure Shot" by Chief Sitting Bull (she was 5 feet tall), her sharp shooting in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show won her many awards and captivated audiences far and wide. Her name remains synonymous with firearms and entertainment.

Born in a log cabin on the Ohio frontier, Annie Oakley began shooting game at age nine to support her widowed mother and siblings. She quickly proved to be a dead shot and word spread so much that at age sixteen, Annie went to Cincinnati to enter a shooting contest with Frank E. Butler (1850-1926), an accomplished marksman who performed in vaudeville. Annie won the match by one point and she won Frank Butler's heart as well. Some time later they were married and she became his assistant in his traveling shooting act. Frank recognized that Annie was far more talented and relinquished the limelight to her, becoming her assistant and personal manager. In 1885 they joined Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, run by the legendary frontiersman and showman Buffalo Bill Cody.

For seventeen years Annie Oakley was the Wild West Show's star attraction with her marvelous shooting feats. At 90 feet Annie could shoot a dime tossed in midair. In one day with a .22 rifle she shot 4,472 of 5,000 glass balls tossed in midair. With the thin edge of a playing card facing her at 90 feet, Annie could hit the card and puncture it with with five or six more shots as it settled to the ground. It was from this that free tickets with holes punched in them came to be called "Annie Oakleys." Shooting the ashes off a cigarette held in Frank's mouth was part of the Butler and Oakley act. In a celebrated event while touring in Europe, Wilhelm, Crown Prince of Germany, invited Annie to shoot a cigarette held in his own lips. Annie had Wilhelm hold the cigarette in his hand and not his mouth; she accomplished this challenge, as always effortlessly. In this period Annie Oakley was easily recognizable by the numerous shooting medals that adorned her chest.

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In a train wreck in 1901, Annie suffered a spinal injury that required five operations and even left her partially paralyzed for a while. Although she recovered very well, Annie toured less frequently during the latter part of her career. Nonetheless, her shooting expertise did not wane and she continued to set records. In a shooting contest in Pinehurst, N.C. in 1922, sixty-two-year-old Annie hit 100 clay targets straight from the 16 yard mark.

Annie Oakley died of pernicious anemia on Nov. 3, 1926, in Greenville, Ohio, at the age of sixty-six. A legend in her own time, the remarkable life of Annie Oakley would be celebrated in the 1946 Herbert and Dorothy Fields musical Annie Get Your Gun.

In her life, Annie overcame poverty, mistreatment and physical injury with her determination and strength of character. She played a role in breaking barriers for women with her talent and accomplishments in her sport. She showed great compassion and generosity to orphans, widows and other young women.

DATE OF DEATH: Nov. 3, 1926, age 66.

PLACE OF DEATH: Greenville, Ohio.

RECOMMENDED READING:

Kasper, Shirl. Annie Oakley. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1992.Riley, Glenda. The Life and Legacy of Annie Oakley. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1994.Macy, Sue. Bull's-Eye: A Photobiography of Annie Oakley. National Geographic Society, 2001.

WEB SITES:

• Dorchester County Public Library: Annie Oakley (Annie Oakley House) • The Annie Oakley Days Festival • PBS American Experience: Annie Oakley

For further research, contact: The Annie Oakley Foundation, P.O. Box 127, Greenville, Ohio 45331, telephone (937) 547-3966.

• Georgia O'Keeffe (1887-1986) - Famed American artist who defied convention in both her art and her private life.

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Source: Encyclopaedia Britannica: Vol 17 (1943), photographed by Alfred Stieglitz, 1918 © www.arttoday.com

[Extended Profile]

BIRTHDATE: Nov. 15, 1887

BIRTHPLACE: Sun Prairie, Wisconsin.

EDUCATION: Graduated from the Chatham Protestant Episcopal Institute in Williamsburg, Va. in 1904. Studied art at the Art Institute of Chicago and the Art Students League in New York.

FAMILY BACKGROUND: Ancestors were from Ireland and Hungary; her family were farmers. She grew up in both Sun Prairie and Williamsburg, Virginia.

DESCRIPTION OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS: The artistic brilliance of Georgia O'Keeffe revolutionized modern art in both her time and in the present. With her paintings she vividly portrayed the power and emotion of objects of nature. This was first seen in her charcoal drawings of silhouetted bud-like forms exhibited in 1916 that brought her fame. During the 1920s , she explored this theme in her magnified paintings of flowers which to this day enchant people amorously, although her purpose was to convey that nature in all its beauty was as powerful as the widespread industrialization of the period.

After spending a summer in New Mexico, Georgia O'Keeffe, enthralled by the barren landscape and expansive skies of the desert, would explore the subject of animal bones in her paintings of the 1930s and 1940s. Just as with the flowers, she painted the bones magnified and captured the stillness and remoteness of them, while at the same time expressing a sense of beauty that lies within the desert.

Georgia O'Keeffe was married to the pioneer photographer Alfred Stieglitz (1864-1946) in 1924. It was at Stieglitz's famed New York art gallery "291" that her charcoal drawings were first exhibited in 1916. The union lasted 22 years, until Stieglitz's death.

The paintings from the latter phase of Georgia O'Keeffe's career (after her move to New Mexico in 1949) concerned a rectangular door on an adobe wall and the sky. These were far less inspiring than her earlier works-which continued to be rediscovered through her lifetime and to the present day.

DATE OF DEATH: March 6, 1986, age 98.

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PLACE OF DEATH: Santa Fe, New Mexico.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

• Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters• First retrospective show of a woman's art at the Museum of Modern Art• Awarded the Gold Medal of Painting by the National Institute of Arts and

Letters • Awarded the Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor • President Ronald Reagan presented the National Medal of Arts in 1985.

WEBSITES

The Georgia O'Keeffe Museum

Georgia O'Keeffe Gallery

Georgia O'Keeffe - Ellen's place illustrated biography

Georgia O'Keeffe Art Links - links to works viewable on the Web

QUOTE

I get out my work and have a show for myself before I have it publicly. I make up my own mind about it–how good or bad or indifferent it is. After that the critics can write what they please. I have already settled it for myself so flattery and criticism go down the same drain and I am quite free.

- Georgia O'Keeffe

• Louella Parsons (1893-1965) - Hollywood gossip columnist, who dominated Hollywood's Golden Era. Louella's relationship with William Randoph Hearst and her own three marriages made her life as stormy as any Hollywood movie.

• Alice Paul (1885-1977) - The woman who rescued the woman suffrage movement (1910) and made sure women got the vote.

Image Donated by Corbis - Bettmann

FULL NAME: Alice Stokes Paul

BIRTH DATE: January 11, 1885

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BIRTHPLACE: Moorestown, New Jersey

FAMILY BACKGROUND: Alice was the first-born child of William Mickle Paul and Tacie Parry Paul. William was a banker and businessman, serving as president of the Burlington County Trust Company. Alice had two brothers, William Jr. and Parry, and a sister, Helen. As Hixsite Quakers, the family believed in gender equality, education for women, and working for the betterment of society. Tacie often brought Alice to her women's suffrage meetings.

EDUCATION: Alice attended the Friends School (Quaker) in Moorestown, graduating at the top of her class. She went on to Swarthmore (a Quaker college founded by her grandfather in 1901), at the age of 16, graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in biology in 1905. While attending Swarthmore, her father contracted pneumonia and died suddenly. Through a College Settlement Association fellowship, Alice conducted graduate work at the New York School of Philanthropy (now Columbia University), then received a Master of Arts degree in sociology from the University of Pennsylvania in 1907. That fall, through a scholarship, she went to England where she studied at the Woodbrooke Settlement for Social Work, and studied social work at the University of Birmingham and the London School of Economics. Back in the U.S., Alice received a Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Pennsylvania in 1912. In 1922, she earned an LL.B. from the Washington College of Law, then earned an LL.M. from American University in 1927 and a Doctorate of Civil Law in 1928.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: While in England, Alice met Emmeline Pankhurst, founder of the British suffrage movement, who advocated “taking the woman’s movement to the streets.” Alice participated in more radical protests for woman suffrage, including hunger strikes and even three prison terms. She met Lucy Burns in a London police station after being arrested in a suffrage demonstration at the entrance to Parliament. They participated in some demonstrations together; even getting arrested and jailed together. Alice also worked at the Dalston branch of the Charity Organization Society in London, then the Peel Institute of Social Work at Clerkenwell, and the Christian Social Union Settlement of Hoxton. She returned to the U.S. in January 1910. Lucy returned to Brooklyn in the summer of 1912.

That fall, Alice and Lucy approached the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA), having decided to join forces toward a constitutional amendment by directly lobbying congressmen. They were allowed to take over the NAWSA Congressional Committee in Washington, D.C., but they had no office, no budget and few supporters. Alice was only 26 years old.

Drawing on her experiences in England, Alice organized the largest parade ever seen -- a spectacle unparalleled in the nation's political capitol -- on March 3, 1913, the eve of President Woodrow Wilson’s inauguration. About 8,000 college, professional, middle- and working-class women dressed in white suffragist costumes marched in units with banners and floats down Pennsylvania Avenue from the Capitol to the White House. The goal was to gather at the Daughters of the American Revolution's Constitution Hall. The crowd was estimated at half a million people, with many verbally harassing the marchers while police stood by. Troops finally had to be called to restore order and help the suffragists get to their destination -- it took six hours.

The parade generated more publicity than Alice could have hoped for. Newspapers carried articles for weeks, with politicians demanding investigations into police practices in Washington, and commentaries on the bystanders. The publicity opened the door for the Congressional Committee to lobby congressmen, and the president. On March 17, Alice and other suffragists met with President Wilson, who appeared mildly interested but feigned ignorance and said the time was not right yet. They met two more times that month. She organized another demonstration on April 7, opening day of the new Congress. Also in April, Alice established the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage (CUWS), sanctioned by NAWSA and dedicated to achieving the federal

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amendment. By June, the Senate Committee on Women's Suffrage reported favorably on the amendment and senators prepared to debate the issue for the first time since 1887.

In 1914, the CUWS separated from NAWSA, mainly over financial issues but also because Alice and NAWSA leaders Anna Howard Shaw and Carrie Chapman Catt disagreed about the direction of the organization. Alice was focused on a federal constitutional amendment, whereas Shaw and Catt were working on state-by-state suffrage. Ultimately, both groups complemented each other: NAWSA's push to win suffrage in state elections meant federal politicians had a stake in keeping women voters happy, while the CUWS's more militant stance kept the suffrage issue at the forefront, nationally and politically.

In 1915, Alice founded the Woman's Party for women in western states who had the vote already. Then in late 1916, the CUWS and the Woman’s Party merged into the National Woman’s Party (NWP), under Alice's leadership. She called a halt to any more pleading for the right to vote -- instead, she mounted an even more militaristic political campaign demanding passage of the women's suffrage amendment, which she named the Susan B. Anthony Amendment.

At that point, the women's suffrage fight had already been going on for almost 70 years -- starting in 1848 with a Women's Rights Convention in Seneca Falls, New York. The first women's suffrage amendment was presented to Congress in 1878, and reintroduced every year for 40 years, but was never voted on. By 1917, however, support had grown and women were already voting in 12 western states. And in 1916, Jeanette Rankin of Montana was the first woman elected to Congress. But a national suffrage amendment was still no closer to passing.

The NWP staged more demonstrations, parades, mass meetings, picketing, suffrage watch fires, hunger strikes, press communications, and lobbying. It published a stylish Suffragist weekly paper, organizing women in the west who could vote. Their tactic was to hold the party in power (the Democrats) responsible for failure to pass the amendment -- and they urged women who could to vote against Democrats. NAWSA leaders condemned the policy, saying pro-suffrage politicians were in both parties. Suffragists released from prison, in prison uniforms, rode a "Prison Special" train, speaking throughout the country. Other women held automobile petition drives across the country.

Beginning January 10, 1917, the NWP began picketing the White House -- the first group in the U.S. to wage a nonviolent civil disobedience campaign. They became known as the Silent Sentinels, standing silently by the gates, carrying purple, white and gold banners saying "Mr. President, what will you do for suffrage?" and "Mr. President, how long must women wait for liberty?" The first day, 12 NWP members marched in a slow, square movement so passers-by could see the banners. Over the next 18 months, more than 1,000 women picketed, including Alice, day and night, winter and summer, every day except Sunday.

At first they were politely ignored, but then World War I began on April 6 and the picketers' signs became more pointed -- often using the president's quotes against him. One banner read: "Democracy Should Begin at Home." They asked, how could he fight to help disenfranchised people when he had disenfranchised people at home? They became an embarassment.

Spectators began assaulting the women verbally and physically -- while the police did nothing to protect them. Then in June, the police began arresting the picketers on charges of "obstructing traffic." First the charges were dropped, then the women were sentenced to a few days' jail terms. But the suffragists kept picketing, and the jail terms grew longer. Finally, to try to break their spirit, the police arrested Alice on October 20, 1917, and she was sentenced to seven months in prison. The banner she carried that day said:

"THE TIME HAS COME TO CONQUER OR SUBMIT, FOR US THERE CAN BE BUT ONE CHOICE. WE HAVE MADE IT." (President Wilson's words)

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Alice was placed in solitary confinement for two weeks and immediately began a hunger strike. Unable to walk on her release from there, she was taken to the prison hospital. Others joined the hunger strike. "It was the strongest weapon left with which to continue ... our battle ...," she later said. Then the prison officials put Alice in the "psychopathic" ward, hoping to discredit her as insane. They deprived her of sleep -- she had an electric light, directed at her face, turned on briefly every hour, every night. And they continually threatened to transfer her to St. Elizabeth's Hospital, a notorious asylum in Washington, D.C., as suffering a "mania of persecution." But she still refused to eat. During the last week of her 22-day hunger strike, the doctors brutally forced a tube into her nose and down her throat, pouring liquids into her stomach, three times a day for three weeks. Despite the pain and illness this caused, Alice refused to end the hunger strike. One physician reported:

"[She has] a spirit like Joan of Arc, and it is useless to try to change it. She will die but she will never give up."

Hundreds of women were arrested, with 33 women convicted and thrown into Occoquan Workhouse (now the Lorton Correctional Complex). This was the first of actual violence perpetrated on women: forced feeding, rough handling, worm-infested food, and no contact with the outside world. Blankets were only washed once a year. The open toilets could only be flushed by a guard, who decided when to flush. Doris Stevens, one of the prisoners, later wrote in The Suffragist:

"No woman there will ever forget the shock and the hot resentment that rushed over her when she was told to undress before the entire company ... We silenced our impulse to resist this indignity, which grew more poignant as each woman nakedly walked across the great vacant space to the doorless shower ..."

Viginia Bovee, an officer at the Workhouse, stated in an affidavit after her discharge:

"The beans, hominy, rice, corn meal ... and cereal have all had worms in them. Sometimes the worms float to the top of the soup. Often they are found in the corn bread."

November 15, 1917, became known as the Night of Terror at the Workhouse:

"Under orders from W.H. Whittaker, superintendent of the Occoquan Workhouse, as many as forty guards with clubs went on a rampage, brutalizing thirty-three jailed suffragists. They beat Lucy Burns, chained her hands to the cell bars above her head, and left her there for the night. They hurled Dora Lewis into a dark cell, smashed her head against an iron bed, and knocked her out cold. Her cellmate, Alice Cosu, who believed Mrs. Lewis to be dead, suffered a heart attack. According to affidavits, other women were grabbed, dragged, beaten, choked, slammed, pinched, twisted, and kicked." [Barbara Leaming, Katherine Hepburn. New York: Crown Publishers, 1995. Page 182.]

Newspapers across the country ran articles about the suffragists' jail terms and forced feedings -- which angered many Americans and created more support. With mounting public pressure, the government released all the suffragists on November 27 and 28, 1917. Alice served five weeks. Later, the Washington, D.C., Court of Appeals overturned all the convictions.

Congress convened a week after the women were released, and the House set January 10 as the date to vote on the Susan B. Anthony Amendment. On January 9, 1918, President Wilson announced his support of the women's suffrage amendment. The next day, the House of Representatives narrowly passed the amendment (274-136). The Senate didn't vote until October, and it failed by two votes. From January through October, the NWP kept pressure on the politicians with front-page news -- burning President Wilson's speeches at public monuments,

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and burning "watchfires" in front of the White House, Senate and other federal sites. Hundreds more women were arrested, conducting hunger strikes while incarcerated. The NWP urged women voters and male supporters to vote against anti-suffrage senators up for election that fall.

The 1918 election left Congress with mostly pro-suffrage members. The House reaffirmed its vote (304-89). On June 4, 1919, the Senate passed the amendment by one vote. On August 26, 1920, the last state (of 36 states needed) to ratify it was Tennessee. Women voted for the first time in the 1920 presidential election -- including Florence Harding, the next First Lady. The fight took 72 years -- spanning two centuries, 18 presidencies, and three wars.

On February 15, 1921 (Susan B. Anthony's birthday), a statue commissioned by Alice and the NWP was placed in the Rotunda of the Capitol. Sculpted in Carrara, Italy, the statue depicted Lucretia Mott followed by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony, with the unfinished portion in back representing women leaders to come. It stayed in the Rotunda for two days, then was relegated to the crypt of the Capitol. To this day, it is the only national monument to the women's movement.

In 1922, Alice went on to study law at the Washington College of Law. She still had unfinished business, to "remove all remaining forms of the subjection of women." The following year, she introduced the first Equal Rights Amendment: "Men and women shall have equal rights throughout the United States and every place subject to its jurisdiction." She continued to re-introduce the ERA for many years -- finally getting it through Congress in 1970. But the ERA failed to win ratification from enough states within the specific time limit, and it failed. Alice went on to receive a Master’s and Doctorate legal degrees from American University (Washington, D.C.) in 1927 and 1928.

In the late 1920s, Alice broadened NWP's activities internationally; then founded the World Woman's Party (WWP) in 1938, later renamed the World Woman's Party for Equal Rights, and headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. Through this group, particularly from 1938 through 1953, Alice worked closely with the League of Nations and later with the United Nations, trying to achieve equality and the rights of women around the world. The WWP was responsible for establishing the U.N. Commission on the Status of Women in 1946.

When World War II broke out, in September 1939 in Europe, the WWP headquarters became a refuge for people escaping the Nazi terror. The group and Alice also helped them find American sponsors, get passports and travel safely to the U.S. However, in the spring of 1941, with Nazi restrictions imposed, the WWP relocated to Washington, D.C. Alice said that if women had helped to end the first World War, the second one would not have been necessary.

From the mid-1950s on, Alice re-focused on women's issues in the U.S., trying to have prohibition of sex discrimination included in the pending civil rights bill. She was not successful until the next decade. At 79 years of age, Alice ran the NWP's lobbying campaign to add a sex discrimination category to Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The NWP was the only women's organization to fight for this inclusion.

Alice never married, committing herself to a life of causes. When she returned to the U.S. in 1941, she lived with her sister Helen, after that she lived with activist Elsie Hill, her closest friend. After Elsie died in the late 1960s, Alice lived alone in reduced circumstances in the Alta Craig Nursing Home in Ridgefield, Connecticut. But she still protested in rallies for women's rights and against the Vietnam War -- while in her 80s.

A woman named Alice Muller, who had met Alice through the WWP and had stayed with her family at the Swiss headquarters through Alice's help, found out about her mentor and friend living in Connecticut. She had her attorney son contact a Quaker judge in New Jersey about looking into providing assistance. Alice was moved to the Greenleaf Extension Home in

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Moorestown, New Jersey -- an institution her family had endowed many years earlier. The Mullers visited her there. In 1974, she suffered a stroke that left her disabled. On July 9, 1977, Alice died of heart failure. She was 92 years old.

Still active, the NWP continues to fight for ratification of the ERA and other women's rights issues. On June 26, 1997 -- after 75 years, a Congressional Resolution, and $75,000 raised by the National Museum of Women's History -- the statue of the suffrage leaders was returned to the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol.

DATE OF DEATH: July 9, 1977

PLACE OF DEATH: Moorestown, New Jersey

PORTRAYED BY: Georgia Swanson

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Commire, Anne, editor. Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia. Waterford, Conn.: Yorkin Publications, 1999-2000.

Evans, Sara M. Born for Liberty. The Free Press: Macmillan, N.Y. 1989.

Gallagher, Robert S. "'I Was Arrested Of Course...': An Interview with Miss Alice Paul," in American Heritage. Vol. 25. February 1974. Pages 16-24, 92-94.

Irwin, Inez Hayes. The Story of Alice Paul and the National Woman’s Party. Denlinger’s Pub., LTD: Fairfax,VA. 1977.

Irwin, Inez Hayes. Up Hill With Banners Flying. The National Woman's Party: Washington, D.C. 1964.

Lunardini, Christine A. From Equal Suffrage to Equal Rights: Alice Paul and the National Woman's Party, 1910-1928. New York University Press: NY. 1986.

Reed, Phyllis J. and Bernard L. Witlieb. The Books of Women’s Firsts. Random House. 1992.

Scott, Anne Firor and Andrew MacKay Scott. One Half the People: The Fight for Woman Suffrage. Lippincott: Philadelphia, PA. 1975.

Wheeler, Marjorie Spruill, editor. One Woman, One Vote: Rediscovering the Woman Suffrage Movement. NewSage Press: Troutdale, OR. 1995.

WEB SITES:

The Alice Paul Institute

Alice Paul's Fight For Suffrage -- PBSKids: WayBack. Stand Up For Your Rights. Features: Women and the Vote

Alice Paul -- Moondance: Three Legendary Feminists, by Sonia Pressman Fuentes

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Alice Paul -- Encyclopedia Britannica: Women in American History

Suffragist Alice Paul in the Spotlight -- Miami Herald

Suffragists Oral History Project -- Full Transcript of Interviews with Alice Paul, 1972-73. The Bancroft Library: U.C. Berkeley, Regional Oral History Department

Alice Paul -- American Association of University Women: Women's History Spotlight

Alice Paul -- About.com Women's History

National Woman's Party -- Also headquarters for the Sewall-Belmont House & Museum (of women's history)

National Woman's Party Papers -- LexisNexis, Academic & Library Solutions

QUOTE:

"Each of us puts in a little stone and then you get a great mosaic at the end."

Alice Paul unfurling the ratification banner over the railing of the National Woman's Party headquarters on August 26, 1920 -- the day the 19th Amendment was ratified. The banner was one of the most important to the NWP. For every state that ratified

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suffrage, the members sewed on a star. When Tennessee ratified the amendment, the final star was sewn on. [Courtesy of the National Woman's Party]

• Mrs. George (Hannah?) Peake (1755-18??) - First African-American settler of Cleveland.

NAME: Mrs. George (Hannah) Peake (Other known derivatives include Peak, Peek, and Peeke.) While there is information regarding Mrs. Peake's husband, George Peake, information regarding her is limited.

DATE OF BIRTH: ?

PLACE OF BIRTH: Maryland?

DATE OF DEATH: ?

PLACE OF DEATH: Cleveland, Ohio?

FAMILY BACKGROUND: Hannah Peake married a mulatto, George Peake, 1722-1827. They were married in Maryland and later moved to Pennsylvania to start their family. Their sons were George, Jr., Joseph, James and Henry. George Peak died at the age of 105 in September of 1827.

EDUCATION: ?

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Hanna and George Peake were the first Negro settlers of Cleveland. Relative to living in pioneer times, she was known as wealthy woman, quoted as having "a half-bushel of silver dollars." Given that commerce was based on the barter and trade system, possessing hard money was a sign of wealth. Hanna's husband, George Peake served in the British Army during the French and Indian War under General Wolf's command at Quebec. He is also known as a deserter of this unit; he was given the task of paying his fellow soldiers and by some accounts deserted them.

In April of 1809, the pioneer couple crossed the Cuyahoga River near the foot of St. Clair Street and were the first to travel on the Cleveland/Rockport Road; this road garnered its significance as being the first state highway from Cuyahoga to the Huron River. George and Hanna and their two oldest sons traveled by wagon to the area currently known as Lakewood, about 1 mile south of the mouth of the Rocky River where the family then built a log house. George was 87 at the time. They purchased 105 acres in the Rockport area; at time, a purchase like this this was financially significant. Here, George farmed and worked for the people that settled in this district of the city.

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George Peake is especially appreciated for improving hand mill used to produce grain meal; his new grinder was hailed as a major improvement over the previously used mortar and pestle mill.

The following is a newspaper excerpt from The Cleveland Leader, published on November 8, 1858:

George Peak, who was a soldier under General Wolfe, and deserted from the army, found a black woman in Maryland who had a half bushel of dollars, married her, raised a family of mulattos in the State of Pennsylvania, and came to Rockport with two of his sons, George Peak and Joseph Peak, in April, 1809; and two more of his sons, James Peak and Henry Peak, came in soon afterwards. When the old m an reached Cleveland, the above mentioned road had been cut out from the Cuyahoga river to Rocky river, and his wagon was the first one that ever came through from Cleveland to Rocky River. The Peaks settled on the farm now owned by John Barnum, Esq. Some of the Peaks built a handmill. The stones were 18 or 20 inches across. This mill was a great improvement over the stump mortar and spring-pole pestle, in use in those days, in grinding hominy. the elder Peak died in September, 1827, at the age of 105 years.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Davis, Russell H. Black Americans in Cleveland from George Peake to Carl B. Stokes 1796-1969. Washington D.C.: Associated Publishers, 1972.

Johnson, Crisfield. History of Cuyahoga County, Ohio...with Portraits and Biographical sketches of its Prominent Men and Pioneers. Philadelphia: D. W. Ensign, 1879.

WEB SITES:

George Peake - Encyclopedia of Cleveland History

• Molly Pitcher (Mary Ludwig Hays McCauley) (1754-1832) - Born Mary Ludwig, this revolutionary heroine followed the Continental Army for more than 3 years, doing what was needed to free the colonies from the tyranny of England.

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Image Donated by Corbis - Bettmann

NAME: Mary Ludwig Hays McCauley

DATE OF BIRTH: ca. 1753-4

PLACE OF BIRTH: New Jersey

DATE OF DEATH: January 22, 1832

PLACE OF DEATH: Carlisle, Pennsylvania

FAMILY BACKGROUND:

EDUCATION:

ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

WEB SITES

The Story of Molly Pitcher

Molly Pitcher (Valley Forge Frequently Asked Questions)

Molly Pitcher (Pennsylvania People Biographies)

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• Eleanor Anna Roosevelt (1884-1962) - Wife of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, first activist First Lady

Source: World Book Encyclopedia, The Quarrie Corporation (1943) © www.arttoday.com

[Extended Profile]

BIRTH DATE: Oct. 11, 1884.

BIRTHPLACE: New York City.

EDUCATION: Attended Allenswood, a finishing school in London, England, from 1899 to 1902.

FAMILY BACKGROUND: Member of longtime affluent New York family. Was a niece of Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States and 6th cousin of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of United States, who became her husband. Her parents died when she was a child.

DESCRIPTION OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Even without her marriage to Franklin D. Roosevelt, through whose presidency she revolutionized the position of first lady, Eleanor Roosevelt very likely would have still become one of the greatest women of the 20th Century. As a humanitarian and civic leader (among other roles), her work for the welfare of youth, black Americans, the poor, and women, at home and abroad (through the United Nations that she helped to develop) has yet to be equaled.

Growing up a lonely and shy girl in wealth and comfort, she returned to New York from Allenswood, at 18 with confidence in herself and a conscience of a social nature. Her marriage to Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882-1945), brought her into the world of politics of

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which she proved a fast learner. When her husband was Assistant Secretary of the Navy during World War I, she supported the war effort by volunteering for the Red Cross. She was also an active member of the women's suffrage movement.

In 1921 when a bout with polio left Franklin Roosevelt crippled, her steadfast encouragement enabled him to return to politics and win the governorship of New York (1929-1933). In the process she became his political surrogate, speaking in his behalf to the citizenry, relaying their feedback to him, and giving her input as well. During this period she also opened the Val-Kill furniture factory in New York to provide job relief to the unemployed and became part owner of Todhunter, an all girls private school in New York City.

When FDR was elected to the presidency, Eleanor Roosevelt reluctantly became first lady, yet she proved a great innovator in this capacity. Her tenure (1933-1945) was the longest only because her husband's tenure as president was the longest, but Eleanor Roosevelt became the first activist first lady. With press conferences and her daily column she kept the public up-to-date on White House policies; in particular the New Deal. She persuaded FDR to create the National Youth Administration (NYA), which provided financial aid to students and job training to young men and women. Her concern for disadvantaged black Americans, prompted her to work closely with organizations such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), and in 1939 she resigned from the Daughters of the American Revolution in protest to their preventing black singer Marian Anderson from performing at Constitution Hall.

After the United States entered World War II, Eleanor Roosevelt channeled her energies into the war effort. She did this first by mustering up civilian volunteerism as assistant director of the Office of Civilian Defense (OCD), and by visiting U.S. troops abroad.

When Franklin D. Roosevelt died in office in 1945, Eleanor Roosevelt's role as first lady was over, but her career was not. She became a delegate to the United Nations General Assembly, specializing in humanitarian, social, and cultural issues. In 1948, she drafted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which affirmed life, liberty, and equality internationally for all people regardless of race, creed or color. Additionally, she helped in the establishment of the state of Israel and attempted negotiations, albeit cautiously, with the Soviet Union (now Russia).

She wrote several books about her experiences: This Is My Story (1937), This I Remember (1950), On My Own (1958), and Tomorrow Is Now (published posthumously, 1963).

DATE OF DEATH: Nov. 7, 1962, age 78 (of bone marrow tuberculosis).

PLACE OF DEATH: New York City.

WEB SITES:

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Eleanor Roosevelt Links

Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site

Eleanor Roosevelt Profile

Eleanor Roosevelt - White House History First Ladies

[Extended Profile]

[Brief Profile]

(b.Oct. 11, 1884, New York City - d.Nov. 7, 1962, New York City)

For the first one hundred forty-four years of the presidency the first ladies were generally little more than appendages to the president. This does not mean that there were never any first ladies who were great women with many accomplishments to their credit; however, seldom did the finest first lady exceed the prominence of her chief executive husband whom overshadowed her. In 1933, this was all to change when Eleanor Roosevelt became first lady of the United States. More than merely the wife of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Eleanor Roosevelt was a distinguished public figure in her own right. A humanitarian, diplomat, social reformer, and author, her work in behalf of youth, blacks, the poor, women, and the United Nations surpassed her twelve years as first lady in establishing her as one of the most important women of the 20th century.

Anna Eleanor Roosevelt was born into a family of both esteem and affluence in New York City. Her father Elliott Roosevelt (a brother of Theodore Roosevelt, the future 26th President of the United States) came from the famous Dutch landowning family who had settled in New Amsterdam in the 17th century. Her mother, the former Anna Hall was descended from the Livingston clan who played a crucial role in the founding of the United States as well as the statehood of New York. She was called Eleanor from the beginning and rarely used her first name.

Eleanor's childhood was a dreadfully unhappy one. Her father was an alcoholic who was disowned by his family. Her mother, renowned for her beauty, was distant from her daughter whom she nicknamed "Granny" because she seemed to her old-fashioned. After Anna Roosevelt died of diphtheria in 1892, Eleanor, age eight, was raised by her maternal grandmother. She rarely saw her father thereafter, and he died of drink in 1894 when she was ten. These traumatic experiences affected Eleanor for life and she would harbor a constant yearning for unconditional love.

Spending winters at Grandmother Hall's brownstone in New York City and summer at Tivoli-on-the-Hudson, Eleanor was educated by private tutors until 1899. In that year the fifteen-year-old was sent to Allenswood, a finishing school on the outskirts of London. This would mark a turning point in Eleanor's adolescence. The school's headmistress Mlle.Souvestre, an energetic and erudite woman associated with literary, artistic, and

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political circles, took a personal interest in the shy lonely orphaned girl. Through her guidance Eleanor blossomed into an articulate and confident young woman. Eleanor would accompany Mlle. Souvestre on her holiday travels and served as deputy to her classmates. When eighteen-year-old Eleanor Roosevelt returned to New York and her crème de la crème society she had something about her that set her apart from it.

Going to work as a social worker in the East Side slums, Eleanor also taught dance and literature classes to the poor at a settlement house. Unlike those in her class that never thought twice about the less fortunate, Eleanor took a hands-on approach with her deep concern for such people. It was also in 1902 that she became reacquainted with her sixth cousin once removed whom she knew in childhood, Franklin Delano Roosevelt from Hyde Park, New York, then a twenty-year-old junior at Harvard. A strikingly handsome and debonair young man, Eleanor was wooed by his affectionate overtures and they soon began a courtship. Theretofore, Franklin had led a sheltered life owing to his domineering mother Sara Roosevelt, however, through Eleanor he would find a measure of independence. After she took him on her rounds through the run-down East Side tenements, Franklin was awakened to life's other side. His mother resented their courtship deeply and after they became engaged in 1903, she carried him off on a Caribbean cruise in hope of dissuading him. This only caused Franklin's love for Eleanor to grow stronger and she waited for him as well. Following his return, on March 17, 1905, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, twenty-three, and Anna Eleanor Roosevelt, twenty-one, were married at her aunt's townhouse in New York City. Her uncle, President Theodore Roosevelt gave Eleanor away, thus the wedding received national attention.

Despite the marriage, the willful Sara Roosevelt was not about to let go of her son and while Eleanor and Franklin were honeymooning in Europe, she purchased for them a New York townhouse next her her own and furnished it herself-in scoffing display of her lack of confidence in her new daughter-in-law's ability to set up housekeeping of her own accord. Accepting this arrangement was a bitter pill her Eleanor to swallow, but she did not want to make waves for fear of hurting her marriage. Indeed, Eleanor would relinquish much of her independence during the early years of her marriage. At this time, while Franklin was working in a New York law firm, Eleanor would wait on her mother-in-law and spend much time in the New York society that she had always been wary of.

Eleanor would experience motherhood during this period as well. She and Franklin had six children: a daughter Anna (1906-1975); and five sons: James (1907-1991); Franklin Delano, Jr. (died of pneumonia at three months, 1909); Elliott (1910-1990); Franklin Delano, Jr. (1914-1988); and John (1916-1981). In the raising of her own children Eleanor would often submit to her mother-in-law, who doted on her grandchildren just as she did on Franklin. As a result Eleanor would come to feel distant from her children-something she would come to regret deeply. As a father, Franklin proved a fun companion to his children, as they would often go swimming, sailing, and sledding together. However, as the serious issues of parenting go, he was less than effective.

In 1910, Franklin, who had become interested in politics, was elected as a Democrat to the New York State Senate, representing the ironically predominantly Republican

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Dutchess County. The Roosevelts then moved to Albany, through which Eleanor gained some independence from Sara's grasp, was able to be more of a mother to her children, and became interested in politics herself (she frequented the state legislature sessions). Eleanor became friendly with many of her husbands fellow legislators and acted as hostess to the Democratic caucuses held in her own living room-which for her was a "welcome political chore."

In 1913, the newly elected President Woodrow Wilson appointed one of his strongest advocates, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Assistant Secretary of the Navy. The Roosevelt family relocated to Washington, D.C., and an even larger as well as diverse political and social atmosphere. There latter Eleanor was able to transcend with World War I and America's entry to it, during which she volunteered for the Red Cross in the hospitals, at the local canteen, and supervising the knitting of woollies for the Navy (that her husband became a household name for his administration of). This activeness and leadership in civic affairs that Eleanor demonstrated put her back on the road to individuality; a road she had not seen since her days as a social worker in New York City.

In 1918, Eleanor suffered a devastating blow to her marriage when she discovered love letters between Franklin and his social secretary Lucy Mercer. Bravely, she confronted Franklin, demanding that he end the affair and she would file for divorce. Franklin heeded her warning, however, their marriage never fully recovered and hereon Eleanor would be even more determined to be her own woman. Nonetheless, in the presidential election of 1920, she took an active role as a political collaborator for Franklin in his unsuccessful run for the vice presidency. Additionally, Eleanor became involved in the League of Women Voters as vice president of the New York branch, the Women's Trade Union League as a member, and the Women's Division of the Democratic Party as a member. Through this work she was able to fight for many controversial issues of the day, such as the right of women to vote (gained in 1920), better working conditions for women, and women's rights in general.

Eleanor and Franklin's marriage would be tested again in 1921, when while vacationing at the Roosevelt summer home on Campobello Island, New Brunswick, Canada, Franklin contracted polio that left his legs paralyzed. His mother urged him to retire to Hyde Park and become a country squire. But through Eleanor's steadfast encouragement Franklin gradually returned to politics stronger than he had even been before and with Eleanor as his inseparable right arm. For this role Eleanor was coached by Louis Howe, her husband's secretary, from whom she learned the art of public speaking, overcoming her shyness in the process. Franklin's political comeback was confirmed in 1924, when he publicly appeared on crutches at the Democratic national convention to nominate Governor Alfred E. Smith of New York for President- a spectacular return for which he was indebted to Eleanor.

Although she was Franklin's political surrogate Eleanor did not diminish as an individual. In 1926, she was co-founder of a furniture factory in Val-Kill, N.Y. to aid the unemployed. This industry was later expanded in scope to encompass pewter and weaving work. Franklin, who in that same year bought 1,200 acres in Warm Springs, Ga.

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(which included a pool of mineral water in which he would go swimming to soothe crippled legs), was impressed with Eleanor's initiative and encouraged her and her friends Nancy Cook and Marion Dickerman to build a stone house to use as living quarters. Through this Val-Kill became Eleanor's own little haven where she could pursue her own interests as well as live her own life. Indeed, she was far more at home at Val-Kill than at Hyde Park, where because of Sara she never truly felt comfortable.

In 1927, Eleanor and Marion Dickerman purchased Todhunter, a private school for girls in New York City. Recalling Mlle. Souvestre and how she had helped her, Eleanor took an active role in the school as both assistant principal and a teacher of history and government. In both capacities-especially the latter-Eleanor found much enjoyment and was surprisingly adept without a college degree.

When Franklin was elected Governor of New York in 1928, Eleanor remained determined to maintain her pursuits that made her an important civic leader. Still, as her state's first lady she was significantly active: answering letter from New York residents, performing inspections of state institutions, and traveling the state on fact-finding mission for Franklin. Each of these tasks that Eleanor performed would give Franklin the groundwork for the progressive legislation that enabled him to win reelection in 1930 and become a front runner for the Democratic nomination in the presidential election of 1932. Inasmuch as Eleanor fought the entrapment of the governor's mansion, in these four years she did much to mold her husband's career for a greater accomplishment as well as her own.

In 1932 when Franklin won the presidency, Eleanor viewed the upcoming White House with apprehension. Having been away from the Washington scene for twelve years, understandably she dreaded losing all that she had worked for to make a name for herself. Yes, Eleanor Roosevelt could never have imagined that when she became first lady on March 4, 1933, that she would become responsible for the role of first lady never being the same again.

As first lady Eleanor held weekly press conferences exclusively with women reporters as a way to not only discuss current issues, but to promote jobs for women in the media. She traveled on the lecture circuit to explain the objectives of the New Deal, Franklin's program to provide recovery from the Depression. In this Eleanor became a major attractions she performed such public speaking on the radio as well. (Hence, she had come a long way as far as public appearances were concerned). Beginning in 1935 she wrote a daily syndicated column called "My Day" in which she addressed issues of concern to her. While Eleanor also performed rudimentary tasks of a first lady such as hostess to White receptions and state dinners, her aforementioned work luckily overshadowed such mediocre duties of her position.

Eleanor was particularly concerned with the affects of the Depression on America's youth. She asserted that the economic turmoil left young men and women unable to either begin or complete formal education, without jobs to compensate, and without essential occupational training in either case. She persuaded Franklin to create a program to aid

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rural and urban youth, both male and female. Formed in 1935, the National Youth Administration (NYA) provided financial aid to students in high school, college, and graduate school, and job training to young people who were out of school. Eleanor took an active role in the NYA as adviser to its administrators and spokeswoman for the program.

Eleanor's work in behalf of the younger generation brought into association with the American Youth Congress, an organization made up of young intellectuals who advocated civil rights, housing, and jobs-all of which were issues of concern to Eleanor. Though the AYC had strong communist ties, Eleanor worked closely with them until 1939 when the AYC supported the Nazi-Soviet nonaggression pact. By this time she was seriously committed to anti fascism and saw that agreement as appeasement.

Eleanor took an active interest in the subject of civil rights for black Americans. Being a Democrat, Franklin needed to approach the subject pragmatically since his party was dominated by Southerners who were often both segregationists and white supremacists. Eleanor however was very open in her approach: she worked closely with the NAACP and the National Council of Negro Women and she was instrumental in the creation of the integrated Southern Tenant Farmers Association in 1934 and the Southern Conference on Human Welfare held in Birmingham, Ala. in 1938. But perhaps it was Eleanor's resignation from the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1939, in protest against the group's barring the black singer Marian Anderson from performing at Constitution Hall that was her greatest act in behalf of the racially discriminated.

Although Eleanor supported, as well as was instrumental in Franklin winning reelection to a second term in 1936, she had initial misgivings about his running for an unprecedented third term in 1940, for she felt the presidency needed revitalization to be effective. However, she came to accept Franklin's decision and vigorously supported him to victory.

By this time World War II had begun and the United States was in a precarious situation. While Eleanor herself deplored violence she soon realized that it was the only alternative to stopping the rise of fascism across the globe. During the Spanish Civil War she implored Franklin to lift the arms embargo against the Loyalist forces and after Franco's victory at Madrid she felt she had not been persuasive enough. After France fell to the Nazis in 1940, she backed Franklin's moves toward rearmament of the United States. Then in 1941 Franklin appointed Eleanor assistant director of the Office of Civilian Defense (OCD), in which capacity she would oversee civilian volunteer participation and community organization in behalf of the war effort. For Eleanor this was a personal triumph as well for this was her first position as a public official. It was unfortunate that once the United States entered World War II with the bombing of Pearl Harbor by Japan later that year, Eleanor endured scathing criticism for her appointments to the OCD. This came from ultraconservative isolationist members of Congress who alleged Eleanor was appointing affluent liberals whom although they outwardly supported United States participation in the war, actually desired to avoid the draft and by working for an administrative agency such as the OCD could be exempt. Rather than prolong the

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controversy which could come back to haunt Franklin who appointed her, in addition to jeopardizing the war effort, Eleanor tendered her resignation.

The OCD failure in actuality permitted Eleanor to contribute to the war itself in terms of troop morale. In October 1942, Eleanor became the first first lady to travel abroad solo and to fly the Atlantic when she visited U.S. troops in Great Britain, who greeted her by shouting: "Hi, Eleanor." Then in 1943, she visited U.S. troops on the front line in the South Pacific and would maintain a correspondence with many afterward. Despite this hands-on work, Eleanor never developed any liking for war and constantly feared for her sons who were serving in World War II-which in fact was why she took such a personal interest.

In September 1944, Eleanor accompanied Franklin to Quebec, where he discussed with Winston Churchill the plans for the final defeat of Germany and Japan. Here Eleanor spoke in favor of the Morgenthau Plan which outlined the dismantling of German industries and transforming the country into a pastoral paradise. This plan never saw fruition. It was also in this year that Eleanor once again backed Franklin in his successful bid for a fourth term.

Eleanor's twelve years as first lady and her forty year marriage came to a simultaneous end on April 12, 1945, when President Franklin Delano Roosevelt died suddenly of a cerebral hemorrhage at Warm Springs at the age of sixty-three. At the time Eleanor was in Washington and immediately flew to Georgia where upon her arrival her grief and devastation was deepened by learning that Lucy Mercer Rutherford was with Franklin at his death, that despite his promise he had resumed the affair at some point, and that her daughter Anna had been assisting her father in covering it up (it would be years before Eleanor fully forgave Anna).

Eleanor would look back on her marriage with rue: "He might have been happier with a wife who was completely uncritical. That I was never able to be, and he had to find it in some other people. Nevertheless, I think I sometimes acted as a spur, even though the spurring was not always wanted or welcome." Through it all Eleanor never stopped loving Franklin nor being proud of him. Upon notifying her sons, who were fighting overseas, of their father's death she said: "He did his job to the end as he would want you to do."

Eleanor Roosevelt departed from the White House having charted a whole new frontier for future first ladies. As far as her public life was concerned she figured that the "story was over" and openly expressed such feeling. Eleanor would prove to be quite mistaken in her assumptions for as she had always been more than simply Franklin D. Roosevelt's wife, she was to be more than simply his widow.

In December 1945, President Harry S. Truman appointed Eleanor as a delegate to the first United Nations General Assembly that was held in London. In this she was assigned to Committee III that dealt with humanitarian, social, and cultural issues- each of which she

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was more than qualified to deal with. Through this she helped women world leaders gain proper recognition as UN delegates.

In 1946, Eleanor was appointed by Truman, chairwoman of the UN Human Rights Commission, an eighteen member panel that was part of the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. Eleanor's most notable accomplishment in this position was drafting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on Dec. 10, 1948. This stated that all people are born equal in dignity and rights of life, liberty, security of person. That everyone has equal protection under the law and freedom of thought, conscience, speech, religion, and peaceful assembly. That all people can choose their employment, have the right to decent working conditions, protection against unemployment, and to form unions. All people have the right to participate in the governing of their nations. And above all no person can be denied any of these rights and freedoms on the grounds of race, color, sex, birth, or any other status beyond personal control.

The Declaration was an intermingling of the Bill of Rights, the United States Constitution, as well as the constitutions of several other countries. Through the Declaration, Eleanor was able to carry on Franklin's legacy by applying the Four Freedoms he set forth in 1941, as being what any settlements after World War II should be made according to. These freedoms were of speech, of worship, from want, and from fear. Although Franklin did not live to see the end of World War II, Eleanor kept his vision alive and in unison with her own.

Eleanor took each one of the latter documents and with the Declaration's second article addressed the issues of race, creed, and color on an international basis. Hereon, Eleanor Roosevelt was established as both a modern-day constitutionalist and a world leader.

Eleanor had enormous sympathy for the Jewish refugees from Europe who were victims of the Holocaust. She had long ago outgrown the anti-Semitism prevalent in the upper crust New York society she was raised in, and as a UN delegate saw herself in a position to do much work for the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine. And it was through Eleanor's effort-along with many others-that the state of Israel was established in 1948.

During her tenure with the UN Eleanor attempted to cooperate with the Soviet Union, however, she was met with difficulty when they viewed the Human Rights Declaration as a sign of weakness instead of goodwill. Afterward she resolved that the only effective way to deal with the Soviets was with a grain of salt. Nevertheless, she visited the Soviet Union on goodwill trips in 1957 and 1958.

Foreboding that she would find president-elect Dwight Eisenhower, a Republican, difficult to work with, Eleanor resigned from the United Nations in 1952. But since her heart was still in the institution and its work, Eleanor remained active as an unofficial ambassador traveled to the Middle East, Asia, and Europe in addition to the Soviet Union.

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Eleanor continued to be active in the Democratic Party, and supported Adlai Stevenson for president in the 1952 and 1956 elections. After he declined the nomination in 1960, Eleanor reluctantly backed John F. Kennedy, for he had failed to oppose McCarthyism.

These years of "semi retirement" afforded Eleanor the opportunity to write her memoirs. She had already written an autobiography when she was first lady, This Is My Story (1937); she treated the Roosevelt presidency in This I Remember (1950) and her own later work in On My Own (1958).

In 1960, medical tests revealed Eleanor to be suffering from aplastic anemia. Her condition improved enough for her to accept President Kennedy's reappointment to the United Nations as a delegate to the General Assembly in 1961. On familiar terrain she encouraged the president to negotiate, albeit cautiously, with the Soviet Union (the Berlin Wall had just been constructed), she opposed the Bay of Pigs Invasion, and presided over the Commission on the Status of Women. During 1962 she worked on what was to be her final book Tomorrow Is Now (published posthumously 1963), in which she praised Franklin for his pragmatism in social reform, stating that while she wanted change fast, he always knew what he wanted.

Bothered by a persistent fever, Eleanor entered the Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City on Sept. 26, 1962. She was ultimately diagnosed with bone marrow tuberculosis, but insisted on returning to her New York apartment for out-patient treatment. Here on Nov. 7, 1962, Eleanor Roosevelt lost the battle and died at the age of seventy-eight. She was buried next to Franklin at Hyde Park.

President Kennedy paid tribute to Eleanor Roosevelt by calling her one of the great ladies in the history of this country. In lieu of her worldwide influence that was the least that anyone could say in eulogy of her. For Eleanor Roosevelt was a woman of vigor, vision, and benevolence. She fiercely stood up for what she believed in. She opened her arms to both a husband who needed encouragement and enlightenment and to scores of the downtrodden and destitute. She broke the mold for all first ladies to come and opened numerous opportunities for women in general. Her influence has yet to fade from the scene.

Web Sites:

Eleanor Roosevelt Links

Eleanor Roosevelt National Historic Site

Eleanor Roosevelt Profile

Anna Eleanor Roosevelt - White House First Ladies

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• Rebecca Rouse (1799-1887) - Cleveland humanitarian, temperance advocate, abolitionist,

founder of Beech Brook.

NAME: Rebecca Rouse

DATE OF BIRTH: October 30, 1799

PLACE OF BIRTH: Salem, MA

DATE OF DEATH: December 23, 1887

PLACE OF DEATH: Cleveland, OH. She and her husband are buried in Lake View Cemetery.

FAMILY HISTORY: Her parents were John and Rebecca Elliot Cromwell. In 1821 Rebecca married Benjamin Rouse; they lived in Boston and New York and then settled in Cleveland in 1830. The couple had four children: Benjamin Franklin, Edwin Cooleridge, Ellen Rebecca and George W. Rebecca also gave birth to three other children who died in infancy.

EDUCATION: Rebecca's family educated her in the classics and in religion. She acquired her knowledge through travel.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Rebecca Rouse is known as "the founder of woman's work in Cleveland," a phrase applied to her by Mary Bigelow Ingham. Rebecca Rouse dedicated her life to serving families and children. She did so through her efforts in various organizations: Her work began in the Ladies Tract Society where she visited each home in her village to serve those in need. She became a member of the First Baptist Society and in 1842 she founded and became the first president of the Martha Washington & Dorcas Society. The mission of the Martha Washington Society was to be a family based organization and as such originated the Protestant Orphan Asylum, which later became Beech Brook, where she served as the director. This organization also served to save women new to Cleveland from becoming involved in prostitution.

In June of 1850 Rebecca was one of the founding members of the Cleveland Ladies Temperance Union. Temperance was a popular movement of the day which drew its supporters from Native Americans who viewed immigrants as excessive drinkers; employers who blamed alcohol abuse for poor work performance; doctors who viewed physical and mental health risks with drinking and by woman who looked upon alcohol abuse as a destructive force in families.

In Cleveland, Rebecca's Ladies' Aid Society became the Soldiers' Aid Society. As President, Rouse was responsible for developing its financial base and for distributing large amounts of nursing and living supplies to soldiers in the Civil War. Rouse's efforts

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are memorialized in a bronze panel as part of the Soldiers and Sailors Monument on Cleveland's Public Square.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Adella Hughes Family Papers [Western Reserve Historical Society]

WEB SITES

Rebecca Cromwell Rouse - Encyclopedia of Cleveland History

• Wilma Rudolph (1940-1994) - African-American Olympic Gold Medalist.• Rose Bianco Salvatore (1900-1993) - Italian immigrant during the "Great Wave" coming

to America.

NAME: Wilma Glodean Rudolph

BIRTHDATE: June 23, 1940

BIRTHPLACE: Clarksville, Tennessee

EDUCATION: At first, Wilma was tutored at home by her family because she was crippled. She first began school at the age of seven. In 1947, the schools of the Southern states were segregated -- black students and white students had to attend separate schools. Even though blacks had to pay the same taxes as whites, the schools for black students were usually poorly funded, so they were less likely to have adequate books, teachers, classrooms, or equipment.

In junior high, Wilma followed her older sister Yolanda's example and joined the basketball team. The coach, Clinton Gray, didn't put her in a single game for three years. Finally, in her sophomore year, she became the starting guard. During the state basketball tournament, she was spotted by Ed Temple, the coach for the famous Tigerbells, the women's track team at Tennessee State University. Because Burt High School didn't have the funding for a track team, coach Temple invited Wilma to Tennessee State for a summer sports camp.

After graduating from high school, Wilma received a full scholarship to Tennessee State. Because of all the celebrity she received from her track career, she took a year off from her studies to make appearances and compete in international track events. She returned and received a Bachelor's degree in education, graduating in 1963.

FAMILY BACKGROUND: Wilma Rudolph was born into a large family -- she was the 20th of 22 children! Her parents, Ed and Blanche Rudolph, were honest, hardworking people, but were very poor. Mr. Rudolph worked as a railroad porter and handyman. Mrs. Rudolph did cooking, laundry and housecleaning for wealthy white families.

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In 1940 millions of Americans were poor -- our of work and homeless because of the Great Depression. The Rudolphs managed to make ends meet by doing things like making the girls' dresses out of flour sacks.

Wilma was born prematurely and weighed only 4.5 pounds. Again, because of racial segregation, she and her mother were not permitted to be cared for at the local hospital. It was for whites only. There was only one black doctor in Clarksville, and the Rudolph's budget was tight, so Wilma's mother spent the next several years nursing Wilma through one illness after another: measles, mumps, scarlet fever, chicken pox and double pneumonia. But, she had to be taken to the doctor when it was discovered that her left leg and foot were becoming weak and deformed. She was told she had polio, a crippling disease that had no cure. The doctor told Mrs. Rudolph that Wilma would never walk. But Mrs. Rudolph would not give up on Wilma. She found out that she could be treated at Meharry Hospital, the black medical college of Fisk University in Nashville. Even though it was 50 miles away, Wilma's mother took her there twice a week for two years, until she was able to walk with the aid of a metal leg brace. Then the doctors taught Mrs. Rudolph how to do the physical therapy exercises at home. All of her brothers and sisters helped too, and they did everything to encourage her to be strong and work hard at getting well. Finally, by age 12, she could walk normally, without the crutches, brace, or corrective shoes. It was then that she decided to become an athlete.

In 1963, Wilma married her high school sweetheart, Robert Eldridge, with whom she had four children: Yolanda (1958), Djuanna (1964), Robert Jr. (1965), and Xurry (1971). They later divorced.

DESCRIPTION OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Wilma Rudolph's life is a story of achieving against the odds. Her first accomplishments were to stay alive and get well!

In high school, she became a basketball star first, who set state records for scoring and led her team to a state championship. Then she became a track star, going to her first Olympic Games in 1956 at the age of 16. She won a bronze medal in the 4x4 relay.

On September 7th, 1960, in Rome, Wilma became the first American woman to win 3 gold medals in the Olympics. She won the 100-meter dash, the 200-meter dash, and ran the anchor on the 400-meter relay team.

This achievement led her to become one of the most celebrated female athletes of all time. In addition, her celebrity caused gender barriers to be broken in previously all-male track and field events.

AWARDS

• United Press Athlete of the Year 1960• Associated Press Woman Athlete of the Year 1960• James E. Sullivan Award for Good Sportsmanship 1961 *• The Babe Zaharias Award 1962• European Sportswriters' Sportsman of the Year *• Christopher Columbus Award for Most Outstanding International Sports Personality

1960*• The Penn Relays 1961 *• New York Athletic Club Track Meet *• The Millrose Games *• Black Sports Hall of Fame 1980• U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame 1983

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• Vitalis Cup for Sports Excellence 1983• Women's Sports Foundation Award 1984

* indicates first woman to receive the award/invitation

There were other honors as well. In 1963 she was selected to represent the U. S. State Department as a Goodwill Ambassador at the Games of Friendship in Dakar, Senegal. Later that year she was invited by Dr. Billy Graham to join the Baptist Christian Athletes in Japan.

There was one "first" accomplishment that was more special than any of the others, however. For Wilma, the fact that she insisted that her homecoming parade in Clarksville, Tennessee be open to everyone and not a segregated event as was the usual custom. Her victory parade was the first racially integrated event ever held in the town. And that night, the banquet the townspeople held in her honor, was the first time in Clarksville's history that blacks and whites had ever gathered together for the same event. She went on to participate in protests in the city until the segregation laws were struck down.

After retiring from track competition, Wilma returned to Clarksville to live. She taught at her old school, Cobb Elementary, and was the track coach at her alma mater, Burt High School. She replaced her old coach, Clinton Gray, who, tragically, had been killed in an auto accident. But small town life proved to be too conservative after all her worldly experiences. She moved on to coaching positions, first in Maine, and then, Indiana. She was invited to be the guest speaker at dozens of schools and universities. She also went into broadcasting and became a sports commentator on national television and the co-host of a network radio show.

In 1967 Vice-President Hubert Humphrey invited Wilma to participate in "Operation Champ," an athletic outreach program for underprivileged youth in the ghettoes of 16 major cities. She started her own non-profit organization, The Wilma Rudolph Foundation, to continue this kind of work. The foundation provided free coaching in a variety of sports, and academic assistance and support as well.

In 1977 she wrote her autobiography, simply titled, "Wilma." It was adapted as a television movie; Wilma worked on it as a consultant.

In 1997, Governor Don Sundquist proclaimed June 23 as Wilma Rudolph Day in Tennessee.

DATE OF DEATH: Saturday, November 12, 1994, at the age of 54.

PLACE OF DEATH: Wilma died in her home in Nashville, Tennessee. She had been in and out of hospitals for several months after brain cancer was diagnosed. Leroy Walker, president of the U.S. Olympic Committee, said, "All of us recognize that this is obviously a tremendous loss. Wilma was still very much involved with a number of Olympic programs. It's a tragic loss. She was struck with an illness that, unfortunately, we can't do very much about."

READING:

Wilma by Wilma Rudolph. New York: New American Library, 1977.

Wilma Unlimited: How Wilma Rudolph Became the World's Fastest Woman by Kathleen Krull; illustrated by David Diaz. San Diego: Harcourt Brace, c1996.

WEB SITES:

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• Wilma Rudolph - National Women's Hall of Fame • Wilma Rudolph and the TSU Tigerbelles - Leaders of Afro-American Nashville [pdf] • Rudolph ran and the world went wild - ESPN.com• Wilma Rudolph : Gale Free Resources - Black History Month• Wilma Rudolph : White House Dream Team

• Belle Sherwin (1868-1955) - Cleveland suffragist, President of League of Women Voters,

social reformer.

NAME: Belle Sherwin

DATE OF BIRTH: March 20, 1869

PLACE OF BIRTH: Cleveland, Ohio

DATE OF DEATH: July 9, 1955

PLACE OF DEATH: Cleveland, Ohio

FAMILY HISTORY: Belle Sherwin was the daughter of Henry Alden Sherwin, founder of the Sherwin-Williams Company and Frances Mary Smith. She never married.

EDUCATION: Belle Sherwin graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Wellesley College in 1890 with a B.S. degree and then attended Oxford University to study history for one year from 1894-95. Western Reserve University granted her an honorary degree in 1930; Denison University gave her an honorary degree in 1931 and Oberlin College granted her one in 1937.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: After Oxford, she taught history for four years at St. Margaret's and Miss Hersey's School for Girls, a private school in Boston. After teaching in Boston, Belle returned to Cleveland in 1900 and became the first President of the Consumers League of Ohio. Prior to World War I, Sherwin was active in various social welfare groups such as the Visiting Nurses Association and the Federation for Charity and Philanthropy and the Council for Social Agencies. After World War I, Sherwin became the director of the Cleveland Welfare Federation. Next she became the Vice President of the National League of Women Voters from 1921-24 and became its President from 1924-34, the position which earned her much of her reputation as a dedicated suffragist leader. She was also on the board of the National Urban League, founded in 1918.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Belle Sherwin Papers, Radcliffe College. [Western Reserve Historical Society]

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Sherwin, Belle. Among the Pillars of Society: Address of the President, Miss Belle Sherwin at the Meeting of the General Council of the National League of Women Voters, Washington, D.C. April 14, 1931. Washington, D.C.: National League of Women Voters, 1931. [Cleveland Public Library]

Knapp, Betsy. The Awkward Age in Civil Service. Washington, D.C.: National League of Women Voters, 1940. [Cleveland Public Library]

National League of Women Voters (U.S.). Ten Years of Growth; Address of the President, Miss Belle Sherwin, to the Tenth Anniversary Convention of the National League of Women Voters, Louisville, Kentucky, April 28-May 3, 1930. Supplemented by a chronology and by charts. Washington, D.C.: 1930.

Sherwin, Henry Alden. Bibliotheca Piscatoria; the Library of the Late Henry Alden Sherwin, Cleveland, Ohio, Sold By Order of Miss Belle Sherwin and Mrs. O. W. Prescott, Executrixes of His State. New York: Parke-Bernet Galleries, Inc., 1946.

WEB SITES :

Belle Sherwin - Encyclopedia of Cleveland History

Photo - American Memory, Library of Congress

The Story of the League of Women Voters

League of Women Voters Timeline

This page may be cited as:

• Margaret Skapes (1892-1968) - Immigrant from Greece, suffragette.

NAME: Margaret Skapes (Arhondula Skapetorahis)

BIRTH DATE: March, 1892

BIRTH PLACE: Doumenia, Patras, Greece

EDUCATION: Middle school/high school - 5 years in Greece. She was taught to read, write and speak English in New York in 1917. Thereafter, she was self-educated and also learned from her children's textbooks and materials from the public library.

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FAMILY BACKGROUND: Arhondula's father, Thanassi Panayotocopoulos, was a fairly successful traveling tool salesman. He owned several hundred acres of farmland in Doumenia and had a summer home in the seaport city of Patras. He married Eleni, whose last name has been lost to current generations. They had four daughters and a son. The children's names were Arhondula, Frosini, Paraskevi and Panayioli (male). The other female child died in infancy. Arhondula was the oldest of the daughters and the most spirited, independent and bright. She insisted on going to school and would not be content to play the role of dutiful daughter or wife that Greek, Victorian society had designated for her. She was on a constant quest to find ways to escape her fate. The role of promised bride, obedient, uneducated and instant mother, subservient to the males of her family, and confined to the small-mindedness of her village, made her rebellious and a disgrace to her mother. Whe was determined that somehow, someday she would escape. Her mother, unbeknownst to her, arranged a marriage for her to a family that would overlook Arhondula's outspokenness for the right amount of dowry. When Arhondula found out she flew into a rage, but not before berating her mother and future mother-in-law. She even attempted to wound the would-be groom as he hastily exited her father's home. She worked out a plan with her older brother, Panayioti, to go to America as soon as her brother, who would precede her, could send her a ticket. So began her odyssey for freedom.

DESCRIPTION OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Arhondula received an education in Greece, much to her mother's chagrin. She did escape to America to live with her brother and a cousin for three years before marrying. She secretly worked as a seamstress in the garment district of New York to save money to move on if she felt so inclined. While working, she hired a woman to teach her how to read, write and speak English. She was determined not to be considered a "dumb foreigner."

She also joined forces with the suffragettes in New York to work for the equality of women. She marched in their parades and protested wherever they need her. Her family still has the cape and flag that she carried in those marches.

Love had entered her life and when she decided that the time had come to consider marriage she did two very significant things. First, she told her beloved that she would not marry him until women got the vote. She wanted to be assured that she would have the backing of the laws of the United States of America in any actions that prior to the vote would not have been possible. Secondly, she designed a marriage contract that stipulated that she was to be her husband's full partner in any business ventures he had or would have. In the contract also, was a provision that stated, should she have any daughters, they too would be entitled to the same shares in the businesses as the sons, and that the girls would have a college education, should they so desire.

When she settled in Cleveland, she became a leader in the Greek community. She helped found the first school to teach English to Greek immigrants. The school also had Greek classes for the children born in America so they would not lose their cultural heritage. At the school they also taught job skills and networked to provide employment for newcomers.

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During the Depression she and her children organized the wealthy Greeks to donate food, money and clothing to the poor in the neighborhood. World War II saw her organize the Greek women into a volunteer force for the Red Cross. She would march them downtown to roll bandages, knit, sew and cook for the Red Cross.

She also taught herself how to drive by rolling the car out of the driveway in the dead of night, pushing it down the street and then starting its engine. This was one thing that her husband insisted that she not attempt due to her small size (she was only 4 feet, 8 inches tall and weighed about 95 pounds). He truly feared that the cars would "strain" her. Also, her fiery temperament may have been a factor he might have considered negative to driving etiquette. In any case, he should have known better than to tell her she could not do something.

She became an American citizen long before her husband did and claimed it to be her proudest accomplishment. She did send her daughter to college and encouraged her to take flying lessons in order to help the war effort. When she arrived in America, the immigration officers at Ellis Island gave her a new American name because they could not pronounce, let alone spell her Greek name. Margaret Peterson. After her marriage she took on the anglicized form of her husband's name Skapes. She refused to be called by any other name the rest of her life -- she was an American. The family members returned to Greece frequently to visit family and friends, but not Margaret. America was her home.

DATE OF DEATH: July, 1968

PLACE OF DEATH: Cleveland, Ohio. She is buried at Saint Theodosius Cemetery

PREVIOUSLY PORTRAYED BY: Sophia Mastrandreas-Dadas, Margaret's granddaughter.

• Bessie Smith (1894-1937) - African-American blues singer.

Bessie Smith

[Extended Profile]

BIRTH DATE: April 15, 1894?

BIRTHPLACE: Chattanooga, Tenn.

EDUCATION: Little or none.

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FAMILY BACKGROUND: Born into poverty, little is known of Bessie Smith's early life.

DESCRIPTION OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Known as the "Empress of the Blues," Bessie Smith revolutionized the vocal end of blues music in the 1920s with her rich voice and has influenced generations of musicians.

After singing with "Ma" Rainey's Rabbit Foot Minstrels traveling show for several years, Bessie Smith went solo and signed with Columbia Records. Her songs, the best known of which included "Down Hearted Blues," "Gulf Coast Blues," "Jealous Hearted Blues," and "Cold in Hand Blues," were about poverty, oppression, and unrequited love and touched the hearts of thousands. Her records sold excellently and she became a major attraction in vaudeville.

Changing tastes in music as well as alcoholism caused Bessie Smith's career to fade out by the end of the 1920s. Nevertheless, her singing talent did not diminish. From 1933 she was gradually making a comeback with a recording session and an appearance at the Apollo Theater. This was all cut short by her tragic death in an automobile accident.

DATE OF DEATH: Sept. 26, 1937, age 43? (of injuries sustained in an automobile accident).

PLACE OF DEATH: Clarksdale, Miss.

PORTRAYED BY: Madelyn Sanders

WEB SITES:

• Blue Flame Cafe - Bessie Smith• Reflections Of 1920's And 30's Street Life In The Music Of Bessie Smith • Blues Online - Bessie Smith• Red Hot Jazz Archive

[Extended Profile]

Extended Profile [Brief Profile]

(b.April 15, 1894?, Chattanooga, Tenn.-d.Sept. 26, 1937, Clarksdale, Miss.)

The prestigious title of the "Empress of the Blues" eternally rests on the graceful shoulders of Bessie Smith, a pioneer in the vocal side of the blues music genre. With her distinctively potent voice and eye-catching delivery and appearance, she set trends in music entertainment that live on along with her own recordings.

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Bessie Smith was born into a poverty stricken black family in the segregated south. The precise date of her birth is unknown, and while most accounts list 1894, others state 1898 or 1900; however, April 15 remains the same as her birthday. She began singing at the age of nine on the street corners of Chattanooga and in 1912 joined the Rabbit Foot Minstrels traveling show led by the legendary blues singer Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, to whom Bessie would become a protégé.

After performing in saloons and small theaters throughout the south, Bessie signed with Columbia Records and scored a major hit with the records "Down Hearted Blues" and "Gulf Coast Blues." Her more than 150 recordings that followed, some of which sold 100,000 copies in a week, propelled her to fame and immortality. She toured regularly in 1920s, particularly in vaudeville, often with such jazz greats as Louis Armstrong, Fletcher "Smack" Henderson, James P. Johnson, and Benny Goodman. Although she primarily performed to black audiences, Bessie did find popularity among whites as well. Among her other successful songs were "Jealous Hearted Blues," "Jailhouse Blues," "Cold in Hand Blues," and a version of Irving Berlin's "Alexander's Ragtime Band." Most of her songs had themes of poverty, oppression, and unrequited love, that her rich voice was perfect to deliver the mournfulness of and strike a chord in the heart of the listener.

As well as singing Bessie, with her tall, upright, and strikingly beautiful features, was effective at acting, appearing in the 1929 motion picture short St. Louis Blues. It was unfortunate that at this time her career fell into a sharp decline. This was mostly the result of changing trends in music, however, Bessie's long-standing alcoholism played its part as as record producers found her very difficult to work with. Nonetheless, her singing ability remained as exceptional as always. This was exemplified in a recording session (her last) in 1933 during which she created another signature song entitled "Gimme a Pigfoot." Then in 1935 she appeared to great acclaim at the Apollo Theater in Harlem.

Indeed, Bessie Smith was in the process of a comeback at the time of her tragic death at age forty-three. On Sept. 26, 1937, she was critically injured while on her way to a singing engagement, when the car being driven by her boyfriend Richard Morgan in which she was a passenger crashed into a truck on a road in Mississippi. According to legend segregation led to her death when a white hospital first refused her admission and by the time she arrived at a black hospital in Clarksdale, Miss., it was too late to save her and she bled to death. Although much has been said to dispute this claim, it is not implausible considering that this was the segregated south. The playwright Edward Albee dramatized the account in his 1960 play The Death of Bessie Smith.

Because she had not yet recaptured her former glory, Bessie Smith basically died a has-been. While seven thousand people attended her funeral, she was buried in an unmarked grave in Mount Lawn Cemetery in Philadelphia.

However, in the decades that followed her fame quadrupled along with her record sales, as her music was continually rediscovered. Her popularity among white listeners in particular was monumental in comparison to her lifetime. Many later musicians were

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influenced by her work, such as singer Janis Joplin, through whose efforts Bessie Smith finally received a headstone. The music world owed her that-and much more.

PORTRAYED BY: Madelyn Sanders

WEB SITES:

Blue Flame Cafe - Bessie Smith Reflections of 1920's and 30's Street Life in the Music of Bessie Smith Blues Online - Bessie Smith Red Hot Jazz Archive

• Valaida Snow (190?-1956) - African-American band leader and trumpet player.

NAME: Valaida Snow

BIRTHDATE: c. June 2, 1903/05/09

BIRTH PLACE: Chattanooga, Tennessee

DATE OF DEATH: May 30, 1956

PLACE OF DEATH: New York, New York

FAMILY BACKGROUND: Valaida Snow was born into a family of musicians: Her mother taught Valaida, her sisters Alvaida and Hattie, and her brother, Arthur Bush, how to play multiple instruments. Valaida and all her siblings became professional musicians. Valaida married twice: first, to dancer Ananias Berry from the Berry Brothers dancing troupe and then to performer and producer Earle Edwards.

EDUCATION: Valaida Snow was taught by her mother to play cello, bass, violin, banjo, mandolin, harp, accordion, clarinet, saxophone and trumpet.

DESCRIPTION OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS: It was natural for Valaida Snow to be an entertainer: at the young age of fifteen, she was already a recognized professional singer and trumpet player. While Valaida Snow's beauty attracted audiences, it was her incredible talent as a jazz trumpeter which truly captivated them. She obtained the nickname, "Little Louis" due to her Louis Armstrong-like playing style. Valaida toured and recorded frequently in the United States, Europe and the Far East both with her own bands and other leaders' bands. During the years 1930 through 1950 Alvaida could be seen with various jazz greats: With her sister, Lavaida, a

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singer, she performed in the Far East with drummer Jack Carter's jazz octet. She took part in a session with Earl Hines in New York in 1933 and also performed with Count Basie, Teddy Weatheford, Willie Lewis and Fletcher Henderson at various places and times.

As an actress, she debuted on Broadway in 1942 as Mandy in Eubie Blake and Noble Sissles's musical Chocolate Dandies. Later, she appeared on Broadway in Ethel Waters' show, Rhapsody in Black in 1934; she appeared in the London production of Blackbirds in 1935 with Johnny Claes and also in its Paris production. She could be seen in Liza across Europe and Russia in the 30's and was also in the Hollywood films Take It from Me in 1937, Irresistible You and L'Alibi and Pieges in 1939 with her husband Ananais Berry.

After headlining at the Apollo Theater in New York, Valaida returned to Europe and the Far East to perform. World War II had begun and Valaida was arrested by the Germans for theft and misuse of drugs. She was held for 18 months between 1940 and 1942 at Wester-Faengle, a Nazi concentration camp. She was subsequently released as an exchange prisoner in unstable health. Although this imprisonment greatly affected her physical and psychological health, she resumed performing and appeared at several prestigious engagements. It was at this time that she married producer Earl Edwards.

In the 1930's Valaida Snow's style was characterized by a contagious energy and spark. The 1940's showed a Valaida with a deep blues feeling known and admired for her tremendous breadth and depth of talent. Her rare talent was as much a curiosity as it was admired: as a woman, she was an aberration in a male dominated jazz world. She made her last performance at the Palace Theater in New York in 1956 and died that year on May 30th of a cerebral hemorrhage.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Carr, I., D. Fairweather, and B. Priestley. Jazz: The Essential Companion. 1988.Dahl, Linda. Stormy Weather: The Music and Lives of a Century of Jazzwomen. 1984.Handy, D. Antoinette. Black Women in American Bands and Orchestras. 1981 Placksin, Sally. American Women in Jazz, 1900 to the Present: Their Words, Lives and Music. 1982. Reed, Bill. Hot from Harlem : Profiles in Classic African-American Entertainment. Los Angeles : Cellar Door Books, 1998. Sampson, Henry T. Blacks in Blackface: A Source Book on Early Black Musical Shows. Metuchen: New Jersey, 1980.

DISCOGRAPHY: Harlem Comes to London. DRG Records SW 8444 Swing, 1929-38 Hot Snow: Valaida Snow, Queen of the Trumpet, Sings and Swings. Rosetta Records RR 1305 Rosetta Records, 1937-50 I Got Rhythm. Parl F1048, 1937 My Heart Belongs to Daddy. Sonora 3557, 1939 Swing is the Thing, World. EMI SH 354, 1936-37 Valaida: High Hat, Trumpet and Rhythm. World EMI SH 309

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WEB SITES:

Valaida Snow: Stranger Than Fiction

Orchids in Snow: The Life and Music of Valaida Snow (includes sketch)

Valaida Snow: Queen of the Trumpet (includes picture)

• Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902) First president of the National Woman's Suffrage Association.

WEB SITES

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

About Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Elizabeth Cady Stanton House

• Belle Starr (1848-1889) - Confederate sympathizer and western frontierswoman and outlaw.

FULL NAME: Myra Belle Shirley

BIRTH DATE: Feb. 5, 1848.

BIRTHPLACE: Carthage, Mo.

EDUCATION: Attended the Carthage Female Academy, where she excelled in reading, spelling, grammar, arithmetic, deportment, Greek, Latin, Hebrew, and music-learning to play the piano.

FAMILY BACKGROUND: Father John Shirley was a wealthy Carthage innkeeper, mother Elizabeth "Eliza" Hatfield Shirley was descended from the Hatfield end of the infamous Hatfield and McCoy family feud in the West Virginia-Kentucky region. Belle moved with her family to Sycene, Texas shortly before Carthage was burned to the ground by Confederate guerillas during the Civil War in 1864. That same year her older brother John "Bud" Shirley, who fought for the Confederacy with William C. Quantrill's guerillas, was killed by Union troops in Sarcoxie, Mo.

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DESCRIPTION OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS: In the legendary period of American history known as the Old West, the law of the whole nation had yet to tame that frontier which was spottily settled. This resulted in lawlessness seen in the personage of those known as outlaws-lawbreakers whose notorious reputations often exceeded their very person to mythical proportions. Belle Starr was one such outlaw. From her association with outlaws such as Jesse James and the Younger brothers, she reached a level of fantastic notoriety that today leaves the facts of her life not always distinguishable from the fiction.

As a teenager during the Civil War, Belle Shirley reported the positions of Union troops to Confederacy. One of her childhood friends in Missouri was Cole Younger, who served in Quantrill's guerillas with Jesse and Frank James. After the war these men (and later Cole's three brothers, among others) turned to outlawry, primarily that of robbery of banks, trains, stagecoaches, and people. In their flights from lawmen they would sometimes hide out at the Shirley farm, through which Belle became very tight with the James and Younger gangs. Their influence would be part of the reason Belle would turn to crime herself.

In 1866, Belle married James C. "Jim" Reed, a former guerilla whom she had known since her childhood in Carthage. Their daughter Rosie Lee "Pearl" (who was later rumored to be Cole Younger's child) was born in 1868 and their son James Edwin "Ed" was born in 1871. While Jim initially tried his hand at farming, he would grow restless and fell in with bad company in that of the Starr clan, a Cherokee Indian family notorious for whiskey, cattle, and horse thievery in the Indian Territory (now Oklahoma), as well as his wife's old friends the James and Younger gangs. Then in 1869, Jim shot in cold blood the man who supposedly accidentally shot his brother in a quarrel. Wanted by the law, he fled to California with Belle and Pearl in tow. Here two years later Jim again ran afoul of the law for passing counterfeit money and with Belle, Pearl, and newborn son Ed fled to Texas.

In November 1873, Jim Reed with two other men robbed Watt Grayson, a wealthy Creek Indian farmer in the Indian Territory, of $30,000 in gold coins. Belle was named as an accomplice, however, there was very little proof of her involvement. Nonetheless, they both went into hiding from the law in Texas: Jim in the town of Paris and Belle and the children with her family in Sycene. Allegedly, she took Pearl and Ed and went to Dallas, where she lived off the gold from the Grayson robbery. She wore buckskins and moccasins or tight black jackets, black velvet skirts, high-topped boots, a man's Stetson hat with an ostrich plume, and twin holstered pistols. She spent much her time in saloons, drinking and gambling at dice, cards, and roulette. At times she would ride her horse through the streets shooting off her pistols. This wild behavior was among what gave rise to her rather exaggerated image as a pistol-wielding outlaw.

In April 1874, Jim held up the Austin-San Antonio stagecoach and robbed the passengers of about $2,500. A price of $7,000 was placed on his head and he went into hiding. The law caught up with him near Paris, Texas on Aug. 6, 1874, when Jim Reed was shot to death while trying to escape from the custody of a deputy sheriff.

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The young widow of an outlaw, Belle left Texas, put her children in the care of relatives, and took up with the Starr clan in the Indian Territory west of Fort Smith, Arkansas. Here Belle immersed herself in outlawry: organizing, planning and fencing for the rustlers, horse thieves and bootleggers, as well as harboring them from the law. Belle's illegal enterprises proved lucrative enough for her to employ bribery to free her cohorts from the law whenever they were caught. When she was unable to buy off the lawmen, she was known to seduce them into looking the other way. All of the aforementioned confirmed Belle's status as an outlaw and her reputation would supersede her with the sensationalistic writing of the day. During this period she married Samuel Starr, a member of the infamous Starr clan, in 1880.

Judge Isaac C. Parker, a.k.a., "The Hanging Judge," of Fort Smith became obsessed with bringing Belle Starr to justice, but she eluded him at every turn. Then in 1882, charges of horse theft were brought against Belle and Sam by one of their neighbors in the Indian Territory. The jury returned a guilty verdict for each and in March 1883, Judge Parker sentenced Belle and Sam to a year in the House of Correction in Detroit, Mich. During her prison term Belle proved to be a model prisoner and won the respect of the prison matron, whereas Sam was more incorrigible and was assigned to hard labor. Nevertheless, they were both released after nine months and returned to the Indian Territory. In fact Belle proved not to have been reformed at all by prison for she-as well as Sam-almost immediately returned to their villainous ways. Belle's unrepentant attitude was best expressed in a comment to a Dallas newspaper reporter: "I am a friend to any brave and gallant outlaw."

Over the next several years Belle Starr would continue to find herself arrested for charges of robbery, however, Judge Parker would be forced to release her for lack of evidence. A particularly memorable such arrest was in 1886, when Belle was charged with robbing a post office while dressed as a man. That same year Sam Starr was killed by a longtime family nemesis. Shortly afterward Belle provided the legal counsel for Bluford "Blue" Duck, a Cherokee Indian indicted for murdering a farm hand. To Judge Parker's ire, the death sentence he imposed was commuted to life imprisonment. And in 1888, when her son Ed was arrested for horse theft, her lawyers contacted President Grover Cleveland, who overturned Judge Parker's seven-year prison sentence with a full pardon.

The notoriously unlawful life of Belle Starr came to a violent end on Feb. 3, 1889, two days short of her forty-first birthday. While riding from the general store to her ranch near Eufaula, Okla., Belle was killed by a shotgun blast to the back. Suspects included Edgar Watson, with whom Belle had been feuding over the land he was renting from her (Watson was a fugitive and Belle had been told by the authorities that she would lose all of her land if caught harboring fugitives and for once she was obeying), her lover a Cherokee named Jim July with whom she had recently had a quarrel, and her son Ed, with whom she had had a strained relationship. However, the identity of the murderer of Belle Starr was never identified. Belle Starr was buried on her ranch with a marble headstone on which was engraved a bell, her horse, a star and the epitaph written by her daughter Pearl which reads:

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"Shed not for her the bitter tear, Nor give the heart to vain regret; 'Tis but the casket that lies here,

The gem that filled it sparkles yet."

Even in her lifetime Belle Starr had become a legend through the yellow journalism of her day. This status would be reinforced through the years by-in addition to the press-dime novel literature and the Hollywood motion picture industry. The result is that today historians continue attempting to decipher the facts of Belle Starr's life from the fiction.

DATE OF DEATH: Feb. 3, 1889, age 40 (shot to death).

PLACE OF DEATH: near Eufaula, Okla.

PORTRAYED BY:

WEB SITES:

• History Site Index: Belle Starr • Article from Wild West: "Bandit Queen Belle Starr" • Wild West Women: Belle Starr • The Ballad of Belle Starr

• Susan McKinney Steward (1848-1918) - First female African-American doctor in New York State.

FULL NAME: Susan Maria Smith McKinney Steward

DATE OF BIRTH: March 1847

PLACE OF BIRTH: Brooklyn, New York

FAMILY BACKGROUND: Susan Maria Smith was the seventh of ten children born to Sylvanus and Anne Springsteel Smith. She was a mix of European, African and Shinnecock Indian heritage. Prosperous pork merchants, her parents were civically active and socialized among the elite of Brooklyn's Black community.

EDUCATION: No data was available on Susan's early education, except that she studied the organ under John Zundel and Henry Eyre Brown. Through this, she became the organist and chorister at Brooklyn's Siloam Presbyterian Church and the Bridge Street African Methodist Episcopal Church. In 1867, she entered the New York Medical College for Women, graduating three years later as class valedictorian. She later did postgraduate work at Long Island College Hospital.

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ACCOMPLISHMENTS: In an era when ladies either stayed at home as wives and mothers, or became teachers, Susan flaunted gender and racial stereotypes -- and the prevailing opinion that medicine was the domain of men -- to become the first African-American female doctor in New York, and the third in the nation. (Her two predecessors were Rebecca Lee, who graduated from the New England Female Medical College in 1864, and Rebecca J. Cole, who graduated from the Woman's Medical College in Philadelphia in 1867.) At that time, men openly taunted women who attempted to become doctors and the general public considered female physicians 'unsexed.'

Why did Susan choose this path? Probably her shock at the untimely deaths of two brothers during the Civil War and the New York cholera epidemic of 1866. Susan nursed a sick neice during this epidemic that killed over 1,100 people. The experience must have stirred her compassion and her resolve to help people. She must have also had a great deal of pride and determination to strive beyond the expected limitations of black women at that time.

The New York Medical College for Women opened in November 1863, founded by Dr. Clemence Sophia Lozier, a wealthy abolitionist. Susan became a close friend of Clemence, who also was Susan's mentor, and remained so until Clarence's death in 1888. This was a homeopathic medical school; homeopathy is a type of treatment that contains some of the same germs that makes a person ill.

Susan was selected by fellow students and faculty to be the 1870 class valedictorian. She earned this honor by studying at all hours, especially when her classmates slept. She also refused to let the taunting of male medical students during shared clinic hours at Bellevue Hospital deter her. Despite her achievement, New York newspapers did not print her valedictory. The one paper that did mention it, the Courier, only wrote about her hair and clothing -- expressing hope that her "modest attire" was a "good sign of the improvement of the African race."

After graduation, Susan established her medical practice in her Brooklyn home. It was slow to start, but soon word spread about her skill. Her patients grew more diverse: young and old, Black and white, poor and rich. Her patients affectionately called her "Dr. Susan." Her modesty, strong will and compassion became widely known. She later opened an office in Manhattan.

On July 12, 1871, Susan married William G. McKinney, a travelling preacher, and they had two children, William S. McKinney (who became a clergyman with the Protestant Episcopal Church in New York) and Anna M. McKinney Carty (who became a New York City school teacher and married M. Louis Holly).

Susan was active in the Kings County Homeopathic Medical Society and the Homeopathic Medical Society of the State of New York. Before the latter society, she presented two important medical papers in 1883 and 1886. The first was about a pregnant woman who was contaminated after sharing a bed with her mother, whom she was directed by a physician to treat twice daily for burns with a carbolic acid solution. Susan

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isolated and treated the woman, but the patient dismissed Susan after the symptoms disappeared. A few days later, the woman gave birth, but died soon after, and the baby died the next day. Susan's second paper was about marasmus (a wasting away of the body from chronic vomiting, diarrhea, worms and inherited syphilis) in infants. She believed recovery was better through homeopathic treatment. Childhood diseases became Dr. Susan's specialty.

Despite her full medical practice and surgical rounds at the Brooklyn Women's Homeopathic Hospital and Dispensary, Susan also attended seniors at the Brooklyn Home for Aged Colored People and founded the Women's Hospital and Dispensary (later renamed the Memorial Hospital for Women and Children) in 1881, the Women's Local Union of New York (a leading black women's club), and the Equal Suffrage League of Brooklyn. She was active in Bridge Street's missionary work and was president of the Women's Christian Temperance Union Number 6. She was also a prolific writer of sacred and secular materials.

William died in 1892 and on November 26, 1896, Susan married Theophilus Gould Steward, chaplain of the 25th U.S. Colored Infantry, known as the Buffalo Soldiers (see also). She would accompany him to forts in Montana and other western states, treating the sick and injured soldiers, until he retired in 1907. Later, they both joined the faculty of Wilberforce University in Ohio. In 1909, they vacationed in Europe, then returned again in 1911, when Susan presented a paper, "Colored American Women," before the First Universal Race Congress in London. In 1914, she presented another paper, "Women in Medicine," to the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs in Wilberforce.

She wrote: "Fortunate are the men who marry these [black physician] women from an economic standpoint ... They are blessed in a three-fold measure ... [taking] unto themselves a wife, a trained nurse, and a doctor. ... [I caution such women] to avoid becoming unevenly yoked ... such a companion will prove to be a millstone hanged around her neck." Most black women doctors at that time married educators, ministers or doctors.

And, like Susan, they founded community health care institutions, trained nurses, educated people on proper sanitation and hygiene, and founded service agencies to help the poor and oppressed, both black and white. But unfortunately, their need in society became overshadowed -- probably when medicine became more scientific and white male-dominated -- thus significantly reducing the number of black women doctors by the 1920s. Many focused on nursing after that. As a whole, these self-reliant, determined women were adept at handling their multiple roles of physician, wife, mother, daughter and community leader.

On March 7, 1918, at the age of 71, Susan passed away. At her funeral, W.E.B. DuBois delivered the eulogy, and she was buried in Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery with a monument to her achievements. Her grandson, William S. McKinney, Jr., persistently prompted the New York City Board of Education to rename a Brooklyn school the Dr. Susan Smith McKinney Junior High School in 1975. Later, the Susan Smith McKinney

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Steward Medical Society was founded by African-American women doctors in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.

DATE OF DEATH: March 7, 1918

PLACE OF DEATH: Brooklyn, New York

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Hine, Darlene Clark. Black Women in America: An Historical Encyclopedia. Indiana University Press, 1994.

WEB SITES:

History of the New York Medical College and Hospital for Women - and - Biography of Susan McKinney Steward - Homéopathe International

Susan McKinney Steward - Greats in African-American History You May Not Know

Susan McKinney Steward - Dark Angel Productions - Shades of History

• Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) - Author of Uncle Tom's Cabin.

Image Donated by Corbis - Bettmann

NAME: Harriet Beecher Stowe

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BIRTHDATE: June 14, 1811

BIRTHPLACE: Litchfield, CT

EDUCATION: Educated at and subsequently taught at the Hartford Female Academy, founded by her sister Catherine Beecher in 1823. She also taught at the Western Female Institute in Cincinnati, established by Catherine in 1832.

FAMILY BACKGROUND: Harriet was the seventh child of Roxana and Lyman Beecher, a famous Congregationalist minister. Her brother, Henry Ward Beecher, became a renowned preacher and leader of the abolitionist movement. Her sister Catherine was instrumental in furthering educational opportunities for women. She married the widower Calvin Stowe in 1836; they had seven children.

DESCRIPTION OF ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Her most famous work was Uncle Tom's Cabin, which she wrote in 1850. The book opened up the realities of slavery to the entire world. It became a best seller which has never been out of print.

DATE OF DEATH: July 1, 1896.

PLACE OF DEATH: Hartford, CT

PORTRAYED BY: Helenmary Ball

WEB SITES:

Harriet Beecher Stowe - A Celebrarion of Women WritersThe Harriet Beecher Stowe Center - The Harriet Beecher Stowe House and Stowe-Day LibraryHarriet Beecher Stowe - Ohioana LibraryUncle Tom's Cabin & American CultureHarriet Beecher Stowe - National Women's Hall of FameUncle Tom's Cabin - Project Gutenberg Electronic TextThe New American Housekeeper's Manual by Catherine E. Beecher and Harriet Beecher Stowe

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

• The Limits of Sisterhood: The Beecher Sisters on Women's Rights and Women's Sphere by Jeanne Boydston, Mary Kelley, Anne Margolis (1988).

• Harriet Beecher Stowe: A Life by Joan Hedrick (1993)

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• Annie Sullivan (1866-1936) - Helen Keller's teacher.

NAME: Johanna (Anne) Sullivan Macy or Anne Mansfield Sullivan Macy, special educator

BIRTHDATE: April 14, 1866

BIRTHPLACE: Feeding Hills, Massachusetts

DIED: October 20, 1936

PLACE OF DEATH: Forest Hills, NY

FAMILY BACKGROUND: Anne Sullivan was the daughter of Irish immigrant farmers Thomas Sullivan and Alice Cloesy; she had one brother, Jimmie, who was crippled from tuberculosis. Growing up, Anne was subject to poverty and physical abuse by her alcoholic father and at the age of five, trachoma struck Anne, leaving her almost blind. Two years later, her mother died and her father abandoned his children to an orphanage in Tewksbury where her brother died shortly thereafter.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Despite being left in a orphanage with no formal educational facilities, Anne Sullivan prospered. When the state board of charities chairman, Frank Sanborn visited the Tewksbury orphanage; Anne literally threw herself in front of him crying, "Mr. Sanborn, I want to go to school."

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After regaining her eyesight from a series of operations and graduating as class valedictorian in 1886 from the Perkins Institute for the Blind, she began teaching Helen Keller. When Miss Sullivan first arrived, Helen was seven years old and highly undisciplined. Miss Sullivan had to begin her teaching with lessons in obedience, followed by teachings of the manual and Braille alphabets. Sullivan attended classes with Keller and tutored her through the Perkins Institute, The Cambridge School for Young Ladies and Radcliffe College. All who came in contact with them were amazed at the ability of Miss Sullivan to reach Miss Keller and Miss Keller's heightened ability to grasp concepts unheard of by deaf and blind students before her. Alexander Graham Bell, Andrew Carnegie, Henry H. Rogers and John Spaulding were only a few of those who met them and supported them.

Throughout Helen's formal education and after, Miss Sullivan was often viewed with suspicion and speculation: many believed that Anne was trying to control Keller or use Keller. They did not trust the commitment that Anne Sullivan had to her student.

After Miss Keller's formal education, Anne Sullivan continued to assist Miss Keller by accompanying her on her travels and to various lecture tours. After Helen's graduation from Radcliffe, Anne married young Harvard instructor, John Albert Macy in 1905. The three lived together until 1912 when the Macy's separated.

Sullivan and Keller were constantly in demand to give lectures and to raise money for the American Foundation for the Blind. However, they often were too charitable and as a result had to supplement their income. The pair attempted to produce a movie, Deliverance, but it was unsuccessful; they experienced better success on the vaudeville circuit.

Eventually, Miss Sullivan's own eyesight failed her but toward the end of her life received recognition from Temple University, the Educational Institute of Scotland, and the Roosevelt Memorial foundation for her tireless teaching and commitment to Helen Keller.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

• Brady, Nella, Anne Sulivan Macy. 1933 • Hickok, Lorena A., The Touch of Magic; the Story of Helen Keller's Great

Teacher, Anne Sullivan Macy. New York: Dodd, Mead, 1961. • Lash, Joseph P. Helen and Teacher: The Story of Helen Keller and Anne Sullivan

Macy. 1980 • Selden, Bernice. The Story of Annie Sullivan, Helen Keller's Teacher. New York:

Dell Pub., 1987. • American Foundation for the Blind - Anne Sullivan Macy: Miracle Worker

Her papers are held at the Perkins Institute for the Blind, Watertown, Mass; American Antiquarian Society, Worchester, Mass; and the Volta Bureau in Washington, D.C.

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• Helen Herron Taft (1861-1943) - Wife of William H. Taft, 27th President of the United States, always longed to live in the White House. Known for planting Washington D.C.’s

legendary cherry trees.

The World Book Encyclopedia, Quarrie Corporation©ArtToday.com

NAME: Helen "Nellie" Herron Taft

DATE OF BIRTH: June 2, 1861 (also reported as January 2 and September 2)

PLACE OF BIRTH: Cincinnati, Ohio

FAMILY BACKGROUND: Helen “Nellie” was the fourth child (of 11 children) born to John Williamson Herron and Harriet Collins Herron. John was a lawyer and, at one time, was a law partner of Rutherford B. Hayes. In 1877, the Herrons were invited for a two-week visit to the Hayes at the White House, where Lucy Hayes Herron (named for First Lady Lucy Hayes) would be christened. Nellie became enamored of the White House and decided someday she wanted to live there. She vowed to forgo the convent only if she married a man who would be President.

EDUCATION: Nellie attended Miss Nourse’s school in Cincinnati with one of her sisters. While there, she met Fanny Taft, only sister of her future husband. She loved music and studied it enthusiastically. She then attended Miami University, studying German, literature, history and the sciences. After graduating, she studied music at the University of Cincinnati. She considered becoming a lawyer, but did not pursue it; although it did teach her an appreciation of logic, politics and presenting a strong argument. She found church work unappealing and considered a musical career, but questioned the depth of her talent.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: After completing her schooling, Nellie started a Sunday afternoon literary salon and briefly taught at two schools. Teaching was frustrating (particularly disciplining the boys) but rewarding. At a sledding party, she met William Howard Taft, a young attorney, and invited him to the literary salon. It was a long and rocky courtship. William was ardent and

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proposed a few times, but Nellie turned him down, saying he did not value her opinions. They did stay together and were able to joke with each other. Finally he was able to convince her that she was smarter and prettier than any other woman he knew. On June 19, 1886, Nellie and William married in Cincinnati. They had an extensive honeymoon in Europe, returning to Cincinnati where Nellie designed their home. They would have three children: Robert (born in 1889), Helen (1891) and Charles (1897).

William was currently a U.S. Judge on the Ohio Supreme Court, although Nellie felt he should aim higher. In 1890, President Harrison appointed William as U.S. Solicitor General. They moved to Washington on Dupont Circle, where they met Theodore and Edith Roosevelt. Nellie loved living in the Capitol, but it was short-lived. In 1892, Harrison was defeated for a second term and William was elected as a judge to the U.S. Circuit Court. The Tafts returned to Cincinnati. There, Nellie became involved in improving the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.

In 1899, President McKinley appointed William as Commissioner to the Philippines. William waffled on the decision, but Nellie urged him to accept. She first toured China and Japan with her children, then joined William in Manila. They lived there four years, during which time Nellie fell in love with the culture and broadened her horizons, and William was appointed as governor-general of the Philippines. When a threat of typhus fever came, Nellie had cows sent in so fresh milk would be available. She opened up the palace to everyone and insisted her family learn Spanish. At one point, William was sent to the Vatican to negotiate a transfer of church lands to the Philippine state. Nellie accompanied him and even had an audience with Pope Leo XIII.

In 1904, President Theodore Roosevelt appointed William as his secretary of war, so the Tafts returned to Washington. In 1906, offering his support, Roosevelt asked them which position William wanted: president or chief justice. William wanted the latter, but Nellie chose the former. She met with Roosevelt privately and William’s choice was overruled.

In 1908, William Taft was elected President and Nellie saw her dream come true. Through their friendship with outgoing President Roosevelt, the Tafts broke with tradition and spent the night before the inauguration as guests in the White House. Nellie also broke with inaugural tradition by accompanying her husband in the inaugural parade down Pennsylvania Avenue. (Formerly, the outgoing President traveled with the incoming President, but Roosevelt had already left Washington and the carriage seat was vacant.) Every First Lady since then has followed her example.

Because she strived so diligently in the role of First Lady, Nellie took on too many projects at the same time. In mid-May 1909, she suffered a major stroke while on the presidential yacht, paralyzing her left side and leaving her unable to speak. The media was given little information about it and, for the next year, she was seen only occasionally. Her daughter and sisters took over her duties. With William’s patient help and her determined effort, Nellie regained her speech, but with hesitation. She also regained her ability to walk, but with difficulty. By 1911, however, she was back in control and celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary at the White House.

Despite all of her physical hardships, Nellie was able to accomplish several things, one of which was enhancing the White House, Tidal Basin and Potomac Park with cherry trees. She was concerned that people had no place to listen to music or walk when the weather was good. The Tidal Basin and Potomac Park areas were being renovated and Nellie planned the design based on Manila’s Luneta, an oval drive with a bandstand at each end that serves as a great meeting place for the city. Upon finding out that Nellie was going to have Japanese cherry trees planted along the “speedway” (now Independence Avenue), a Japanese chemist and Japanese consul facilitated the donation of an additional 3,020 Japanese cherry trees from the mayor of Tokyo.

On March 27, 1912 (after three years of planning and setbacks), First Lady Helen Taft and the Viscountess Chinda, wife of the Japanese Ambassador, planted the first two (Yoshino) cherry

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trees on the northern bank of the Tidal Basin, just south of Independence Avenue. After the ceremony, Nellie presented a bouquet of "American Beauty" roses to Viscountess Chinda. Washington's famous Cherry Blossom Festival originated in this simple ceremony, witnessed by only a few people. The two original trees still stand near the John Paul Jones statue at 17th Street, with bronze plaques commemorating the event. The annual blooming of the cherry blossoms every spring remains a fitting memorial to Nellie.

In addition, Nellie bought automobiles for the White House to replace the now outdated carriages. She had a large bathtub installed, as the existing one was too small for her 350-pound husband. She had the staff begin wearing matching uniforms. She made it easier for African-Americans to find employment at the White House, and hired a female housekeeper (Elizabeth Jaffray), in place of the steward, who remained there until President Coolidge’s term. She managed every detail of running the executive mansion. She insisted on comparison shopping and reviewed every expenditure. She even managed their personal budget so well that, after four years, she had set aside $100,000 for the family bank account.

Nellie was very versed in politics, often sitting in on important political discussions and accompanying William on political trips and golf outings. In 1912, the Republican Party was split between William and Roosevelt. Nellie was the first First Lady to attend the convention. This split nearly broke her heart and, long before the election, she began packing. She knew the split would mean a victory for the democratic candidtate, Woodrow Wilson.

From 1913 to 1921, the Tafts lived in New Haven, Connecticut, where William taught law at Yale University and Nellie traveled. Her stroke had enabled her to see that her husband did not need her constant prodding. Their marriage had become stronger, she stopped worrying, and she realized that William had his own ambitions. In 1914, she became the first First Lady to publish her autobiography, “Recollections of Full Years.”

In 1921, after Chief Justice White died, President Harding appointed William to the position – fulfilling his dream. Nellie loved being back in Washington, giving help and advice to Mrs. Harding and Mrs. Coolidge. In 1930, William passed away and Nellie continued to travel to Europe and visit her grandchildren, as well as watch her son Robert make his own successful career as a Senator from Ohio.

On May 22, 1943, Nellie Taft passed away. She was less than a month away from her eighty-second birthday. She was buried in Arlington Cemetery next to her husband – the first and only First Lady to be so, until Jackie Kennedy Onassis was buried beside John F. Kennedy in 1994.

DATE OF DEATH: May 22, 1943

PLACE OF DEATH: Washington, D.C.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Commire, Anne, ed. Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia. Waterford, Conn: Yorkin Publications. 1999-2000.

Gould, Lewis L., ed. American First Ladies: Their Lives and Their Legacy. New York: Garland Pub. 1996.

Greenberg, Judith E. Helen Herron Taft, 1861-1943. New York: Children’s Press. 2000.

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Klapthor, Margaret Brown. The First Ladies. Washington, D.C.: White House Historical Association with the cooperation of the National Geographic Society. 1981,1983,1989,1994.

Taft, Helen Herron. Recollections of Full Years. New York: Dodd, Mead. 1914.

WEB SITES:

Biography of Helen Herron Taft - White House history

Helen Herron Taft - National First Ladies' Library

Helen "Nellie" Herron Taft - The American President, PBS

Helen Herron Taft, First Lady of the United States - Arlington National Cemetery

History of the Cherry Trees in Washington, D.C. - National Park Service

• Susie King Taylor (1848-1912) - First African-American U.S. Army nurse during the Civil War.

WEB SITES

Susie King Taylor: A Glimpse Into the Life of a Civil War Contemporary from the King-Tisdell Cottage Foundation

Reminiscences of my Life in Camp with the 33d United States Colored Troops Late 1st S. C. Volunteers by Susie King Taylor [full text] (See also an excerpt from American History Online)

Brief History of Black Women In The Military from The Women In Military Service For America Memorial

• Mary Church Terrell (1863-1954) - African-American lecturer, suffragette, civil rights leader.

WEB SITES

Mary Eliza Church Terrell from Women in American History, Encyclopædia Britannica

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The Progress Of Colored Women by Mary Church Terrell, President, National Association Of Colored Women (Address Before The National American Women's Suffrage Association - February 18, 1898) from Gifts of Speech; Image version from American Memory - Library of Congress

Activist Mary Church Terrell Was Born... - America's Story from America's Library

Mary Church Terrell - Black Excellence in World History

Mary Church Terrell - Voices from the Gaps Women Writers of Color

Mary Church Terrell - The Progress of a People; Today in History (American Memory - Library of Congress)

Mary Church Terrell House - D.C. Preservation League Most Endangered Places 1999

Portrait by Betsy Graves Reyneau 1946 - National Portrait Gallery

• Sojourner Truth (Isabella Baumfree) (1797-1883) - African-American abolitionist, Civil War nurse, suffragette.

Source: Abraham Lincoln: The War Years Vol. 2, Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc (photograph circa 1862) © www.arttoday.com

NAME: Isabella Baumfree (Sojourner Truth)

BIRTHDATE: 1797

BIRTHPLACE: Ulster County, New York

FAMILY BACKGROUND: 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

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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.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: She was first sold around age 9 when her second master (Charles Hardenbergh) died in 1808. She was sold to John Neely, along with a herd of sheep, for $100. Neely's wife and family only spoke English and beat Isabella fiercely for the frequent miscommunications. She later said that Neely once whipped her with "a bundle of rods, prepared in the embers, and bound together with cords." It was during this time that she began to find refuge in religion -- beginning the habit of praying aloud when scared or hurt. When her father once came to visit, she pleaded with him to help her. Soon after, Martinus Schryver purchased her for $105. He owned a tavern and, although the atmosphere was crude and morally questionable, it was a safer haven for Isabella.

But a year and a half later, in 1810, she was sold again to John Dumont of New Paltz, New York. Isabella suffered many hardships at the hands of Mrs. Dumont, whom Isabella later described as cruel and harsh. Although she did not explain the reasons for this treatment in her later biography narrative, historians have surmised that the unspeakable things might have been sexual abuse or harassment (see the biography on Harriet Jacobs, the only former slave to write about such), or simply the daily humiliations that slaves endured.

Sometime around 1815, she fell in love with a fellow slave named Robert, who was owned by a man named Catlin or Catton. Robert's owner forbade the relationship because he did not want his slave having children with a slave he did not own (and therefore would not own the new 'property'). One night Robert visited Isabella, but was followed by his owner and son, who beat him savagely ("bruising and mangling his head and face"), bound him and dragged him away. Robert never returned. Isabella had a daughter shortly thereafter, named Diana. In 1817, forced to submit to the will of her owner Dumont, Isabella married an older slave named Thomas. They had four children: Peter (1822), James (who died young), Elizabeth (1825), and Sophia (1826).

The state of New York began in 1799 to legislate the gradual abolition of slaves, which was to happen July 4, 1827. Dumont had promised Isabella freedom a year before the state emancipation, "if she would do well and be faithful." However, he reneged on his promise, claiming a hand injury had made her less productive. She was infuriated, having understood fairness and duty as a hallmark of the master-slave relationship. She continued working until she felt she had done enough to satisfy her sense of obligation to him -- spinning 100 pounds of wool -- then escaped before dawn with her infant daughter, Sophia. She later said:

"I did not run off, for I thought that wicked, but I walked off, believing that to be all right."

Isabella wandered, not sure where she was going, and prayed for direction. She arrived at the home of Isaac and Maria Van Wagenen (Wagener?). Soon after, Dumont arrived, insisting she come back and threatening to take her baby when she refused. Isaac offered to buy her services for the remainder of the year (until the state's emancipation took effect), which Dumont accepted for $20. Isaac and Maria insisted Isabella not call them "master" and "mistress," but rather by their given names.

Isabella immediately set to work retrieving her young son Peter. He had recently been leased by Dumont to another slaveholder, who then illegally sold Peter to an owner in Alabama. Peter was five years old. First she appealed to the Dumonts, then the other slaveholder, to no avail. A friend directed her to activist Quakers, who helped her make an official complaint in court. After months of legal proceedings, Peter returned to her, scarred and abused.

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During her time with the Van Wagenens, Isabella had a life-changing religious experience -- becoming "overwhelmed with the greatness of the Divine presence" and inspired to preach. She began devotedly attending the local Methodist church and, in 1829, left Ulster County with a white evangelical teacher named Miss Gear. She quickly became known as a remarkable preacher whose influence "was miraculous." She soon met Elijah Pierson, a religious reformer who advocated strict adherence to Old Testament laws for salvation. His house was sometimes called the "Kingdom," where he led a small group of followers. Isabella became the group's housekeeper. Elijah treated her as a spiritual equal and encouraged her to preach also. Soon after, Robert Matthias arrived, who apparently took over as the group's leader, with the activities becoming increasingly bizarre. In 1834, Pierson died with only the group's members attending. His family called the coroner and the group disbanded. The Folger family, whose house the group had moved into, accused Robert and Isabella of stealing their money and poisoning Elijah. They were eventually acquitted and Robert traveled west.

Isabella settled in New York City, but she had lost what savings and possessions she had had. She resolved to leave and make her way as a traveling preacher. On June 1, 1843, she changed her name to Sojourner Truth and told friends, "The Spirit calls me [East], and I must go." She wandered in relative obscurity, depending on the kindness of strangers. In 1844, still liking the utopian cooperative ideal, she joined the Northampton Association of Education and Industry in Massachusetts. This group of 210 members lived on 500 acres of farmland, raising livestock, running grist and saw mills, and operating a silk factory. Unlike the Kingdom, the Association was founded by abolitionists to promote cooperative and productive labor. They were strongly anti-slavery, religiously tolerant, women's rights supporters, and pacifist in principles. While there, she met and worked with abolitionists such as William Lloyd Garrison, Frederick Douglass, and David Ruggles. Unfortunately, the community's silk-making was not profitable enough to support itself and it disbanded in 1846 amid debt.

Sojourner went to live with one of the Association's founders, George Benson, who had established a cotton mill. Shortly thereafter, she began dictating her memoirs to Olive Gilbert, another Association member. The Narrative of Sojourner Truth: A Northern Slave was published privately by William Lloyd Garrison in 1850. It gave her an income and increased her speaking engagements, where she sold copies of the book. She spoke about anti-slavery and women's rights, often giving personal testimony about her experiences as a slave. That same year, 1850, Benson's cotton mill failed and he left Northampton. Sojourner bought a home there for $300. In 1854, at the Ohio Woman's Rights Covention in Akron, Ohio, she gave her most famous speech -- with the legendary phrase, "Ain't I a Woman?" :

"That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud puddles, or gives me any best place, and ain't I a woman? ... I have plowed, and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me -- and ain't I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man (when I could get it), and bear the lash as well -- and ain't I a woman? I have borne thirteen children and seen most all sold off to slavery and when I cried out with my mother's grief, none but Jesus heard me -- and ain't I woman?"

Sojourner later became involved with the popular Spiritualism religious movement of the time, through a group called the Progressive Friends, an offshoot of the Quakers. The group believed in abolition, women's rights, non-violence, and communicating with spirits. In 1857, she sold her home in Northampton and bought one in Harmonia, Michigan (just west of Battle Creek), to live with this community. In 1858, at a meeting in Silver Lake, Indiana, someone in the audience accused her of being a man (she was very tall, towering around six feet) so she opened her blouse to reveal her breasts.

During the Civil War, she spoke on the Union's behalf, as well as for enlisting black troops for the cause and freeing slaves. Her grandson James Caldwell enlisted in the 54th Regiment,

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Massachusetts. In 1864, she worked among freed slaves at a government refugee camp on an island in Virginia and was employed by the National Freedman's Relief Association in Washington, D.C. She also met President Abraham Lincoln in October. (A famous painting, and subsequent photographs of it, depict President Lincoln showing Sojourner the 'Lincoln Bible,' given to him by the black people of Baltimore, Maryland.) In 1863, Harriet Beecher Stowe's article "The Libyan Sibyl" appeared in the Atlantic Monthly; a romanticized description of Sojourner. (The previous year, William Story's statue of the same title, inspired by the article, won an award at the London World Exhibition.) After the Civil War ended, she continued working to help the newly freed slaves through the Freedman's Relief Association, then the Freedman's Hospital in Washington. In 1867, she moved from Harmonia to Battle Creek, converting William Merritt's "barn" into a house, for which he gave her the deed four years later.

In 1870, she began campaigning for the federal government to provide former slaves with land in the "new West." She pursued this for seven years, with little success. In 1874, after touring with her grandson Sammy Banks, he fell ill and she developed ulcers on her leg. Sammy died after an operation. She was successfully treated by Dr. Orville Guiteau, veterinarian, and headed off on speaking tours again, but had to return home due to illness once more. She did continue touring as much as she could, still campaigning for free land for former slaves. In 1879, Sojourner was delighted as many freed slaves began migrating west and north on their own, many settling in Kansas. She spent a year there helping refugees and speaking in white and black churches trying to gain support for the "Exodusters" as they tried to build new lives for themselves. This was to be her last mission.

Sojourner made a few appearances around Michigan, speaking about temperance and against capital punishment. In July of 1883, with ulcers on her legs, she sought treatment through Dr. John Harvey Kellogg at his famous Battle Creek Sanitarium. It is said he grafted some of his own skin onto her leg. Sojourner returned home with her daughters Diana and Elizabeth, their husbands and children, and died there on November 26, 1883, at 86 years old. She was buried in Oak Hill Cemetery next to her grandson. In 1890, Frances Titus, who published the third edition of Sojourner's Narrative in 1875 and became Sojourner's traveling companion after Sammy died, collected money and erected a monument on the gravesite, inadvertently inscribing "aged about 105 years." She then commissioned artist Frank Courter to paint the meeting of Sojourner and President Lincoln.

Sojourner Truth has been posthumously honored in many ways over the years:

• a memorial stone in the Stone History Tower in Monument Park, downtown Battle Creek (1935);

• a new grave marker, by the Sojourner Truth Memorial Association (1946); • a historical marker commemorating members of her family buried with her in the

cemetery (1961); • a portion of Michigan state highway M-66 designated the Sojourner Truth Memorial

Highway (1976); • induction into the national Woman's Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls, New York (1981); • induction into the Michigan Woman's Hall of Fame in Lansing (1983); • a commemorative postage stamp (1986); • a Michigan Milestone Marker by the State Bar of Michigan for her contribution (three

lawsuits she won) to the legal system (1987); • a marker erected by the Battle Creek Club of the National Association of Negro Business

and Professional Women's Clubs (also 1987); • a Mars probe named for her (1997); • a community-wide, year-long celebration of the 200th anniversary of her birth in Battle

Creek in 1997, plus a larger-than-life statue of her by artist Tina Allen; and• the First Black Woman Honored with a Bust in the U.S. Capitol (October, 2008)

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DATE OF DEATH: November 26, 1883

PLACE OF DEATH: Battle Creek, Michigan

PORTRAYED BY: Stephanie Tolliver

SUGGESTED READING:

Braude, Ann. Radical Spirits: Spiritualism and Women's Rights in Nineteenth-Century America. Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 1989.

Commire, Anne, editor. Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia. Waterford, Conn.: Yorkin Publications, 1999-2000.

Hooks, Bell. Ain't I a Woman: Black Women and Feminism. Boston, MA: South End, 1981.

Johnston, Paul E., and Sean Wilentz. The Kingdom of Matthias. NY: Oxford University Press, 1994.

Mabee, Carleton. Sojourner Truth: Slave, Prophet, Legend. NY: New York University Press, 1993.

Painter, Nell Irvin. Sojourner Truth: A Life, a Symbol. NY: W.W. Norton, 1996.

Pauli, Hertha Ernestine. Her Name Was Sojourner Truth. NY: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1962.

Slave Narratives. NY: Library of America, 2000.

Stetson, Erlene, and Linda David. Glorying in Tribulation: The Lifework of Sojourner Truth. East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University Press, 1994.

Stewart, James Brewer. Holy Warriors: The Abolitionists and American Slavery. NY: Hill and Wang, 1976.

Truth, Sojourner. Narrative of Sojourner Truth; a Bondswoman of Olden Time, Emancipated by the New York Legislature in the Early Part of the Present Century with a History of her Labors and Correspondence, Drawn from Her Book of Life. Battle Creek, MI: Published for the Author, 1878. Later printing, with introduction by Margaret Washington: NY: Vintage Books, 1993.

WEB SITES:

Sojourner Truth Institute

Sojourner Truth - Stamp on Black History profile

Sojourner Truth - Memorial Statue Project in Florence, Massachusetts

Sojourner Truth - Battle Creek Historical Society

"Ain't I a Woman?" Speech - Fordham University

"Ain't I a Woman?" - speech and history of, on About.com

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"Keeping the Thing Going While Things are Stirring" - speech delivered at the American Equal Rights Association in 1867

The Narrative of Sojourner Truth - online text of her autobiography, at A Celebration of Women Writers

Sojourner Truth, the Libyan Sibyl - Article by Harriet Beecher Stowe, appeared in the Atlantic Monthly in April 1863

Women and Families in Slavery - links to essays and first-hand accounts and letters about the lives of female slaves

"Sojourner Truth will Become the First Black Woman Honored with a Bust in the U.S. Capitol"

• Harriet Tubman (1820?-1913) - Underground Railroad conductor, Army scout, African-American suffragette.

Image donated by Corbis - Bettmann. © Jupiterimages Corporation

BIRTH DATE: c.1820. Because she was a slave, and owners did not record their slaves' birthdates, the exact date of Harriet's birth is unknown -- different accounts list 1820 or 1821.

BIRTH PLACE: Edward Brodas plantation near Bucktown, Dorchester County, Maryland.

EDUCATION: Because of her indentured status, Harriet was denied the opportunity for education -- leaving her illiterate her entire life. Slaveowners did not want their slaves to know how to read or write.

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FAMILY BACKGROUND: Born into slavery on Maryland's Eastern Shore, Harriet's ancestors had been brought to America in shackles from Africa during the first half of the 18th Century. Harriet was the 11th child born to Benjamin Ross and Harriet Greene (slaves of Edward Brodas), her given name was Araminta and she was often called "Minty" as a child. But by the time she was an adult, she was calling herself Harriet.

As was the custom for many slaves, Harriet began working at an early age. When five years old, she was first sent away from home, "loaned out" to another plantation, checking muskrat traps in icy cold rivers. She quickly became too sick to work and was returned, malnourished and suffering from the cold exposure. Once she recovered, she was loaned out to another plantation, working as a nurse to the planter's infant child. By the age of 12, she was working as a field hand, plowing and hauling wood. At 13, while defending a fellow slave who tried to run away, her overseer struck her in the head with a two-pound weight. This resulted in recurring narcoleptic seizures, or sleeping spells, that plagued her the rest of her life.

In 1844, at about the age of 25, Harriet married John Tubman, a freeman. She gained permission to marry him from her owners and lived with him in his cabin, but she was required to continue working for her master. When Harriet told John of her dreams of one day gaining her freedom, he told her that she would never be free and, if she tried running away, he would turn her in. On one of her first return visits to Maryland, Harriet went to John's cabin in hopes of getting him to go north with her. She found that he had taken another wife. Later in 1869, she married Nelson Davis. She never had any children.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: The Biblical story of Exodus in which Moses freed the Israelites from slavery in Egypt to freedom in Israel, saw repetition in the years before the Civil War when Harriet Tubman freed over 300 blacks from slavery in the South to freedom in the North. For her commendable work she herself was nicknamed "Moses."

Despite the hardships inflicted upon her and the unfairness of them, Harriet used her labors for self discipline and set for herself the goal of escaping to the North. She accomplished this goal in 1849, when alone and on foot she ran away from the plantation in the middle of the night and followed the north star to free land in Pennsylvania. It came about after her master died and she heard rumors that she and two of her brothers were to be sold to a chain gang. Her brothers left with her, but became scared, deciding not to take the risk, and so returned to the plantation. She traveled only at night, until she knew she had crossed the border between slaveholding and non-slaveholding states. She later said:

"I looked at my hands to see if I was the same person now I was free. There was such a glory over everything ... and I felt like I was in heaven."

Harriet had bravely won her freedom, but realizing how alone she was, she made a vow that she would help her family and friends win their freedom as well. She went to Philadelphia, found work cooking, laundering and scrubbing, and saved money to finance rescue trips. She became involved with the city's large and active abolitionist (anti-slavery) organizations and with organizers of the Underground Railroad, a secret network through which slaves were helped in escaping from bondage in the South to freedom in the North and Canada.

Using the Wilmington, Delaware, home of Quaker abolitionist Thomas Garrett (1789-1871) as a checkpoint, Harriet Tubman undertook some 20 hazardous missions in which she covertly journeyed down south, pinpointed slaves, and led them to freedom up north, at times going as far as Canada. In leading these flights, with a long rifle in hand, she warned her escapees that, if any of them even considered surrendering or returning, the penalty would be death. Her persuasiveness was evident in that never on any of her missions did she lose a "passenger" on the Underground Railroad. In addition to her nickname "Moses," for her bravery Harriet was dubbed

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"General" Tubman by the militant abolitionist John Brown, with whom she worked in Canada. William Still (who recorded activities of the Underground Railroad) described her as:

"a woman of no pretensions, indeed, a more ordinary specimen of humanity could hardly be found among the most unfortunate-looking farm hands of the South. Yet, in point of courage, shrewdness and disinterested exertions to rescue her fellow-men ... she was without her equal."

Her name quickly spread throughout the slave quarters and abolitionist societies. All this angered the Southern slaveholders, who offered $40,000 for her capture. But Harriet always evaded slavecatchers and would not quit, even when her illiteracy nearly got her caught when she fell asleep under her own wanted poster. As for her family, Harriet successfully rescued her sister in 1850, her brother in 1851, her other three brothers in 1854, and her parents in 1857. For her parents, she purchased a home in Auburn, New York, from Senator William H. Seward of New York, an advocate of hers. In the 12 years from her escape in 1849 to the beginning of the Civil War in 1861, Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad became the most dominant force of abolitionism.

Around 1858, Harriet teamed up with John Brown as he plotted a raid on Harper's Ferry, Virginia. His plan was to raid the armory there, distribute weapons among slaves and instigate a rebellion. She helped him with fund-raising, and most likely would have participated in the raid had she not been ill. Even in one of her last interviews, in 1912, she referred to him as "my dearest friend."

During the Civil War (1861-1865), Harriet Tubman served with the Union Army as a cook, laundress, nurse, scout, and spy behind Confederate lines. In 1862, she moved to Beaufort, South Carolina (when it was occupied by the Union Army), and with several missionary teachers, helped hundreds of Sea Islander slaves transition from bondage to freedom. She also undertook scouting and spying missions, identifying potential targets for the Army, such as cotton stores and ammunition storage areas. The Boston Commonweath described her efforts in July 1863:

"Col. Montgomery and his gallant band of 800 black soldiers, under the guidance of a black woman, dashed in to the enemies' country ... destroying millions of dollars worth of commissary stores, cotton and lordly dwellings, and striking terror to the heart of rebeldom, brought off near 800 slaves and thousands of dollars worth of property."

In 1865, Harriet began caring for wounded black soldiers as the matron of the Colored Hospital at Fortress Monroe, Virginia. She continued helping others after the war. She raised money for freedmen's schools, helped destitute children and continued caring for her parents. In 1868, she transformed her family's home into the Home for Aged and Indigent Colored People. She also lobbied for educational opportunities for freedmen. She believed she had been called by God to help her people, and once told an interviewer:

"Now do you suppose he wanted me to do this just for a day, or a week? No! the Lord who told me to take care of my people meant me to do it just so long as I live, and so I do what he told me to do."

Also in 1868, Harriet began working on her autobiography with Sarah Hopkins Bradford, a white schoolteacher in Auburn, New York. It was published in 1868, then later under a revised title in 1886 (see below). In 1869, Harriet married Nelson Davis, a Union veteran half her age who had been a boarder at her house. He died of tuberculosis in 1888.

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© Jupiterimages CorporationStill not finished, Harriet took up the suffragist cause. In 1896, she was a delegate to the National Association of Colored Women's first annual convention. She believed the right to vote was vital to preserving their freedom. Around the turn of the century, she bought 25 acres of land near her home with money raised through benefactors and speaking engagements, and made arrangements for the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church to take over the Home. She had worked closely with this church since the 1850s. Through it, she had come to befriend Frederick Douglass, who had briefly published his abolitionist newspaper, The North Star, there.

In 1911, Harriet herself was welcomed into the Home. Upon hearing of her destitute condition, many women with whom she had worked in the NACW voted to provide her a lifelong monthly pension of $25. Living past ninety,

Harriet Tubman died in Auburn on March 10, 1913. She was given a full military funeral and was buried in Fort Hill Cemetery. The women of the NACW also paid the funeral costs and purchased a marble headstone. One year later, the city of Auburn commemorated her life with a memorial tablet at the front of the Cayuga County Courthouse. In 1944, Eleanor Roosevelt christened the Liberty Ship Harriet Tubman, and in 1995 the U.S. Postal Service honored her life with a postage stamp.

DATE OF DEATH: March 10, 1913.

PLACE OF DEATH: Auburn, New York.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

-----------------. The Underground Railroad: First Person Narratives of Escapes to Freedom in the North. NY: Prentice Hall, 1987.

Bradford, Sarah. Harriet Tubman: The Moses of Her People. NY: Corinth Books, 1961. (Reprint of second edition originally published in 1886. First edition published in 1868 was titled "Scenes in the Life of Harriet Tubman.")

Clinton, Catherine. Harriet Tubman: The Road to Freedom. Little, Brown, 2004.

Commire, Anne, editor. Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia. Waterford, Conn.: Yorkin Publications, 1999-2000.

Humez, Jean. Harriet Tubman: The Life and Life Stories. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press. 2003.

Larson, Kate Clifford. Bound For the Promised Land: Harriet Tubman, Portrait of an American Hero. New York: Ballantine Books, 2004.

Schroeder, Alan. Minty: A Story of Young Harriet Tubman. Dial Books for Young Readers, 1996.

Siebert, Wilbur H. The Underground Railroad from Slavery to Freedom. NY: Macmillan, 1898.

Still, William. Still's Underground Rail Road Records, Revised Edition, With a Life of the Author. Narrating the Hardships, Hairbreadth Escapes and Death Struggles of the Slaves in their Effort for Freedom. Philadelphia, PA: William Still, Publisher, 1883.

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WEB SITES:

The Harriet Tubman Home - Through New York History Net

Harriet Tubman Historical Society - Wilmington, Delaware

Harriet Ross Tubman Timeline - The African American History of Western New York

Harriet Tubman - Wikipedia

Harriet Tubman - Spartacus SchoolNet, including excerpts from her autobiography

Harriet Tubman : Moses of Her People - Women's History, About.Com

Harriet Tubman - Civil War Home

Harriet Tubman - Africans in America, PBS Series

The Underground Railroad - National Geographic Online

Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad - Links found by a second grade class

QUOTE:

"There's two things I got a right to and these are Death and Liberty. If I could not have one, I would have the other."

-- Harriet Tubman

• Elizabeth Van Lew (1818-1900) - Crazy Bet, an abolitionist in the South during the Civil War, who feigned insanity to help free slaves and help the Union Army.

NAME: Elizabeth Van Lew

DATE OF BIRTH: October 17, 1818

PLACE OF BIRTH: Richmond, Virginia

FAMILY BACKGROUND: Only daughter of John Van Lew, the owner of a successful hardware business, and Elizabeth (Baker) Van Lew. John was from a Dutch colonial family in Long Island. In 1816, at 26 years old, he went to Richmond, Virginia, and established a commercial farm with a member of the well-known Adams family. The farm failed, with a debt of around $100,000, of which John paid his share. Then he began his hardware business and prospered. On a trip to Philadelphia, he met and married former mayor Hilary Baker's daughter and brought her back to Richmond. They had three children: John, ------ and Elizabeth. Their magnificent mansion of three and a half stories

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high sat high on a prominent hill in Richmond, across from the church in which Patrick Henry had called for liberty or death. They acquired the property from the Adams family, after the latter lost it. Many famous people were entertained there while Elizabeth grew up: opera singer Jenny Lind, Chief Justice John Marshall, and Edgar Allan Poe, who was said to have recited some of his works in one of the parlors.

EDUCATION: Elizabeth was tutored at home early in her life, then sent to school in Philadelphia. Many of her friends, family and fellow Richmond citizens figured this was where she became an abolitionist, but most likely she was influenced by her mother. As Elizabeth later wrote in her diary:

"From the time I knew right from wrong it was my sad privilege to differ in many things from the ... opinions and principles of my locality." She described herself as "uncompromising, ready to resent what seemed wrong, quick and passionate but not bad tempered or vicious. ... This has made my life sad and earnest."

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: When Elizabeth was 25 years old, her father died and she began to act more on her principles. She and her mother freed all of the family's slaves; most of them stayed on as paid servants. When she heard that the slaves' children or relatives were being sold by other owners, Elizabeth bought and freed them as well. She wrote:

"Slave power crushes freedom of speech and of opinion. Slave power degrades labor. Slave power is arrogant, is jealous and intrusive, is cruel, is despotic, not only over the slave but over the community, the state."

As the Civil War began, Elizabeth bemoaned the fate of her beloved nation, feeling Virginia's seccession was a crime. While watching a torchlight procession, she fell to her knees; "Never did a feeling of more calm determination and high resolve for endurance come over me..." She had already begun her help to the Union before the war began, writing Federal officials about everything that was happening. Soon after, hearing of Union soldiers suffering at Libby Prison, Elizabeth connived and charmed her way to being a nurse to the soldiers -- she and her mother would buy and bring clothes, bedding, food and medicines to the prisoners. She even persuaded Confederate physicians to have some soldiers transferred to hospitals.

In these seemingly humanitarian efforts (although her neighbors were aghast that she was helping the enemy), Elizabeth gleaned military information from the soldiers, as well as from the Confederate guards and soldiers at the prison, then passed the information on to Union agents. At first she mailed the information directly! Then, when warned against that, she developed her own cipher code -- it was found hidden in the back part of her watch after she died. Her servants were always ready to run seemingly innocent errands on a moment's notice -- hiding a coded message in the sole of a shoe or a hollowed egg shell. The Van Lews also had a farm outside of Richmond, which provided a simple excuse for errands run out of the city.

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At various times, Elizabeth was restricted from bringing the soldiers special meals and even talking to them. In the latter case, she passed out books, and the soldiers passed them back with tiny pin-pricked messages. She would smuggle out letters from the soldiers and even helped several escape; hiding them in a secret space upstairs in her house. The more she visited and comforted the enemy soldiers, the more her fellow Richmond citizens became bitter toward her. Her house was searched on many occasions; she didn't dare keep a full journal, just sketchy comments. She wrote:

"Written only to be burnt was the fate of almost everything which would now be of value. Keeping one's house in order for Government inspection with Salisbury prison in prospective, necessitated this. I always went to bed at night with anything dangerous on paper beside me, so as to be able to destroy it in a moment. ... The threats, the scowls, the frowns of an infuriated community -- who can write of them? I have had brave men shake their fingers in my face and say terrible things..."

At some point, for protection, she began to accentuate the oddity with which her Richmond neighbors already regarded her. She started walking the streets mumbling and humming to herself, with her head bent slightly, as if holding an imaginary conversation. She combed her hair less carefully and dressed in her most worn-out clothes and bonnets. Passers by would look at each other and shake their heads. The prison guards nicknamed her "Crazy Bet." No one suspected her because they assumed spies would keep a low profile; Elizabeth purposely called attention to herself.

But it was about this point when she asked one of the former slaves to return, and help in another way. Mary Elizabeth Bowser, through Elizabeth's connections, became a house servant for Confederate President Jefferson Davis. Mary also feigned a dim-witted, slightly crazy demeanor, allowing her to listen in on conversations and read documents that were left out. (Elizabeth had earlier sent Mary to the Quaker School for Negroes in Philadelphia.) Mary would memorize everything, word for word, then on occasion meet Elizabeth at night near the Van Lew farm, telling all that she'd learned. On these nights, Elizabeth posed as a poor country woman, wearing a huge poke bonnet, leather leggings and a "belt canvas coat."

Elizabeth managed and organized many people in the greater Richmond area of like mind, from all ranks and colors -- farmers, storekeepers, factory workers, slaves, servants, laundresses. These people received Union agents, sometimes escaped soldier-prisoners, and passed along messages. One friend, a seamstress, stitched messages into her patterns. Despite Confederate guards handling the materials, they never discovered the messages.

Elizabeth also began taking in boarders, some she took in to help. One such hungry and homeless milliner she fed and housed for months, but the milliner repaid Elizabeth with a visit to Confederate headquarters and a report of her suspicions. Luckily the milliner had no definite information. Another guest was subpoenaed to give testimony against Elizabeth and her mother, but this guest declined to say anything. But Elizabeth had the neighbors to deal with, as well. The Van Lews were constantly trailed by detectives. She

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wrote: "I have turned to speak to a friend and found a detective at my elbow. Strange faces could be seen peeping around the column and pillars of the back portico."

But through all this, Elizabeth not only continued her espionage, she expanded it. She now was in regular contact with General Ben Butler and had more spies -- even clerks in the Confederate war and navy departments. In February 1864, she helped prisoners following a major escape through a 60-foot tunnel dug under Libby Prison. Around that same time, Elizabeth passed on information about Confederate plans to move thousands of prisoners. Here was an opportunity for a Union attack, freeing their soldiers and possibly taking Richmond. Her original ciphered message is archived with official war records:

"It is intended to remove to Georgia very soon, all the Federal prisoners; butchers and bakers to go at once. They are already notified and selected. Quaker knows this to be true. They are building batteries on Danville road. This from Quaker. Beware of new and rash councils. This I send to you by direction of all your friends. No attempt should be made with less than 30,000 cavalry, from 10,000 to 15,000 infantry to support them.... Forces probably could be called in from five to ten days; 25,000 mostly artillery, Stokes's, and Kemper's brigades go to North Carolina. Pickett's is in or around Petersburg. Three regiments of cavalry disbanded by Lee for want of horses. . . . "

Union officials planned a major operation, but unfortunately its secrecy was undermined by too many officers and their wives talking about it. On February 28, 1864, Union troops descended from two points outside Richmond, led by General Judson Kilpatrick and Colonel Ulric Dahlgren. The 22-year-old son of Rear Admiral Dahlgren, Ulric had lost a leg shortly after Gettysburg, but still could outride anyone despite his wooden leg and crutch. The raid began on schedule but quickly fell apart -- Confederate foreknowledge and trouble finding a ford across the James River were major factors. As Union troops retreated, Dahlgren was killed. Confederates took from him a memorandum, a finger (for its ring), and his wooden leg, then casually buried him next to a road.

Southern officials claimed Dahlgren carried orders to burn and sack the city, and kill President Davis and his Cabinet. It's never been authenticated that the 'memorandum' he had indeed said these things. The Union soldiers were portrayed as "assassins, barbarians, thugs ... redolent of more hellish purposes than were the Goth, the Hun or the Saracen." The newspapers said no one knew where he was buried; "Friends and relatives in the North need inquire no further." But, in fact, President Davis ordered Dahlgren's body to be placed in a coffin and reburied secretly among thousands of Union graves in Richmond. This was done at night.

But Elizabeth found out where. She wrote that a Negro was "in the burying ground at night ... entirely accidentally, or rather providentially" and he marked Dahlgren's grave. She then managed a stealth job of body stealing and transfer through Confederate lines. Late one night, four men dug up the rough casket, claimed the body and rushed it to W.C. Rowley's farm, where Elizabeth waited. She transferred the body to a new metal coffin,

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which they reburied on a farm outside Richmond. Afterwards, she ciphered a message about the exploit to General Butler, but Dahlgren's father had already asked for and gained permission for his son's remains to be returned. When Confederate soldiers found nothing in the coffin, Richmond buzzed with a mystery that was not cleared up until after the war.

Elizabeth was almost caught once when an expected Union scout had not arrived to pick up a requested up-to-date report on Richmond's defenses. As she walked down the street wondering how to send her message, a man walked by and murmured, "I'm going through tonight." She thought it odd that the agent didn't identify himself, but maybe he had an urgent reason. She hurried to pass him and again heard, "I'm going through the lines tonight." She thought better of it; too risky. The next day as a Confederate regiment marched by, Elizabeth recognized the man. Belle Boyd had been caught in a similar trap.

As Union troops under General Grant moved closer, Elizabeth could send messages almost daily through a five-point system -- from her mansion to the farm and beyond. Grant would request specific information, which she steadily conveyed. General Sharpe said later that "the greater portion" of information transmitted to the Union army in 1864-65 "in its collection and in a good measure in its transmission, we owed to the intelligence and devotion of Miss E.L. Van Lew."

In February 1865, Elizabeth was almost caught again. Union officials sent an Englishman named Pole, predicting spying ....... He met many Union sympathizers, including Elizabeth. In her diary, she wrote of her suspicion and anxiety -- this turned to terror when Pole rushed to Confederate headquarters and told all. Two Union agents were arrested and Elizabeth waited for her turn. But it never came; apparently Pole did not have enough to implicate her.

On a Sunday early in April, General Robert E. Lee's lines had given way. Confederates were marching out of Richmond and the town was in a panic. Fires spread, shells exploded, and gunboats and powder magazines were blown up. The prisons were emptied and Union soldiers taken out of Richmond. Elizabeth was determined to make a grand gesture, no matter the cost.

She and her servants got up on her roof and unfurled a smuggled-in 34-star Union flag. It was the first to fly over Richmond in four years. A howling mob gathered, shouting, "God damn the old devil" and "Burn her place down!" Crazy Bet stood on the porch to confront them. "I know you, and you ...," she said, screaming their names and pointing them out. "General Grant will be in town in an hour. You do one thing to my home, and all of yours will be burned before noon!" The mob took her seriously and backed off.

Elizabeth had one last assignment. At the Confederate Capitol, she searched among ashes for secret documents the Union might need. A special guard found her there; he had been sent by General Grant, knowing she would face danger that day. Later, the general paid a visit to Miss Van Lew, drinking tea and talking politics on the porch. For the rest of her life, Elizabeth kept Grant's calling card.

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After the war, President Grant appointed Van Lew as postmistress of Richmond from 1869 to 1877, but because of her loyalty to the Union, she was ostracized by the community. She wrote: "No one will walk with us on the street, no one will go with us anywhere; and it grows worse and worse as the years roll on." She was not re-appointed by President Rutherford Hayes, but did secure clerical work at the Post Office Department in Washington, D.C. When President Grover Cleveland's administration reassigned her, she resigned.

Elizabeth had spent most of her family's wealth on her wartime activities, and so lived in poverty in the Van Lew mansion with her niece and 40 cats. She lived only on an annuity from the family of a Union soldier she had helped in Libby Prison. Still an activist in her late 60s, she continued to fight for women's rights by protesting against paying taxes. She asserted that, since women could not vote, they were enduring unconstitutional taxation without representation. After her niece passed away, she spent her last ten years living alone.

At the age of 81 years old, Elizabeth died in her home on September 25, 1900. She was buried in the Van Lew family plot in Richmond's Shockoe Cemetery. Relatives of Union soldiers whom Elizabeth had helped donated her tombstone, which reads:

"She risked everything that is dear to man -- friends, fortune, comfort, health, life itself , all for the one absorbing desire of her heart -- that slavery might be abolished and the Union preserved.This Boulder from the Capitol Hill in Boston is a tribute from Massachusetts friends."

[Side Note Connection: Two servants in Elizabeth's mansion -- Elizabeth Draper and William Mitchell -- were the parents of Maggie Walker, who became the first woman bank president in the U.S. She also supervised children's groups through the Independent Order of St. Luke's and was active in groups to improve race relations and civil rights. When she died in 1934, she was very wealthy and living in a 25-room mansion of her own, which was declared a National Historic Site in 1978. See also.]

DATE OF DEATH: September 25, 1900

PLACE OF DEATH: Richmond, Virginia

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Buranelli, Vincent. American Spies and Traitors. Enslow, 2004.

Colman, Penny. Spies!: Women in the Civil War. Shoe Tree Press, 1992.

Commire, Anne, editor. Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia. Yorkin Publications, 2002.

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James, Edward T., editor. Notable American Women, 1607 - 1950. The Belknap Press of Harvard University, 1971.

Kane, Harnett T. Spies for the Blue and Gray. Doubleday, 1954.

Ryan, David D., editor. A Yankee Spy in Richmond : the Civil War Diary of "Crazy Bet" Van Lew. Stackpole Books, 1996.

Varon, Elizabeth. Southern Lady, Yankee Spy: The True Story of Elizabeth Van Lew, a Union Agent in the Heart of the Confederacy. Oxford University Press, 2003.

[Fictionalized Account: Jakober, Marie. Only Call Us Faithful. Forge, 2004.]

WEB SITES:

Elizabeth "Crazy Bet" Van Lew: Grant's Spy in Richmond - The Home of the American Civil War, Biographies

A biographical sketch of "Crazy Bet" Elizabeth Van Lew - Civil War Web

Elizabeth Van Lew - Women's History: About.com

Elizabeth Van Lew - Women in the Civil War

Elizabeth Van Lew and Mary Elizabeth Bowser - About Famous People

Women in the Civil War: Elizabeth Van Lew - Civil War Talk

Van Lew House / Elizabeth Van Lew - Civil War Richmond - Newspaper Articles and Images

Shockoe Cemetary: Elizabeth L. Van Lew - Richmond Liberation Day Memorial Celebration: To Honor the 135th anniversary of the U.S. Colored Troops role in the liberation of Richmond, Virginia, April 3rd 1865.

• Rosetta Wakeman (1843-1864) - Posed as a male to serve in Union Army during Civil War.

WEB SITES:

Women Soldiers of the Civil War from the National Archives

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Why Did Women Fight in the Civil War? - Civil War Studies at The Smithsonian Associates

• Madame C.J. Walker (1867-1919) - African-American entrepreneur, millionaire and philanthropist.

Photo courtesy of theA'Lelia Bundles/Walker Family Collection

may not be reproduced without permission

NAME: Madam C.J. Walker (birth name Sarah Breedlove)

DATE OF BIRTH: December 23, 1867

PLACE OF BIRTH: Delta, Louisiana

DATE OF DEATH: May 25, 1919

PLACE OF DEATH: New York, New York

FAMILY BACKGROUND: Sarah Breedlove, who later became known as Madam C. J. Walker, was born into a former-slave family to parents Owen and Minerva Breedlove. She had one older sister, Louvenia and brothers Alexander, James, Solomon and Owen, Jr. Her parents had been slaves on Robert W. Burney's Madison Parish farm which was a battle-staging area during the Civil War for General Ulysses S. Grant and his Union troops. She became an orphan at age 7 when her parents died during an epidemic of yellow fever. To escape the epidemic and failing cotton crops, the ten year old Sarah and her sister moved across the river to Vicksburg in 1878 and obtained work as maids. At the age of fourteen, Sarah married Moses McWilliams to escape her sister's abusive husband. They had a daughter, Lelia (later known as A'Lelia Walker, a central figure in the Harlem

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Renaissance). When Lelia was only two years old, McWilliams died. Sarah's second marriage to John Davis August 11, 1894 failed and ended sometime in 1903. She married for the third time in January, 1906 to newspaper sales agent, Charles Joseph Walker; they divorced around 1910.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Madam Walker was an entrepreneur who built her empire developing hair products for black women. She claims to have built her company on an actual dream where a large black man appeared to her and gave her a formula for curing baldness. When confronted with the idea that she was trying to conform black women's hair to that of whites, she stressed that her products were simply an attempt to help black women take proper care of their hair and promote its growth.

Illustration courtesy of theA'Lelia Bundles/Walker Family Collection

may not be reproduced without permission

Madam Walker was quite the business woman. Her third husband, Charles Joseph Walker and her daughter Lelia had key roles in the growth and day-to-day operations of the business. In September, 1906 Madam Walker and her husband toured the country promoting their products and training sales agents while Lelia ran a mail-order operation from Denver. From 1908 to 1910 they operated a beauty training school, the Lelia College for Walker Hair Culturists, in Pittsburgh. In 1910 they moved the central operations to Indianapolis, then the country's largest manufacturing base, to utilize that city's access to eight major railway systems. At this height of success, Madam Walker gathered a group of key principals to run the company, and she and her husband divorced.

She became an inspiration to many black women. Fully recognizing the power of her wealth and success she lectured to promote her business which in turn empowered other women in business. She gave lectures on black issues at conventions sponsored by powerful black institutions. She also encouraged black Americans to support the cause of World War I and worked to have black veterans granted full respect.

After the bloody East St. Louis Race Riot of 1917, Madam Walker devoted herself to having lynching made a federal crime. In 1918 she was the keynote speaker at many National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) fund raisers for the anti-lynching effort throughout the Midwest and East. She was honored later that summer by the National Association of Colored Women (NACW) for making the largest contribution to saving the home of abolitionist Frederick Douglass. She donated large sums of money to the NAACP's anti-lynching campaign and later in her life revised her will to support black schools, organizations, individuals, orphanages, retirement homes, as well as YWCAs and YMCAs.

Madam Walker's home, Villa Lewaro, was built in August of 1918 on Irvington-on-Hudson, New York. Her neighbors included industrialists Jay Gould and John D.

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Rockefeller. The grand estate served not only as her home but as a conference center for summits of race leaders to discuss current issues.

Madam Walker died at Villa Lewaro at the age of 51 on Sunday, May 25, 1919 from complications of hypertension. Upon her death she was considered to be the wealthiest African-American woman in America and known to be the first African-American woman millionaire. Some sources cite her as the first self-made American woman millionaire. Her daughter Lelia succeeded her as president of the C. J. Walker Manufacturing Company.

Madam Walker (front row center) with some of her Cleveland, Ohio agents.Photo courtesy of the

A'Lelia Bundles/Walker Family Collectionmay not be reproduced without permission

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Bundles, A'Lelia Perry. On Her Own Ground: the Life and Times of Madam C.J. Walker. New York: Scribner, 2001.

Lasky, Kathryn. Vision of Beauty: the Story of Sarah Breedlove Walker. Cambridge: Candlewick Press, 2000.

National Negro Business League, "Report of the Thirteenth Annual Convention," Chicago, 1912.

"Wealthiest Negro Woman's Suburban Mansion: Estate at Irvington, Overlooking Hudson and Containing All the Attractions That a Big Fortune Commands." New York Times Magazine. November 4, 1917.

WEB SITES

Madam Walker - includes biographical information, data on the USPS Commemorative stamp, excerpt from On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C. J. Walker.

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Madame C. J. Walker from Black Inventor Online Museum

Two American Entrepreneurs: Madam C.J. Walker and J.C. Penney National Park Service - Teaching with Historic Places

Madame C.J. Walker (Sarah Breedlove McWilliams Walker): Inventor,Businesswoman

QUOTE: "I got myself a start by giving myself a start." New York Times Magazine, November 4, 1917.

• Hazel Mountain Walker (1900-1980) - African-American attorney, school principal, actress at Karamu

NAME: Hazel Mountain Walker

DATE OF BIRTH: February 16, 1889

PLACE OF BIRTH: Warren, Ohio

DATE OF DEATH: May 16, 1980

PLACE OF DEATH: Cleveland, Ohio

FAMILY BACKGROUND: Hazel Mountain Walker was born the daughter of Charles and Alice (Bronson) Mountain. Walker married George Herbert Walker on June 28, 1922; he died in 1956. She married Joseph R. Walker of Massachusetts in 1961. She did not have any children.

EDUCATION: Hazel attended Cleveland Normal Training School and in 1909 earned a Bachelor's and Master's in Education from Western Reserve University. During the summers, when she was not teaching, Hazel worked towards a Law Degree at Baldwin-Wallace College where she earned her degree and passed the bar in 1919; her motivation was not to become a lawyer but rather to prove that black women could become lawyers.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Walker taught students who came from homes where no English was spoken and/or their families could not read at the Mayflower Elementary School from 1909-36. She also tutored black children from the juvenile court system who were from the South and having trouble adjusting to Cleveland schools. She became principal at Rutherford B. Hayes Elementary School in 1936 and in 1954 became the principal at George Washington Carver Elementary School until she retired in 1958. In

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1961 Hazel was elected to serve on the Ohio State Board of Education; she resigned in 1963 and them moved out of state.

Walker was one of the first African Americans to be a part of the Women's City Club. Walker is attributed with naming Karamu House in 1924 where she was a member and actress. She was a member of the Cuyahoga County Republican Party executive committee during the 1930s.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Morton, Marian J. Women In Cleveland: an Illustrated History. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1995.

WEB SITES:

Encyclopedia of Cleveland History entry

• Katherine Walker (1846-1931) - Lighthouse keeper at Robin's Reef, New York, commissioned by U.S. Coast Guard.

WEB SITES

Katherine Walker - U. S. Coast Guard

U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Katherine Walker history

• Mary Edwards Walker (1832-1919) - Prisoner of war during the Civil War, writer, doctor, fashion trend-setter and the only female to receive the Medal of Honor.

DATE OF BIRTH: November 26, 1832

PLACE OF BIRTH: Oswego, New York

FAMILY BACKGROUND:

Mary was the youngest of five daughters, followed by one son, born to Alvah and Vesta Walker. Her father was a carpenter-farmer and abolitionist who believed in free thinking and many of the reform movements in the mid-1800s – including education and equality for his daughters, as well as dress reform (feeling their movements and abilities were

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impaired by the tight-fitting women’s clothing of the time). The girls provided farm labor, so their father did not expect them to wear restrictive corsets and such attire while working. He also intended all of his children to be educated and pursue professional careers.

EDUCATION:

Alvah built the town of Oswego’s first schoolhouse on his land and all of his children were educated there. Mary and two of her older sisters graduated from Falley Seminary in Fulton, New York, and became teachers, with Mary teaching in Minetto, New York in 1852. But early on she had shown an interest in her father’s medical books, so was encouraged to pursue this career. While teaching she saved money and, in December 1853, enrolled in Syracuse Medical College (the first medical school in the U.S. and one that equally accepted men and women). After three 13-week semesters of medical training, in which she paid $55 each semester, Mary graduated in June 1855. At 21 years old, she was the only woman in her class, and the second female doctor in the nation.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

Mary led a life of controversy, most likely fostered by her father (also, the first Women’s Rights Convention was held in nearby Seneca Falls, New York, in 1848). She became an early supporter of women’s rights and passionately spoke about dress reform. When Amelia Bloom (in her Ladies’ Temperance Newspaper, the Lily) defended a colleague’s right to wear “Turkish pantaloons,” she unwittingly gave her name to them, as they came to be known as “bloomers.” Most early feminists stopped wearing them out of societal pressure and taunting (bloomers didn’t gain popular acceptance until the end of the century when women began bicycling), but not Mary. She heartily discarded restrictive attire, instead wearing pants, a high-collared undergarment and a dress coat that was gathered at the waist and ended just below the knees.

In 1856, at her wedding to Albert Miller, another physician, Mary wore trousers and a man’s coat. Their wedding vows did not include anything about ‘obeying.’ And she kept her own last name. They began a joint medical practice in Rome, New York, but many people were not ready for a woman physician so the practice floundered. (Mary had originally begun her own medical practice in Columbus, Ohio, her aunt’s hometown, but people there were also reluctant to see a woman physician.) Albert apparently was unfaithful and so, four years later, they separated with Mary moving into smaller rooms for living and working. Apparently, she did enjoy some success in her medical practice. The Rome Sentinel said of one of her ads, “Those … who prefer the skill of a female physician … have now an excellent opportunity to make their choice.”

In 1857, Mary began writing to Sybil, a publication of Dr. Lydia Sayer Hasbrouck. She wrote that women’s attire was a barrier to their good health and productive labor. She promoted her style of dress (much like that proposed by Amelia Bloomer), saying hoops under skirts and corsets restricted circulation in the legs, placed too much weight on the shoulders, and picked up dirt. And, she added, these styles made traveling cumbersome

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for women and annoying for men. Mary’s published opinions were printed in the program of the second Reform-Dress Association Convention in Syracuse and, that December, she lectured on it in Black River, New York. In 1860, she was one of nine vice presidents elected at the National Dress Reform Association Convention.

That same summer, Mary stayed with a family friend in Delhi, Iowa, hoping to secure a divorce (Iowa having more lenient laws), but she returned to Rome without the divorce the next summer, most likely due to the outbreak of the Civil War. In July 1861, just after the Battle of Bull Run, Mary went to Washington, D.C., to join the Army as a medical officer. She was denied, so she volunteered – serving as acting assistant surgeon at the hospital set up in the U.S. Patent Office. Her superior, Dr. J.N. Green, recommended that she be commissioned, but she never was. Her authority during this time grew to be comparable to Green’s. With her volunteer status, Mary could move about freely; she accompanied a severely wounded soldier home to Rhode Island. She also helped organize the Women’s Relief Association for lodging for wives, mothers and children of soldiers in Washington. On occasion, she brought these women to her home.

In 1862, Mary went to Forest Hall Prison in Georgetown, but felt her services were not especially needed so she returned to New York. She earned a second medical degree from Hygeia Therapeutic College and, by November, returned to Washington. After the Battle of Fredricksburg, Mary worked as a field surgeon near the Union front lines, treating soldiers in a tent hospital. She tried to increase positive outcomes by advising stretcher bearers to not carry wounded soldiers downhill with the head below the feet. Although she probably did not perform amputations, she felt many were unnecessary and encouraged several soldiers to refuse them.

In September 1863, Mary was appointed assistant surgeon to the 52nd Ohio Infantry in the Cumberland, based in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and wore a slightly modified version of an officer’s uniform, carrying two pistols at all times. General George H. Thomas dispatched her, as the regiment’s previous doctor had died. The men were outraged; Dr. Perin, director of the medical staff, called it a “medical monstrosity” and requested a review by an Army medical board of Mary’s qualifications, doubting she knew much more than “most housewives.” Plus, many of the men believed, her many trips into Confederate territory to help civilians was a cover for spying.

On April 10, 1864, wearing her uniform, she walked into a band of Confederate soldiers just south of the Georgia-Tennessee border and was taken hostage. For four months Mary was imprisoned at Castle Thunder, near Richmond, Virginia. She complained about the lack of grain and vegetables for prisoners and the Confederates added wheat bread and cabbage to the rations. On August 12, 1864, she was exchanged, along with 24 other Union doctors, for 17 Confederate doctors. She was proud that her exchange was for a Confederate surgeon of the rank of major.

Mary returned to the Ohio 52nd as a contract surgeon (apparently the men had grown to respect her; she even visited the regiment after the war ended.) And she continued her appeal for a commission, which went all the way to President Lincoln, but was refused.

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In September she was granted $432.36 for her services from March 11, although she’d been imprisoned most of it. On October 5, 1864, Mary finally was commissioned, as acting assistant surgeon, with $100 monthly salary – becoming the first female surgeon commissioned in the Army. She served six months administering patients at the Louisville Women’s Prison Hospital and then finished out the war serving at an orphan asylum in Clarksville, Tennessee. She was discharged on June 15, 1865.

For all her wartime service, Mary was paid $766.16, and later received a monthly pension of $8.50 (later raised to $20) – less than some widows’ pensions. She had sustained an eye injury that led to partial muscular atrophy, which earned her the $8.50 pension. Believing the problem to be temporary, Mary had refused an earlier offer of $25 a month. As the problem intensified and interfered with her medical practice, in 1872, she asked for $24 a month, or a $100,000 lump sum. Her petition was rejected (reportedly because of her unorthodox wardrobe). In 1890, she finally was granted the $20 a month pension.

Upon recommendation of Major Generals William T. Sherman and George H. Thomas, on November 11, 1865, President Andrew Johnson signed a bill to present Dr. Mary Edwards Walker with the Congressional Medal of Honor for Meritorious Service. The citation recognized her:

“valuable service to the Government,” devoting “herself with much patriotic zeal to the sick and wounded soldiers, both in the field and hospitals, to the detriment of her own health,” and enduring “hardships as a prisoner of war.” The citation also stated that “by reason of her not being a commissioned officer in the military service, a brevet or honorary rank cannot, under existing laws, be conferred upon her” so, therefore, “in the opinion of the President an honorable recognition of her services and sufferings should be made.”

Mary Edwards Walker was – and remains – the only woman ever to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor – the highest military award of the U.S. at the time.

In 1917, Congress revised the standards for the Medal of Honor to include only “actual combat with an enemy,” and took away the medals of 911 honorees, including Mary. But she refused to give it back, despite it becoming a crime to wear an ‘unearned’ medal. She had worn it, and continued to wear it, from the day she got it until she died. Mary’s great-grandniece Ann Walker fought for years to have the medal restored. Finally on June 11, 1977, President Carter reinstated Mary’s medal, citing her “distinguished gallantry, self-sacrifice, patriotism, dedication and unflinching loyalty to her country, despite the apparent discrimination because of her sex.” Today, it’s on display in the Pentagon’s women’s corridor.

After the war ended, Mary worked to get relief bills for war nurses, but the Congressional bills died in committee. She also began writing and lecturing throughout the U.S. and abroad on women’s rights, dress reform, health and temperance issues. She argued that tobacco resulted in paralysis and insanity, and women’s clothing was immodest and inconvenient. From 1866-67, she toured Great Britain. In 1866, she was elected president

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of the National Dress Reform Association. She was proud that she was arrested several times for ‘impersonating a man’ – she had taken to fully wearing men’s clothing, from the top hat, wing collar and bow tie to the pants and shoes. In September 1866, she helped Susan B. Anthony and Lucy Stone organize the Women’s Suffrage Association for Ohio. She also coordinated activities for the Central Women’s Suffrage Bureau.

In 1868, Mary and Belva Lockwood testified before the Judiciary Committee of the District of Columbia House of Delegates, on a bill to allow women in D.C. to vote. The bill failed. So she, Belva and five others filed petitions before the D.C. election board to be registered to vote. Mary argued, “You imprison women for crimes you have forbidden women to legislate upon.” The petition was denied. In 1872, she tried to vote in Oswego, while Susan B. Anthony was indicted and fined for illegally voting in Rochester.

Most of the suffrage leadership decided to fight for a constitutional amendment, rather than continuing the multiple fights for suffrage in the states. Mary adamantly believed the Constitution, with “We the People” being non-gender-specific, meant an amendment was unnecessary. She felt the suffragists needed state acts making restrictions on women’s voting rights null and void. Then, she felt, women could be electors for the House of Representatives. Here, Mary and the mainstream suffrage movement parted ways.

In 1869, Mary finally received her divorce from New York state. Two years later, she wrote her first book, “Hit,” which was a combination autobiography and commentary on divorce. She called for more equitable laws so wives and children could escape unhappy homes; this requiring women’s ability to vote. She wrote:

“[U]ntil women have a voice in making [laws], they must of necessity be imperfect, as are all laws, where … woman has had no voice in their making.”

She also believed marriage should be a “contract” between “equal” partners, writing:

“No young lady, when she is being courted … for a moment supposes that her lover can … ever wish her to be his slave.”

In 1878, Mary wrote her second book, “Unmasked, or The Science of Immortality,” about infidelity. (The Library of Congress catalogues this book under “sexual ethics” and “hygiene.” It has no record of “Hit.”)

In 1880, Mary’s father passed away, leaving her the Bunker Hill Farm. She lived here until she passed away, traveling from Oswego to Washington when necessary. She planned to use the farm as a colony to teach young single women farming and domestic skills before marriage. In April 1917, while World War I raged on, she offered Kaiser Wilhelm II her land as a site for a German-American peace conference.

In 1890, Mary declared herself a candidate for Congress in Oswego. The next year, she campaigned for a U.S. Senate seat and, the following year, paid her way to the Democratic National Convention.

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In 1917, while in Washington, Mary fell on the Capitol steps. She was 85 years old and never fully recovered. She died two years later, on February 21, 1919, while staying at a neighbor’s home in Oswego. Almost penniless, Mary was not so much remembered for her service to her country as she was for being “that shocking female surgeon in trousers!” She was buried in the Rural Cemetery. That same year, the 19th Amendment was ratified.

In 1982, the U.S. Post Office issued a 20-cent stamp honoring Dr. Mary Walker as the first woman to have been awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor and as the second woman to graduate from a medical school in the U.S. In 2000, Mary Edwards Walker was inducted into the Women’s Hall of Fame at Seneca Falls, New York.

DATE OF DEATH: February 21, 1919

PLACE OF DEATH: Oswego, New York

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Commire, Anne, editor. Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia. Waterford, Conn: Yorkin Publications, 2000.

Doherty, Kieran. Congressional Medal of Honor Recipients. Springfield, NJ: Enslow Publishers, 1998.

Harness, Cheryl. Rabble Rousers: 20 Women Who Made a Difference. New York: Dutton Children's Books, 2003.

Leonard, Elizabeth D. Yankee Women: Gender Battles in the Civil War. New York: W.W. Norton, 1994.

Mikaelian, Allen. Medal of Honor: Profiles of America's Military Heroes from the Civil War to the Present. Hyperion Audiobooks, 2002.

Roberts, Russell. American Women of Medicine. Berkeley Heights, NJ: Enslow Publishers, 2002.

United States Congress, Committee on the Judiciary. Woman Suffrage: Hearings before the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, Sixty-second Congress, Second Session. February 14 [March 13] 1912. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1912. [Available at Cleveland Public Library (main branch) on microfiche.]

WEB SITES:

Civil War Congressional Medal of Honor - Dr. Mary Edwards Walker, The Only Woman Medal of Honor Recipient and Slightly Ahead of Her Time

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Mary Walker, Medal of Honor Awardee – North Georgia Notables website

About Mary Edwards Walker – Women's History website

Mary Edwards Walker, Civil War Doctor – Woman of Courage profile written and produced by the St. Lawrence County, NY Branch of the American Association of University Women

QUOTE:

“ Let the generations know that women in uniform also guaranteed their freedom.” – Dr. Mary Edwards Walker

• Mae West (1892-1980) First to earn a million dollars in the movie business.

WEB SITES

Mae West Biography : Glamour Gallery

Mae West Homepage

Mae West - Biography.com

• Phillis Wheatley (175?-1784) - First noted African-American woman poet.

Narrative and Critical History of America Vol. 8 Houghton Mifflin Company © www.arttoday.com

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NAME: Phillis Wheatley

DATE OF BIRTH: c. 1753-5

PLACE OF BIRTH: Gambia, Africa

DATE OF DEATH: December, 1784

PLACE OF DEATH: Boston, Massachusetts as a result of childbirth

FAMILY BACKGROUND: Phillis Wheatley was a slave child of seven or eight and sold to John and Susanna Wheatley in Boston on July 11, 1761. Her first name was apparently derived from the ship that carried her to America, The Phillis.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: During her life, while it was not common for American women to be published, it was especially uncommon for children of slaves to be educated at all. Her gift of writing poetry was encouraged by her owners and their daughter, Mary; they taught Phillis to read and write, with her first poem being published at the age of twelve, "On Messrs. Hussey and Coffin." The countess of Huntingdon, Selina Hastings, was a friend of the Wheatley's who greatly encouraged and financed the publication of her book of poetry, Poems. Obour Tanner, a former slave who made the journey through the middle passage with Phillis also was one of the chief influences and supporters of Phillis' craft.

She was especially fond of writing in the elegiac poetry style, perhaps mirroring the genre of oration taught to her through the women in her African American tribal group. Her elegy on a popular evangelical Methodist minister, George Whitefield, brought her instant success upon his death. She also was well versed in Latin which allowed her to write in the epyllion (short epic) style with the publication of "Niobe in Distress."

Phillis' popularity as a poet both in the United States and England ultimately brought her freedom from slavery on October 18, 1773. She even appeared before General Washington in March, 1776 for her poetry and was a strong supporter of independence during the Revolutionary War. She felt slavery to be the issue which separated whites from true heroism: whites can not "hope to find/Deivine acceptance with th' Almighty mind" when "they disgrace/And hold in bondage Afric's blameless race."

Phyllis is remembered for many first time accomplishments from a woman of her day:

• First African American to publish a book• An accomplished African American woman of letters• First African American woman to earn a living from her writing• First woman writer encouraged and financed by a group of women (Mrs. Wheatley, Mary

Wheatly, and Selina Hastings.)

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Hunter, Jane Edna, 1882-1950. Phillis Wheatley : Life and Works. Cleveland: National Phillis Wheatley Foundation, 1948.

Renfro, G. Herbert. Life and Works of Phillis Wheatley. Salem: Ayer Company, Publishers, Inc., 1993.

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Robinson, William H., Phillis Wheatley in the Black American Beginnings (1975), Black New England Letters: The Uses of Writing in Black New England (1977) and Critical Essays on Phillis Wheatley (1982).

Shields, John C., The Collected Works of Phillis Wheatley (1988)

WEB SITES:

Voices from the Gaps: Phillis Wheatley Perspectives in American Literature: Phillis Wheatley Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia Library - An elegy, sacred to the memory of the great divine ... 1784 poem - Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral Biographical sketch PBS Liberty! Web page on Diversity - sketch of Phillis Wheatley

• Laura Ingalls Wilder (1867-1957) - Famed children’s author and “storyteller of the prairie.”

FULL NAME: Laura Elizabeth Ingalls Wilder

BIRTH DATE: February 7, 1867

BIRTHPLACE: Pepin, Wisconsin

DATE OF DEATH: February 10, 1957

PLACE OF DEATH: Mansfield, Missouri

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Anderson, William. Laura’s Album. 1998. Harper Collins Publishers, Inc.

Anderson, William. The Little House Guide Book. 1996. Harper CollinsPublishers, Inc.

Anderson, William. Prairie Girl. 2004. Harper Collins Publishers, Inc.

Garson, Eugenia. The Laura Ingalls Wilder Songbook. 1968. Harper andRow, Publishers.

Wadsworth, Ginger. Laura Ingalls Wilder. 1997. Lerner PublicationsCompany.

WEB SITES :

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Laura Ingalls Wilder, Frontier Girl

Laura Ingalls Wilder Historic Home and Museum

Laura Ingalls Wilder Memorial Society

Come to Little House - HarperCollins

• Victoria Woodhull (1838-1927) - First woman to run for President, center of a scandal

that rocked the nation.

NAME: Victoria Claflin Woodhull Blood Martin

DATE OF BIRTH: September 23, 1838

PLACE OF BIRTH: Homer, Licking County, Ohio

FAMILY BACKGROUND: Victoria was born fifth among seven children to Reuben Buckman ("Buck") Claflin and Roxanna (Hummel) Claflin. Buck was a gristmill operator, but had a get-rich-quick streak that led him to gambling, scheming and lawsuits. Roxanna was fiery tempered, quick-witted and inclined toward clairvoyance. She brought her children often to camp revivals in the woods by traveling preachers, especially Rev. Lyman Beecher (father of Victoria's later adversary), and would get caught up in religious ecstasy, whirling and speaking in tongues.

EDUCATION: Victoria was mostly self-taught.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Victoria inherited much of her mother's fiery personality, and was imitating preachers at a young age. She also showed signs of clairvoyance. At the age of 10, Victoria had visions in which Demosthenes (a prominent Greek statesman and orator of 4th century Athens) appeared as her patron saint. Her sister Tennessee ("Tennie") also shared the gift of "second sight." Their father saw his opportunity, changing his name to "Dr. R.B. Claflin, American King of Cancers," and taking his daughters on the road as psychic healers, and holding seances, complete with rapping sounds and moving furniture. She spent most of her youth traveling with her family's medicine show, telling fortunes, selling patent medicines, and performing a spiritualist act with her sister Tennessee.

At 15 years old, Victoria married Dr. Canning Woodhull, a Cincinnati doctor and patent medicine salesman, but also an alcoholic and womanizer. They had two children, Byron and Zulu (Zula?) Maude. For a short time, they lived in San Francisco, where Victoria worked as a cigar girl and actress (and most likely did a little prostitution for extra

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income). In 1860, they moved to New York City, where Tennie and their father had moved previously, and the sisters set up practice as "magnetic healers" and spiritualists. In 1864, in search of new clients, they moved to Cincinnati, then later to Chicago, and at times took the show on the road. By this time, Canning had essentially deserted Victoria and the children, coming home only for money. After 11 years of marriage, Victoria divorced Canning and, two years later, married Colonel James Harvey Blood; a courteous, educated and respected man who believed in Spiritualism and the doctrine of free love.

In that time, divorce was extremely rare and difficult for women to obtain in most states, and the double standard reigned. Men could have extramarital affairs without social repurcussions, or the fear or responsibility of pregnancy. Men could divorce an adulterous wife much easier than a wife could divorce an adulterous husband. Respectable women never admitted publicly to having even a hint of sexual desire. Prostitution was legal, and profitable for men who owned such buildings that housed them -- yet the women were shunned by society. The free love movement viewed marriage as an institution that could trap people into unhappy lives. The movement's advocates felt marriage should be viewed as a social partnership and, if some element were missing, the spouses should each be allowed to find that element through loving more than one individual.

Of course, the free love movement was denounced as radical and dangerous -- a threat to the sanctity of marriage and families. If people could have sex with anyone, who would take care of the children? Venereal disease would become rampant; it already was in the prostitution community and there were no cures at the time. There also were no reliable birth control methods. Free love advocates felt sexuality should be openly discussed and people not forced to deny their desires; thus eliminating the need for prositution and the spread of disease. They encouraged not licentiousness, but choosing partners based on mutual feelings, rather than the dictates of church and state. If people acted responsibly, they felt, marriage laws would not be needed.

Also, as a spiritualist (another popular movement at the time), Victoria felt the free love movement was compatible with the belief that the soul transcended the boundaries of the material world (marriage laws). Her views resembled anarchy, which was also considered a real threat to the country at the time. Politically, Victoria's views were closer to early communism, and she later was a member of the Marxist International Workingmen's Association for a time.

In 1866, Victoria and Colonel Blood settled in New York City with her sister and other family members. She opened a salon where the brightest and most articulate radicals of the day would meet to spar intellectually and she gained fame as a gifted conversationalist. In particular, Stephen Pearl Andrews and Massachusetts Congressman Benjamin F. Butler, both sympathizers of free love and women's right to vote, became close friends and schooled her in women's limitations in legal and political rights. The salon discussions focused largely on societal and political hypocrisies, with Victoria, Tennie and James pointing out whenever possible situations of individual rights being denied. In one example, the sisters arrived to dine at Delmonico's near Wall Street, but

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were denied service -- the unwritten rule being ladies were not welcome after 6 p.m. without a male escort. Tennie called in their carriage driver, who was seated with them for soup -- breaking conventional gender and rank codes as Delmonico's was forced to serve two independent women and an embarassed working-class man.

They also soon met financier and railroad magnate Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt. He was 76 years old, and his wife had just died in 1868. Tennie used her "magnetic powers" for arousal this time, becoming his lover, and using her clairvoyance to gain financial advice from the spirits. The sisters in turn later asked him for financial advice, making quite a lot of money in the stock market, and, with his silent backing, became the first women to establish a banking and brokerage firm on Wall Street: Woodhull, Claflin & Company. Newspapers hailed them as "The Queens of Finance" and "The Bewitching Brokers." Susan B. Anthony applauded it as "a new phase of the woman's rights question." Victoria's feeling was that:

"Woman's ability to earn money is better protection against the tyranny and brutality of men than her ability to vote."

The sisters were so successful that, in 1870, they began publishing Woodhull and Claflin's Weekly. The journal addressed all the controversial topics -- women's suffrage, labor relations and personal and social freedoms -- with the masthead stating "The Organ of the Most Advanced Thought and Purpose in the World!" They also published exposes on stock swindles, insurance frauds and corrupt Congressional land deals. The 16-page weekly claimed 20,000 subscribers and ran for six years. Through both ventures, Victoria demonstrated her ability as a woman (a married mother of two) to "successfully engage in business."

On April 2, 1870, Victoria announced in the New York Herald her plans to run for president of the United States -- the first woman to do so. It would be 50 years before women could vote, but there was no law preventing women from running for office. In addition, men of color had seats in Congress and several State legislatures. Sexual equality seemed very likely. Her plan was to run independently and use the journal to publicize her campaign. Her platform was of social and political reform. She was most dedicated to free love but, as she learned more about how few rights women had, she also made voting rights her mission as well.

On January 11, 1871, Victoria appeared before the House Judiciary Committee -- the first women ever -- to deliver a memorial (a speech personally presented by a citizen before Congress, to persuade it to enact a law) on women suffrage. This caused quite a stir. By now a brilliant orator, Victoria stated that women already had the right to vote, since the 14th and 15th amendments granted the right to all citizens. She argued that all women had to do was use their right. It was no surprise when the congressional majority report was not favorable, but the minority report (signed by Benjamin Butler) gave the strongest official argument to date in favor.

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Victoria's speech was so impressive, the suffragists invited her to speak at their National Women Suffrage Association convention the next day. (Actually, her speech pre-empted their convention; they moved it a day later to hear what Victoria had to say.) Its leaders, Susan B. Anthony, Isabella Beecher Hooker (sister to Harriet Beecher Stowe), Lucretia Mott, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, admired Victoria, defending her beliefs and welcoming the publicity she brought to their issue. Her speech also catapulted her into leadership with the suffrage movement. Victoria's many speeches were not subtle and genteel; they were ablaze with passion and condemnation for Victorian hypocrisies and political inequities. Newspapers cited her as "the ablest advocate on Woman Suffrage, a woman of remarkable originality and power."

But her enemies grew. And of course she was judged by different standards than male politicians and reformers. Harriet Beecher Stowe parodied Victoria in a comic novel ("My Wife and I") as a brainless free lover who spoke of women's rights without knowing what they were. Another sister, Catherine Beecher, who wrote about women's role within family, lectured Victoria on morality and threatened to bring her down if she continued promoting free love. Unfortunately, family conflicts also created bad publicity when her mother sued her husband James for improperly spending money. (Actually, her mother abhorred the fact that Victorica and her sister Tennessee were no longer under their parents' control; in particular, that they were not touring and fortune-telling any more.)

Newspapers revelled in publicizing life in the Claflin house, including lovers visiting and that Victoria's first husband was living in the same house with her and her current husband. (Doctor Woodhull had shown up, destitute, ill and addicted to morphine years earlier, and Victoria had taken him in to care for him.) The public was apalled. At one point, too, her mother had sent a blackmailing letter to Cornelius Vanderbilt, under the guise of it coming from Tennessee. His advice and financial backing naturally was withdrawn. Other people began accusing their brokerage firm of swindling money from them. Victoria was incensed that she should have to defend her character when others lived similarly in private but were held in public as pillars of morality.

Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, a brother of the Beecher sisters (of whom two were publicly against Victoria and one was defending her) was such a pillar. A fiery evangelical minister, the reverend often railed at the pulpit denouncing sexual activity outside marriage, although he was rumored to have had numerous affairs with women in his parish, and some illegitimate children. At some point that year, Victoria found out that he had had an affair with Elizabeth Tilton, wife of Theodore Tilton (a former member of Beecher's New York parish and his best friend, as well as a well-known editor of religious and liberal newspapers, author, and titular head of the NWSA). Victoria was hesitant to reveal the affair, knowing it would harm the spouses and children. So she sent vague letters to the newspapers, and wrote editorials in her newspaper, about a love scandal involving "teachers of eminence." Through these, she met Theodore, who became an admirer of hers and later published a biography of Victoria.

On November 20, 1871, Victoria appeared at Steinway Hall to speak on "The Principles of Social Freedom." For days beforehand, she had been urging the reverend to introduce

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her -- not only to stave off the public airing of his affair with Lib Tilton, but also to provide validation and respectability to herself and her political goals. In addition, she hoped it would help end the written attacks from the reverend's two sisters. He did not answer her written appeals, so she insisted on a personal interview, the afternoon of the speech. In her book, Other Powers: The Age of Suffrage, Spiritualism and the Scandalous Victoria Woodhull (an exceptionally well-researched work), Barbara Goldsmith wrote:

Beecher was fully aware of the Damoclean sword Woodhull held over his head, but still he resisted. When all of her arguments seemed to fail she told Beecher that his attachment to Mrs. Tilton would surely be revealed to the public. "The only safety you have is in coming out as soon as possible as an advocate of social freedom and thus palliate, if you cannot completely justify your practices, by founding them at least on principle. Your introduction of me would bridge the way.""I cannot. I cannot!" Beecher cried out. "I should sink through the floor. I'm a moral coward on this subject and you know it. I am not fit to stand by you, who go there to speak what you know to be the truth. I should stand there a living lie."Beecher knelt on the sofa beside her, and clasped her face between his hands. He began to weep and to beg her, "Oh, let me off. Let me off."These histrionics had no doubt been effective in the past, for Beecher had used them often, but Victoria was not impressed with this "maudlin display." "Mr. Beecher, if I am compelled to go upon that platform alone, I shall begin by telling the audience why I am alone and why you are not with me."Beecher replied, "I cannot face this thing! I can never endure such a terror. Oh! if it must come, let me know of it ... in advance that I may take my own life."

After she left, Theodore and another friend tried persuading the reverend to introduce Victoria at the speech. He finally said he would, but by ten minutes after eight o'clock, he had not shown up. Without planning on it, Theodore escorted Victoria onstage and gave her a grand introduction, saying he would not "deny this woman the sacred right of free speech." Victoria read the speech, written as inoffensively as possible by Stephen Pearl Andrews on the changing attitudes toward social freedom from the sixteenth century to the present day. But when she reached the part about women's rights in the present day, Victoria began to veer from the prepared speech. The rapt, overflowing audience of 3,000 eagerly awaited her every word. As Goldmith wrote, "Victoria could feel the spirits all about her. It was these spirits for whom she spoke, all those suffering souls whose burden she carried on her frail shoulders." She declared:

"I do not care where it is that sexual commerce results from the dominant power of one sex over the other, compelling him or her to submission against the instincts of love. And where hate or disgust is present, whether it be in the gilded palaces of Fifth Avenue or in the lowliest purlieus of Greene Street, there is prostitution, and all the laws that a thousand State assemblies may pass cannot make it otherwise."

The crowd burst into wild applause and cries of "Hurrah!" But Victoria's envious sister Utica, sitting in a box seat that jutted partially onto the stage, was determined to bring

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down her sister. She began hissing. Fueled by laudanum and alcohol, Utica at 30 years old had been drinking half her life. She never garnered the attention or success from fortune-telling that Victoria or Tennesse had had, so she'd been forced by her father to help her mother make the intoxicating "medicine" her father sold. Both Utica and the mother were always inebriated to some degree by this time. Still pretty, however, Utica beamed a beatific smile and called out to her sister on stage, "How would you like to come into this world without knowing who your father was?" Victoria was thrown off guard, the audience began to hiss. She struggled and began to regain command, saying, in part:

"I have a better right to speak, as one having authority in this matter, than most of you have, since it has been my province to study Free Love in all its various lights and shades. When I practiced clairvoyance, hundreds, aye thousands, of desolate, heart-broken men, as well as women, came to me for advice. ... The tales of horror, of wrongs inflicted and endured, which were poured into my ears, first awakened me to a realization of the hollowness and the rottenness of society and compelled me ... to ask the question whether it were not better to let the bound go free. In time, I was fully convinced that marriage laws were productive of precisely the reverse of that for which they are supposed to have been framed. ...I can see no moral difference between a woman who marries and lives with a man because he can provide for her wants and the woman who is not married but who is provided for at the same price. ... The sexual relation must be rescued from this insidious form of slavery. Women must rise from their position as ministers to the passions of men to be their equals. Their entire system of education must be changed. They must be trained like men, [to be] independent individuals, and not mere appendages or adjuncts of men, forming but one member of society. They must be the companions of men from choice, never from necessity."

Again, Utica stood, waving her white handkerchief to draw attention. Shouts went back and forth, a policeman appeared to escort Utica out, but an audience members cried, "Leave her alone." Finally, a voice called out, "Mrs. Woodhull, are you a free lover?" Victoria tried to skirt around it, but Utica interrupted, saying she did not answer the question. Finally, enraged, Victoria tore the signature white rose from the neck of her dress, flung the prepared speech to the floor, and exclaimed:

"Yes, I am a free lover! I have an unalienable, constitutional, and natural right to love whom I may, to love as long or as short a period as I can, to change that love every day if I please! And with the right neither you nor any law you can frame have any right to interfere."

Utica got what she wanted. The crowd went wild and no one could hear any more of what Victoria had to say. The most inflammatory parts of her speech were printed in the newspapers, and people railed against her. The family was evicted from their mansion, closing the salon. Yet she received more speaking engagements than ever and was still supported by the leaders of the NWSA. She also published a 250-page collection of essays, spelling out her campaign position on the problems facing the nation. In January

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1872, the NWSA held its annual convention and nominated Victoria to run for president -- 1500 men and women applauded their assent. Frederick Douglass (a famous orator, newspaper publisher, abolitionist, and former slave) was nominated as her vice presidential running mate.

Her opponents were Horace Greeley, editor of the Tribune, and Ulysses S. Grant. Susan B. Anthony pulled away from her support of Victoria, but Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Isabella Beecher Hooker remained ardent supporters. The campaign platform supported women's right to vote, work and love freely; nationalization of land; cost-based pricing to minimize excessive profits; more equal division of earnings between labor and capital; eradicatation of exorbitant interest rates; and free speech and free press. (For more on her platform, visit The Woodhull Platform.)

But more than the speeches and publications, Victoria learned, the convention alarmed "cowardly hearts." More unforeseen reprisals hit her personal life, business and reform activities. Unable to secure housing after the eviction, the family slept for weeks on the newspaper office floor. Her 12-year-old daughter took on an alias to attend school without harassment. They even had to suspend publishing the journal for four months, due to financial difficulties.

When they did resume publication, they acerbically revealed their personal and financial difficulties and printed two explicit exposes -- one on the Beecher-Tilton affair (which Victoria had recently revealed at last during a speech before the National Association of Spiritualists) and another on a licentious stockbroker, Luther Challis, who boasted his conquests of innocent young girls. The "scandal issue" shocked the nation. Victoria and Tennie were sued for criminal libel and for sending obscene literature through the mail (largely the Challis article). They endured weeks in more than one jail, a judge prejudiced against them, and hours of testimony on their private lives, and were found not guilty. -- Ironically, Victoria was in jail on Election Day 1872, when Ulysses S. Grant won.

Victoria and Tennie faced multiple charges relating to the "scandal issue" for almost two years, ultimately being found innocent of all charges. They ultimately paid about half a million dollars in fines and bail -- including $60,000 for an alleged misdemeanor. The government confiscated their printing press, personal papers and brokerage accounts. They received death threats and blackmail letters. And Victoria become known as "Wicked Woodhull." As much as they could, the sisters kept the public informed of their difficulties through their journal and Victoria's lectures.

Her sister Utica died in the summer of 1873 (an autopsy showed her addicted to "narcotics and stimulants" and that she died of Bright's Disease). Areporter found Victoria weeping near the coffin of the sister who had tried to ruin her. She reportedly said:

"Dead at thirty-one. Do you wonder that I should feel desperately in earnest to reform the evils of our social life when I remember what I have suffered in my own family? Opposed and misunderstood by my parents and sisters. Compelled to bear an idiot child

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by a drunken husband. Oh, my God! And the world thinks me only ambitious of notoriety."

In 1875, Theodore sued Rev. Beecher for willfully alienating himself from the affections of his wife, sparking a sensational trial of the century. Courtroom tickets were scalped to the highest bidders. Refreshment stands and souvenir booths popped up outside the courthouse. Although Theodore lost the case, Elizabeth Cady Stanton remarked that ultimately society was pulled "toward making the standard of tolerated behavior of men and women equal."

Victoria did not testify in that trial, and actually was retreating from the limelight by then. She and her mother had begun turning to the Bible and Catholicism. Colonel Blood no longer had a place in her life. In 1876, they divorced and the journal ceased publication. The next year, barely making a living through speaking and spiritual healing, Cornelius Vanderbilt died. He left the bulk of his millions to his eldest son; the others planned to contest and call Victoria and Tennie to testify to the Commodore's incompetency. Shortly afterward, she, Tennie and their mother left for England, living comfortably for years. It was assumed the elder Vanderbilt had safeguarded his inheritance.

In England, Victoria continued lecturing -- except now about the Bible, spiritualism and sexuality, with emphasis on the human body within the context of marriage and responsibility. At a lecture, she met retired conservative banker and millionaire John Biddulph Martin. They married in 1882. She also embraced humanitarian causes and took frequent trips back to the U.S. On one trip, she joined the small Humanitarian Party, which later nominated her as its presidential candidate in 1892. Her opponents were Grover Cleveland, of New York, and incumbent President Benjamin Harrison. Cleveland won. In 1895, she started The Humanitarian newspaper.

In England, on her new husband's estate in Worcestershire, she became interested in new methods of agriculture. After John died, she divided up one of the estate farms and rented small shares to women where they could learn farming techniques. She also established a school that experimented with the latest educational methods, and an annual agricultural show. She entertained the Prince of Wales, worked fervently during the first World War, and owned one of the first automobiles in England. She always had her chauffeur drive fast through the countryside. In trying to cheat death, Victoria took to sleeping upright in a chair during her last years. She died on June 9, 1927, at 88 years of age.

Unfortunately, perhaps because of the scandals, Victoria Woodhull has been effectively obscured by historians and even feminist organizations. Those who have written of her in history books emphasize her notoriety, while ignoring her serious abilities, notable achievements, remarkable courage, and worthy dreams -- many of which still have yet to be realized. More than 130 years later, no woman has made it to the White House. No person of color has made it to the Vice Presidency. Women are still largely accountable to a different standard than men. Money is still a major obstacle for candidates. The private lives of public figures are still an issue. And, while women have made it to various public offices, they are still judged more on personal issues and looks than men.

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DATE OF DEATH: June 9, 1927

PLACE OF DEATH: Worcestershire, England

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Brody, Miriam. Victoria Woodhull: Free Spirit for Women's Rights. Oxford, NY: Oxford University Press, 2003.

Commire, Anne, editor. Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia. Waterford, Conn.: Yorkin Publications, 1999-2000.

Gabriel, Mary. Notorious Victoria: The Life of Victoria Woodhull, Uncensored. Algonquin, 1997.

Goldsmith, Barbara. Other Powers: Victoria Woodhull and the Age of Suffrage, Scandal and Spiritualism. New York: A.A. Knopf, 1998.

Johnston, Johanna. Mrs. Satan: The Incredible Saga of Victoria C. Woodhull. NY: Putman, 1967.

Sachs, Emanie. The Terrible Siren. NY: Harper & Bros., 1928.

Sears, Hal D. The Sex Radicals: Free Love in High Victorian America. Lawrence, KS: The Regents Press of Kansas, 1977.

Tilton, Theodore. The Life of Victoria Claflin Woodhull. NY: Golden Age, 1871.

Underhill, Lois Beachy. The Woman Who Ran for President: The Many Lives of Victoria Woodhull. Bridgehampton, N.Y.: Bridge Works Pub.; Lanham, MD: Distributed by National Book Network, 1995.

WEB SITES:

Victoria Woodhull - Ohio Women of Note, Ohioana Library

Victoria Woodhull, the Spirit to Run the White House - Website dedicated to Victoria Woodhull, including a biography, her 1872 platform and campaign song, Woodhull & Claflin's Weekly archives, and numerous links

Victoria C. Woodhull: 1872 Legal Contender - Feminist Geek, an historical sketch by Susan Kullmann

Victoria Woodhull - National Women's History Project, a timeline plus print and online resources

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Who Is Victoria Woodhull? - Victoria Woodhull website, the trials of 1873-75

The Notorious Adulter Trial of the Reverend Henry Ward Beecher - FindLaw.Com

Henry Ward Beecher - Answers.Com, including his biography, writings and the Tilton-Beecher trial

"Victoria Claflin Woodhull, Feminist and Spiritualist Firebrand" - Feminista!, an essay by Trish Wilson

Who Was Victoria Woodhull? - The Woodhull Institute

"And the truth shall make you free." A speech on the principles of social freedom, delivered in Steinway hall, Nov. 20, 1871, by Victoria C. Woodhull... - American Memory Website; full text of the speech

A lecture on constitutional equality, delivered at Lincoln hall, Washington, D.C., Thursday, February 16, 1871 - American Memory; full text of the speech

Victoria C. Woodhull (photo) - William L. Clements Library, University of Michigan

QUOTE:

"The truth is that I am too many years ahead of this age and the exalted views and objects of humanitarianism can scarcely be grasped as yet by the unenlightened mind of the average man."

-- Victoria Woodhull, to a reporter after losing the 1892 election.

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