19th Amendment

This Week in 19th Amendment History: Nannie Helen Burroughs

May 20, 1961: Nannie Helen Burroughs Passes Away

Celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment with stories about the people and events that led to the passage of women’s suffrage in the United States.

Nannie Helen Burroughs, who was a leading educator, feminist and suffragist in the Washington, D.C., area throughout the early 20^th century, founded a school for girls and women and was an active member in her community.

Portrait of Nannie Helen Burroughs (left) and unidentified companion, ca. 1900. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Early Life

Burroughs was born on May 2, 1879, in rural Orange, Virginia. Both of her parents were formerly enslaved, and her father passed away when Burroughs was a young girl. She and her mother subsequently moved to Washington, D.C., where Burroughs spent the majority of her childhood.

She was an exemplary student and graduated with honors from the M Street High School, now the Paul Laurence Dunbar High School. Though she excelled academically, she was denied a teaching job in the Washington, D.C., public school system – however, this setback would not hinder her goal to further the education of those in need.

Nannie Helen Burroughs (center) and others at the National Training School in Washington, D.C., taken around 1909. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Training School

Burroughs then decided to establish her own school to educate and train African American women who could not pursue a traditional educational path. Burroughs brought her proposal to the National Baptist Convention, and the organization decided to support her idea. The group bought six acres of land in the Lincoln Heights area of Northwest Washington, D.C., but this was only the beginning of her journey to open the school. Not wanting to rely on wealthy white donors, Burroughs gained the support of small donations from African American women and children to raise the funds to open the school. Once the fiscal matters were in order, Burroughs was able to open the National Training School for Women and Girls in 1909.

Originally operating out of a small farmhouse on the property, the school was popular and well-attended through the first half of the 20^th century. The curriculum at the school was rigorous, including courses both vocational and academic, such as dressmaking, power machine operation, music, and physical education. Students could also participate in activities such as the school newspaper. Most of the students came from working-class backgrounds and hailed both from the Washington, D.C., area and other countries around the world.

Early supporters of the school included Black history scholar Dr. Carter G. Woodson and president of the National Association of Colored Women, Mary McCleod Bethune, who also spoke at the dedication ceremony. Burroughs outlined her goals for the school as training women for jobs both in and outside of the traditional female job sphere, and aiming for each student to become “the fiber of a sturdy moral, industrious and intellectual woman.” In 1928, the school saw an expansion, and a larger building – called Trades Hall – was constructed, with 12 classrooms, three offices, an assembly hall, and a print shop.

Student basketball players at the National Training School for Women and Girls, between 1900 and 1920. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Woman’s Convention of the National Baptist Convention

At the same time as Burroughs lead her school and students, she was also an activist and advocate. Notably, she was involved in supporting greater civil rights and suffrage for African Americans and women. She wrote and spoke extensively on these topics, highlighting the need for African American and white women to work together to achieve the right to vote for all. She also emphasized that suffrage for African American women was key in protecting them in a persistently prejudiced and discriminatory society.

Starting early in her career, she was active in the Woman’s Convention of the National Baptist Convention, many of whose members were fellow suffragists and who discussed suffrage topics at their meetings. In 1900 she delivered a speech at the group’s annual meeting entitled “How Sisters Are Hindered from Helping,” and at the 1905 First Baptist World Alliance meeting in London, gave a speech called “Women’s Part in the World’s Work.” Burroughs also served as the corresponding secretary of the Woman’s Convention for 48 years and helped the organization grow its membership to 1.5 million by 1907.

“Nine African-American women posed, standing, full length, with Nannie Burroughs holding banner reading, Banner State Woman's National Baptist Convention.” Published between 1905 and 1915. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Legacy

Throughout her life she also became part of the vibrant community of African American women suffragists, advocating for the cause alongside Coralie Franklin Cook, Anna Julia Cooper, Angelina Weld Grimké, Lucy Diggs Slowe, and Mary Church Terrell. African American women’s clubs were a strong network in Washington, D.C., and Burroughs was also active in these groups, including the National Association of Colored Women, the National Association of Wage Earners, and the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History.

Burroughs served as president of her school until her death on May 20, 1961, and three years later, the school changed its name to the Nannie Helen Burroughs School in her honor. Trades Hall now houses the Progressive National Baptist Convention and is a National Historic Landmark.

Nannie Helen Burroughs photographed between 1900 and 1920. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

2020 marks the centennial of the passage of the 19th Amendment. Learn how Arlington County is commemorating this milestone of civil rights on the Arlington County website.

This Week in 19th Amendment History: Shifts and Splits in the Suffrage Movement

May 10, 1866: 11th National Woman’s Right Convention

Celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment with stories about the people and events that led to the passage of women’s suffrage in the United States.

In 1866, the women’s suffrage movement experienced a significant change in its organization as the various groups leading the struggle toward women’s suffrage split over certain issues.

Key among them was support for the 15^th Amendment, (passed in 1869), which states that "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude."

American Equal Rights Association

One of the major groups leading the suffrage movement at this point was the American Equal Rights Association (AERA). The organization was founded on May 10, 1866, at the eleventh National Woman’s Right Convention by suffrage leaders Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. The group outlined its goal to “secure Equal Rights to all Americans citizens, especially the right of suffrage, irrespective of race, color, or sex.”

The AERA featured a diverse group of members, many prominent figures in the suffrage and abolition movements. Among those who played significant roles in the group were Lucretia Mott, Lucy Stone, Frederick Douglass, and Henry Blackwell. A number of African-American women also held leadership roles, including Harriet Purvis, Sarah Remond, and Sojourner Truth.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton (left) and Susan B. Anthony (right). Stanton and Anthony broke off to form the National Woman Suffrage Association in 1869 after disagreement over the 15^th Amendment, which they both opposed. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Advocacy for All

The American Equal Rights Association was initially focused on advocating and campaigning for the rights of both women and African Americans in the United States, and on gaining suffrage for both.

At the first anniversary meeting of the group, on May 9 and 10 in 1867, the group’s leadership wrote:

“Let the gathering, then, at this anniversary be, in numbers and character, worthy, in some degree, the demands of the hour. The black man, even the black soldier, is yet but half emancipated, nor will he be, until full suffrage and citizenship, are secured to him in the Federal Constitution. Still more deplorable is the condition of the black woman; and legally, that of the white woman is no better!

Shall the sun of the nineteenth century go down on wrongs like these, in this nation, consecrated in its infancy to justice and freedom? Rather let out meeting be pledge as well as prophecy to the world of mankind, that the redemption of at least one great nation is near at hand.”

Divisions in the AERA

This approach was short-lived, however, as prejudices were increasingly exposed in the group. This was particularly clear in New York and Kansas, two states with notable and controversial suffrage campaigns led by the AERA.

The New York campaign focused on entering women’s suffrage into the state’s constitutional revisions, as well as fighting discrimination against Black voters. Horace Greeley, a notable newspaper editor, and abolitionist, was chair of this campaign’s suffrage committee, and later came into disagreement with Stanton and Anthony. Greeley wanted to focus solely on Black male suffrage, while Stanton and Anthony wanted the focus on white women's suffrage.

The Kansas campaign was even more pivotal to the split, as the state was about to vote on both suffrage for white women and suffrage for African American men. Stanton and Anthony decided to back George Train, who used racist vitriol to further his campaign against granting African American men suffrage. Anthony’s writing also became more anti-Black during this time. Other members of the AERA stood up against this approach, notably Lucy Stone, but ultimately neither suffrage bill passed in Kansas.

In 1869, a final blow was dealt to the existing structure of the women’s movement. Two days prior at the AERA annual meeting, acrimonious debates had marked the group’s discussions. Frederick Douglass notably called out Stanton for denigrating Black male voters in her work in Kansas.

Two days later, on May 15, 1869, the AERA disbanded permanently. On that same day, Stanton and Anthony broke off to form the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA).

The executive committee of the National Woman’s Suffrage Association. Image courtesy of Spartacus Education via Your Voice Your Vote.

National Woman Suffrage Association / American Woman Suffrage Association

Headquartered in New York City, the aim of National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA) was to promote suffrage for white women and to oppose the 15^th Amendment.

Later that year, another group emerged: led by Lucy Stone and her husband Henry Brown Blackwell, as well as Julia Ward Howe, the American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA) supported the 15^th Amendment along with women’s suffrage.

The split between these two groups lasted nearly two decades. However, in 1890, Lucy Stone’s daughter, Alice Stone Blackwell, successfully led a merger, leading to the creation of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA). (Among the founding members was Washington DC activist Mary Church Terrell.)

This was the first time in decades the suffrage movement had been united under one banner, but racism within the movement persisted. Though the group was not segregated nationally, local chapters could and did exclude African American women. The struggles and shifts in these groups demonstrate the deeply ingrained prejudices that have accompanied the American suffrage movement for decades.

“Suffragists Mrs. Stanley McCormick and Mrs. Charles Parker, April 22, 1913.” Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

“Horse drawn float declares National American Woman Suffrage Association’s support for Bristow-Mondell amendment.” Circa 1914. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

2020 marks the centennial of the passage of the 19th Amendment. Learn how Arlington County is commemorating this milestone of civil rights on the Arlington County website.

This Week in 19th Amendment History: Suffragist Mabel Ping-Hua Lee

May 4, 1912

Celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment with stories about the people and events that led to the passage of women’s suffrage in the United States.

Over 100 years ago this week a 16-year-old suffragist named Mabel Ping-Hua Lee made history when she lead one of the major women’s suffrage marches in New York City.

Dr. Mabel Lee, date unknown. Photo from the George Grantham Bain Collection, courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Lee was born near Hong Kong in 1896 and moved to the United States in 1905 to join her father, who was serving as a missionary. Lee was granted a visa as part of an academic scholarship and attended the Erasmus Hall Academy in New York City, one of the oldest schools in the nation.

Throughout her teens, Lee grew increasingly involved in New York’s suffrage movement. On May 4, 1912, Lee rode on horseback at the head of a parade to advocate for women’s voting rights, along with suffragists Annie Rensselaer Tinker, Anna Howard Shaw (carrying a banner from the National American Woman Suffrage Association), and members of the Women’s Political Union. Ten thousand people attended this gathering, which started in Greenwich Village.

She later spearheaded another major march in 1917, leading Chinese-American women in a pro-suffrage parade down Fifth Avenue along with the Women’s Political Equality League.

“Youngest parader in New York City suffragist parade.” Participants in the May 4, 1912, women’s march in New York City that Mabel Lee helped to lead. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Lee later attended Barnard College, an all women’s school founded because the nearby Columbia University refused to admit women at the time. There, Lee was part of the Chinese Students’ Association and wrote feminist essays – among them “The Meaning of Women’s Suffrage,” written in 1914. In this piece, Lee argued that suffrage for women was essential to a successful democracy.

She also continued her advocacy work as a speaker, and in 1915 delivered a speech on behalf of the Women’s Political Union, which was covered by the New York Times. Entitled “The Submerged Half,” it urged members of the Chinese-American community to promote girls’ education and women’s participation in civic life.

Mabel Lee in her Barnard College yearbook. Image courtesy of Barnard College.

Though women were granted the right to vote in New York in 1917, and nationally in 1920, Lee’s fight for universal suffrage would continue onward. The reality was that not all women benefitted from these laws: under the Chinese Exclusion Act, Chinese women were not allowed to vote. Under the law, which also limited Chinese immigration, Chinese immigrants were not allowed to become citizens, and Chinese women like Lee would not be able to vote until the law was removed in 1943 and they could become citizens. Despite these barriers, Lee and fellow suffragists continued to advocate for women’s rights.

She also went on to receive a Ph.D. in economics at the previously all-male Columbia University, the first Chinese woman to do so. Later in life, Dr. Lee also served as director of the First Chinese Baptist Church in New York City.

Dr. Mabel Lee died in 1966. In 2018, U.S. Congress approved legislation to rename the United States Post Office at 6 Doyers Street in China Town, New York City, in her honor.

Lee was featured in an April 13, 1912, New York Tribune article prior to her participation in the women’s march in New York City on May 4. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Read More:

NY Times Article from May 5, 1912, about the suffrage parade.

2020 marks the centennial of women’s suffrage in the United States. Learn how Arlington County is commemorating this milestone of civil rights on the Arlington County website.

Writer, Suffragist, Feminist Icon: Louisa May Alcott

Celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment with stories about the people and events that led to the passage of women’s suffrage in the United States.

Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888)

Author of the internationally renowned “Little Women,” Louisa May Alcott blazed a path for female authors and thinkers to follow. She was also a dedicated abolitionist, suffragist, and nurse.

“Louisa May Alcott, writer, abolitionist, and Civil War nurse,” ca. 1870. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Early Life

Louisa May Alcott was born on November 29, 1832, in Germantown, Pennsylvania. Alcott and her three sisters – who would go on to inspire the central quartet of “Little Women” – spent their childhood in Concord, Massachusetts, where they were educated by their father, Bronson Alcott.

The Alcott’s had a somewhat unique childhood, growing up in part on a transcendentalist commune. The family held strong political convictions that influenced Louisa Alcott’s life in great measures, such as when she helped her parents hide escaped slaves traveling north on the Underground Railroad. The Concord community was also filled with radical thinkers who made up the Alcott’s social circles, including Margaret Fuller, Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Nathaniel Hawthorne.

Writing became an early passion for Alcott, who augmented her education with poetry writing, visits to Emerson’s library, nature excursions with Thoreau (about whom she also wrote the poem “Thoreau’s Flute”), and staged plays in the barn at Hillside House in Concord (now known as the Wayside).

Orchard House, the childhood home of Louisa May Alcott and her sisters in Concord, Massachusetts. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

When Louisa was a teenager, the Alcott family faced years of poverty that worked their way into the stories of “Little Women.” This period encouraged Alcott to take matters into her own hands in a world that offered little to no fiscal opportunity for women outside of marriage.

Before publishing her own works, Alcott worked as a teacher, seamstress, governess, and household servant to make ends meet. Alcott then vowed: “I will make a battering-ram of my head and make my way through this rough and tumble world.”

Flower Fables and Other Early Works

Alcott began her career with the publication of poetry and short stories. Some of these early works were signed “A.M. Barnard” and were categorized as “potboilers,” often lurid and violent tales – but they always featured female characters who were strong and independent. At age 22, Alcott achieved a major milestone with the publication of her first book, “Flower Fables.”

Cover and inscription of an 1898 edition of Louisa May Alcott’s first book, “Flower Fables.” The book was dedicated to Ellen Emerson, daughter of Alcott’s friend Ralph Waldo Emerson. Images courtesy of the Library of Congress, where a fully scanned version of the text is also available.

Throughout her life, Alcott was involved with causes such as women’s suffrage and abolition, influenced by the many intellectuals who shared her home community. Alcott and her mother canvassed door-to-door in their community to encourage women to vote, and in 1879 Louisa was registered as the first woman to vote in the Concord school committee election.

As an adult, she also socialized with Frederick Douglass and Julia Howe, leaders in their respective causes. In 1861, after the start of the Civil War, Alcott enlisted as a nurse in a Union Hospital in Georgetown in Washington, D.C. Though she had to leave her assignment early due to typhoid fever, the time proved to be immensely influential. In 1863, she published “Hospital Sketches,” a memoir detailing her time as a nurse, inspired by the letters she wrote to her family during this time.

Little Women

Well into her career, at age 35, Alcott’s publisher asked her to pivot and write a “girls’ story.” This directive led Alcott to write her magnum opus, “Little Women,” which stands the test of time as a seminal American text. The 492 pages of “Little Women, Part I” were written in three months at the desk her father built for her at her childhood home of Orchard House.

The book became an instant hit, resonating with stories of domestic life and realistic depictions of women not typically seen in contemporary fiction.

Listen to Arlington Public Library’s Big Book Club Podcast podcast episode on "Little Women," in which librarians Deborah and Megan talk with Pete about their personal experience of reading the book, the history of its publication, and why it is still worth talking about today.

Alcott published 30 books over the course of her life, cementing her in the pantheon of great American writers. She died on March 6, 1888, and is buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord.

“The Late Louisa May Alcott,” wood engraving after photo, 1888. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Additional Resources

Read “Little Women,” available online at the Library.
Explore Louisa May Alcott’s Orchard House virtually.
Watch the 1994 or 2019 film adaptations of “Little Women,” available on streaming sites.

2020 marks the centennial of women’s suffrage in the United States. Learn how Arlington County is commemorating this milestone of civil rights on the Arlington County website.

Angel of the Battlefield: Humanitarian Clara Barton

Clara Barton (1821-1912)

Celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment with stories about women who have used their voices and their votes to better their communities and help shape the United States.

“Union Nurse Clara Burton,” photograph by C.R. Claflin, ca. 1865. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Clara Barton is an enduring symbol of humanitarianism for her work during the American Civil War, where she played a fundamental role in distributing much needed provisions and medical supplies to the Union Army. She was also renowned as an educator, nurse and a founder of the American Red Cross.

Barton was born on December 25, 1821, in Oxford, Massachusetts, the youngest of five children. She had her first experience in nursing while caring for her brother David and later became a teacher at age 18.

Early Career

At 24, she founded a school for children on the site of her brother’s mill and in 1852 she established the first free school in Bordentown, New Jersey. Barton resigned from her teaching position upon discovery that the school had hired a man at twice her salary. She left the post on the principle that she would never work for less than a man.

Following her teaching career, Barton began working as a recording clerk for the U.S. Patent Office in Washington, D.C., making her the first woman to hold the position. In line with her beliefs on the fundamental equality of women, she was paid $1,400 as a salary – the same as her male colleagues. After this milestone, however, she faced backlash. The then-Secretary of the Interior Robert McClelland opposed women serving in the government and demoted her to a copyist position at a lower salary.

February 13, 1860, Letter from Clara Barton to her nephew Bernard Vassall, which discusses women’s oppression. Part of the Clara Barton Papers at the Library of Congress.

American Civil War

In 1861, like all Americans, Barton’s life changed with the start of the Civil War. She quit her post in government and dedicated herself to bringing supplies to Union soldiers in need. She started by taking supplies to the men of the 6th Massachusetts Infantry housed in the unfinished Capitol building, some of whom had been her students and her peers growing up.

Barton collected relief articles including clothing, assorted foods, and supplies for sick and wounded soldiers, and appealed to the public to garner more donations. She also read to soldiers in the camps, wrote letters and prayed with them.

Soldiers of the 6th Regiment Massachusetts volunteer militia, one of the groups that Clara Barton helped bring supplies during the Civil War. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

In 1862, she received official permission to transport supplies to battlefields and was present at every major battle in Maryland, Virginia and South Carolina. After the battle of Cedar Mountain in August 1862, Barton brought in a wagon load of supplies drawn by a four-mule team to the field hospital. Upon her arrival, the surgeon on duty commented: “I thought that night if heaven ever sent out a[n] … angel, she must be one – her assistance was so timely.” This led to Barton gaining the nickname “Angel of the Battlefield.”

Of her time on the battlefield, Barton said: “I may be compelled to face danger, but never fear it, and while our soldiers can stand and fight, I can stand and feed and nurse them."

Though she had no formal medical training, in 1864 she was named head nurse for one of General Benjamin Butler’s units. In the aftermath of the war, Barton was also involved in helping prepare former enslaved people for freedom, as well as marking graves, testifying to Congress about her experience in the war, and helping locate missing soldiers. To help the latter cause, she established the Office of Correspondence with Friends of the Missing Men, which she operated out of her home on 7th Street in Washington, D.C. The Office received and answered over 63,000 letters and identified over 22,000 missing men during its four years of operation. A tracing service similar to this operation would eventually become a crucial part of the operations of the Red Cross.

“Clara Barton. A wartime photograph by Brady,” ca. 1890-1910. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Red Cross

After the war, Barton continued to serve her nation. After a visit to Europe, she was inspired by the Red Cross in Geneva, Switzerland, and lobbied to establish a branch in the United States. On May 21, 1881, the American Association of the Red Cross was formed, built up by Barton’s work writing pamphlets, lecturing and meeting with President Rutherford B. Hayes on the topic of support for the organization.

Barton was elected the group’s first president, and in 1882, the United States joined the International Red Cross. As its leader, Barton oversaw relief work for victims of the Johnstown Flood in 1889 and the Galveston Flood in 1900, among other events. She remained with the Red Cross until 1904, and that same year established the National First Aid Association of America.

Clara Barton, ca. 1911. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Later Years

Barton was also involved in civic causes including education, prison reform, women’s suffrage, and civil rights.

Barton died on April 12, 1912. Since her death, Barton has frequently been turned to as an example and reminder of American heroism, as in this newspaper article from May 31, 1940, written by The Northern Virginia Sun in the days leading up to World War II:

This Week in 19th Amendment History: Hallie Quinn Brown

March 10, 1845

Celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment with stories about the people and events that led to the passage of women’s suffrage in the United States.

Hallie Quinn Brown was a preeminent educator, writer, public speaker and activist in the causes of civil rights and suffrage throughout the 19th and 20th centuries.

Hallie Quinn Brown. Image courtesy of Wilberforce-Payne Unified Library.

Brown was born on March 10, 1845 (sometimes reported as 1849) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Frances Jane Scroggins and Thomas Arthur Brown – both of whom were freed slaves and involved with the Underground Railroad. Brown attended Wilberforce University in Ohio and graduated as the salutatorian. She also studied at the Chautauqua Lecture School, making her among the first African American woman university graduates in the United States at the time.

Following graduation Brown taught in Mississippi and South Carolina, and in 1885 became dean of Allen University. She also worked at public schools in Dayton, Ohio, establishing a night class for migrant workers. Brown was eventually appointed dean of women at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, where she worked alongside Booker T. Washington. She later returned to her alma mater as a professor, and from 1893-1903 served as professor of elocution at Wilberforce.

Lithograph of Wilberforce University, ca. 1850-1860. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Brown was dedicated to the advancement of women’s clubs for African American women. In 1893, she was the principal promoter of the Colored Woman’s League, which went on to become part of the National Association of Colored Women (NACW). She also served as president of the Ohio Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs from 1905-1912 and as president of NACW from 1920-1924.

A renowned elocutionist, Brown conducted speaking tours and gained a significant following, particularly in the United Kingdom. During these tours, she made several appearances before Queen Victoria, and in 1889, shared tea with the queen. In 1899, she also represented the United States at the International Congress of Women, which met in London. Brown was also a staunch advocate for temperance causes, women’s suffrage, and civil rights, often delivering speeches on the topic of granting full citizenship to women and guaranteeing civil rights for African Americans.

Hallie Quinn Brown photographed by F.S. Biddle between 1875 and 1888. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

In a speech delivered at an 1889 conference of the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME Church), Brown drove home her point of equality between men and women:

“I believe there are as great possibilities in women as there are in men. … We are marching onward grandly. … I repeat we want a grand and noble womanhood, scattered all over the land. There is a great vanguard of scholars and teachers of our sex who are at the head of institutions of learning all over the country. We need teachers, lecturers of force and character to help to teach this great nation of women.”

Throughout her life, Brown continued to stand up for her belief in equality, and in 1893 she organized a campaign against the exclusion of African American women from the Columbian Exposition in Chicago.

As president of NACW, she also denounced, through writings and speeches, a statue proposed by the United Daughters of the Confederacy that portrayed African American women in a stereotypical light. After widespread protest led by the African American community, including D.C. activist Mary Church Terrell, the bill proposing the monument died in the House (though it had passed in the Senate).

Among her other activist efforts, she began a campaign to preserve the home of Frederick Douglass in Washington, D.C., which was ultimately successful. Brown was later active in Republican politics, directing campaign work on behalf of President Calvin Coolidge and addressing the Republican party’s national convention in 1924.

A feature on Hallie Quinn Brown from the December 4, 1920, issue of Poro College’s The Broad Ax newspaper. Courtesy of the Illinois Digital Newspaper Collection.

Brown passed away on September 16, 1949. Her legacy lives on through her many published works, including the 1926 “Homespun Heroines and Other Women of Distinction,” which includes short biographies of sixty African-American women.

Brown is also the namesake of the Hallie Q. Brown Memorial Library at Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio and the Hallie Q. Brown Community Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.

The Hallie Q. Brown Memorial Library at Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio. Image courtesy of Central State University.

2020 marks the centennial of women’s suffrage in the United States. Learn how Arlington County is commemorating this milestone of civil rights on the Arlington County website.

A Fight for Educational Equality: Civil Rights Activist Dorothy Hamm

Dorothy Hamm (1919-2004)

Celebrate Black History Month and the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment with stories about women who have used their voices and their votes to better their communities and help shape the United States.

For decades, Dorothy Hamm was at the forefront of the civil rights movement in Arlington, working tirelessly to bring equality to the County. She lead the charge to successfully desegregate Arlington’s schools and theaters, and was involved in numerous community organizations and leadership positions.

Early Life

Dorothy Hamm was born in 1919 in Caroline County, Virginia, in a family of seven children. The only school that accepted African-American students was six miles away from their home, so in 1926 the family moved to Fairfax County where the children could attend elementary school.

However, Virginia was still a segregated state, and when Hamm graduated from primary school the family found that there was no junior high or high school for African-American students within a thirty-five-mile radius. Instead, because her mother was a government employee, Dorothy was able to attend secondary schools in Washington, D.C. She went on to enroll in Miner Teacher’s College, also in D.C.. She also attended classes at the Cortez Peters School of Business and George Washington University.

Image courtesy of Carmela Hamm, from the Library of Virginia.

Hamm married Edward Leslie Hamm, Sr., in 1942 and the couple moved to Arlington in 1950, where they would raise their three children. During this time, Hamm worked in numerous government positions, including as an administrator in the Army Surgeon General’s Office, where she worked until 1963.

The catalyst for Hamm’s involvement in the civil rights movement came in the form of the 1954 Supreme Court decision that ruled segregation illegal in public schools.

Arlington Public Schools

In 1956, Hamm, along with her husband, became plaintiffs in the first civil action case filed to integrate the Arlington Public School system. When no action towards integration had been taken a year after the suit was filed, Hamm and her husband took their oldest son, Edward Leslie Jr., to enroll at Stratford Junior High School. They, and other African-American students who attempted to enroll in the still segregated Arlington schools, were denied admission that year. In September 1957, a few days after the opening of the school year, crosses were burned on the lawns of two Arlington families, and at the Calloway United Methodist Church, a central location for organizers in the effort to desegregate the schools, and a site of workshops held by ministers, lawyers and educators preparing parents and students for school integration.

Over the course of this process, Hamm recalled in interviews many experiences with discrimination and intimidation.

Frontpage of The Northern Virginia Sun, February 2, 1959.

Second page of article Northern Virginia Sun, headline reads "Stratford Integration Starts Quietly."

Page 2 of The Northern Virginia Sun, February 2, 1959.

On January 19, 1959, Senator Harry F. Byrd’s statewide policy of “massive resistance” to the Supreme Court ruling was outlawed by the Virginia Supreme Court.

On February 2, Ronald Deskins, Michael Jones, Lance Newman, and Gloria Thompson were enrolled as the first black students at Stratford Junior High, making Arlington the first county in Virginia to integrate its schools. Hamm’s sons would enter Stratford later that year.

In 1960 Dorothy Hamm was a plaintiff in another case, a court action to eliminate the pupil placement form, which was used to exclusively assign African-American students to certain schools as a means to get around the Supreme Court’s ruling on desegregation.

In 1961, Hamm was again a plaintiff in a court action to integrate the athletic program of the Arlington Public Schools, after Hamm’s son had been barred from participating in Stratford’s wrestling program because of the physical contact between Black and white students. As a result of the court action, discrimination in Arlington athletic programs was declared to be illegal.

From left to right, Lance Newman, 13, Ronald Deskins, 12, Michael Jones, 12, and Gloria Thompson, 12, enter Stratford Junior High School on February 2, 1959. Image courtesy of AP Photo from Arlington County.

Civic Life

In 1963, Hamm was the plaintiff in a civil action case to eliminate the poll tax and remove the race designation from public forms and voting records in Arlington County. (Read "If you Don't Vote, You Don't Count", our story from August 15, 2019, about the history of the poll tax in Arlington County, to learn more.)

The same year, Hamm also became involved in the fight to desegregate Arlington’s theaters. She initiated another civil court suit and helped to organize what would become a year of picketing efforts in protest of segregation. Along with four other protesters, Hamm was arrested for picketing at the Glebe Theater. The theater owner then struck a deal with the protesters that if they ceased picketing for thirty days, he would admit African-American patrons to the theater. This was successful, and Hamm and her son Edward Leslie Jr., became the first African-American customers to be admitted.

Hamm and her husband also participated in the 1963 March on Washington, helping to organize bus transportation to take Arlington residents into the city to take part in the March. In 1968, they also participated in the Poor People’s March on Washington, and helped to provide food and housing for fellow marchers.

Hamm continued her political activism as a delegate to Arlington County and Virginia State conventions in 1964 and was appointed Assistant Registrar and Chief Election Officer in Arlington’s Woodlawn precinct. She also worked with the Congress on Racial Equality (CORE) as they organized in Arlington and served as an officer of elections in Arlington for more than twenty-seven years.

Writing

Dorothy Hamm was also known for her work as a poet and playwright.

In 1976, her play “Our Heritage: Slavery to Freedom 1776-1976” was designated as an official bicentennial event in Arlington County. In 1984, she wrote and directed the play “Our Struggle for Equality,” which was performed by the drama club of Calloway United Methodist Church and later developed into a documentary for television.

Description of Dorothy Hamm’s 1976 play “Our Heritage: Slavery to Freedom 1776-1976,” which was performed as part of Arlington’s bicentennial celebrations. Part of the Dorothy Hamm Papers.

Legacy

Dorothy Hamm died in 2004, but her legacy and mark on Arlington live on. On March 1, 2002, the Virginia Legislature’s House Joint Resolution No. 458 was enacted commending Hamm and her efforts in the civil rights movement. And in 2019, the Dorothy Hamm Middle School began its first year named in her honor (in the building that formerly was the site of Stratford Junior High and the H-B Woodlawn Secondary Program).

In her autobiography, Hamm wrote about her response to the question of why she fought so hard for equal education and other equal opportunities. She writes:

“Even now, I am asked the same questions. There are many reasons, but one of the most important was my determination to answer the “Why can’t I?” question raised by our eight-year-old son, Bernard Caldwell Hamm. … Finally, I had to truthfully answer his ‘Why can’t I?’ question and explain to him that Stratford was for White children and he could not attend because he was a colored boy. I knew then that with the help of others, I had to fight to help change the ‘Separate but Equal Laws.’”

Dorothy Hamm Middle School, which was named in Hamm’s honor in 2019. Image courtesy of Arlington Public Schools.

Learn More

“Notable Women of Arlington: Third Series,” published by the Arlington County Commission on the Status of Women.

“Integration of Arlington County Schools: My Story,” by Dorothy Hamm.

Interview Dorothy M. Hamm, conducted in 1986, VA 975.5295 A7243oh ser.3 no.58.

The Dorothy M. Hamm Papers, 1937-1977, VA/ARCH RG 349.

Unbought and Unbossed: U.S. Representative Shirley Chisholm

Shirley Anita St. Hill Chisholm (1924-2005)

In 1968, Shirley Chisholm made history as the first African-American woman to be elected to Congress. She also broke barriers as the first woman to seek the Democratic presidential nomination in 1972.

Throughout her life, Shirley Chisholm became one of the most influential and iconic policymakers and activists in the United States, and a tireless advocate for women and minority groups.

Shirley Chisholm was born in 1924 in Brooklyn, New York, to immigrant parents from Guyana and Barbados. She graduated cum laude from Brooklyn College in 1946, where she was also a top member of the debate team. After college, she worked as a nursery school teacher and went on to receive a master’s degree from Columbia University in early childhood education. She continued to excel in her field and later served as a consultant to the New York City Division of Day Care.

Shirley Chisholm at the Black Caucus State of the Union event, 1973. Courtesy of the Library of Congress

As her career progressed, Chisholm was also politically active and participated in many groups that sought to combat racial and gender inequality, including the League of Women Voters, the NAACP, the Urban League, and the Democratic Party Club. In 1964, she was elected to the New York State Legislature, making her the second African-American person to do so. Four years later, in 1968, she ran for and was elected to Congress. After her historic win, considered an upset in her district, she aptly declared: “Just wait, there may be some fireworks.”

Chisholm’s time in Congress was one of prolific work and steadfast determination, marked by her slogan “unbought and unbossed.” Nicknamed “Fighting Shirley,” she focused on causes including racial and gender equality, helping the poor, and putting an end to the Vietnam War. During her time in office, she introduced more than 50 pieces of legislation and continued to achieve milestones, including becoming the first Black woman and the second woman ever to serve on the House Rules Committee in 1977. Chisholm was also one of the co-founders of the National Women’s Political Caucus, which sought to broaden women’s political participation.

Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm announces her candidacy for the presidential nomination, January 25, 1972. L-R, Shirley Chisholm, Parren Mitchell, Charles Rangel, Bella Abzug. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

In 1972, Chisholm trailblazed into yet another region of the political realm when she sought the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination, the first woman to do so. Due to discrimination, numerous obstacles were placed in her way: she received little establishment support, and was blocked from taking part in televised primary debates, only making one speech after seeking legal intervention. And while the nomination ultimately went to George McGovern, Chisholm entered 12 primaries and was able to gain 10 percent of the total vote.

Shirley Chisholm presidential campaign poster, 1972. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Shirley Chisholm speaks at the third session of the Democratic National Convention in Miami Beach, July 12, 1972. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.

Chisholm retired from Congress in 1983 but continued to be politically active, co-founding the National Political Congress of Black Women and teaching at Mount Holyoke College.

After a life on the forefront of trailblazing politics, she reflected on her life:

“I’d like them to say that Shirley Chisholm had guts. That’s how I’d like to be remembered.”

Learn more about Shirley Chisholm in her autobiography, "Unbought and Unbossed," available at the Library.

This Week in 19th Amendment History: The Death of Zitkála-Šá

January 26, 1938

Celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment with stories about the people and events that led to the passage of women’s suffrage in the United States.

In celebration of her work for Native American's voting rights, we are republishing our "Rediscover Zitkála-Šá" post from March 13, 2019. This version of the post includes additional photographs and captions.

On January 26, 1938, Zitkála-Šá, life-long advocate for Native American rights and a resident of 261 North Barton Street in Lyon Park, died at age 61. She was buried under the name Gertrude Simmons Bonnin, in Arlington National Cemetery.

Image of Zitkála-Šá ca. 1921, courtesy of the Library of Congress

A nationally recognized Native American author and activist, Zitkála-Šá was a vocal proponent for citizenship rights for Native Americans. Born in South Dakota into a Yankton Dakota Sioux family, she thrived on the Yankton Indian Reservation until Quaker missionaries recruited some of the reservation’s children to attend a Quaker manual labor school where she was given the Christian name Gertrude Simmons. Although she enjoyed learning to read and write, she experienced first-hand the damage of having her heritage stripped away.

Feeling torn between her life on the reservation and her forced assimilation into white mainstream culture, Zitkála-Šá pursued higher education and distinguished herself as a public speaker on social and political issues.

“Folded hands lie in my lap, for the time forgot. My heart and I lie small upon the earth like a grain of throbbing sand. Drifting clouds and tinkling waters, together with the warmth of a genial summer day, bespeak with eloquence the loving Mystery round about us.”

"Why I Am A Pagan," Atlantic Monthly, Volume 90, 1902

Zitkála-Ša photographs by Gertrude Käsebier, circa 1898. Image courtesy of the National Museum of American History.

Her largely autobiographical work on indigenous life was published by the Atlantic Monthly and Harper’s Monthly, including “Impressions of an Indian Childhood” and “The Trial Path” among many more. She collected tribal stories and legends into collections and authored poems examining the intersection of nature, Native American life, and mainstream white American life.

In 1910, she began a collaboration with composer William F. Hanson, and the subsequent “The Sun Dance Opera” was the first opera authored by a Native American (under the name Gertrude Simmons).

“It was next to impossible to leave the iron routine after the civilizing machine had once begun its day's buzzing; and as it was inbred in me to suffer in silence rather than to appeal to the ears of one whose open eyes could not see my pain, I have many times trudged in the day's harness heavy-footed, like a dumb sick brute.”

"The School Days of an Indian Girl," Atlantic Monthly, Volume 85, 1900

As a member of the Society of American Indians, Gertrude Simmons (the name she used in records and public affairs) lectured nationally and lobbied for citizenship rights for Native Americans who were not naturalized U.S. citizens by birth but could apply through pathways such as military service, renouncing tribal affiliations, or accepting land allotments. As a previous clerk for the Bureau of Indian Affairs, she criticized the bureau for its mistreatment of Indigenous children placed in national education systems that forced assimilation and Christian values.

Zitkála-Ša photographed by Joseph T. Kelley, 1898 (printed 1901). Image courtesy of the National Portrait Gallery.

In 1916, her husband, Captain Raymond Talefase Bonnin (also of Yankton descent), lost his position at the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Utah and they moved to Washington D.C. where, as editor of the Society of American Indian’s publication American Indian Magazine, Gertrude Simmons Bonnin wrote about and exhibited treatises on many controversial issues. In 1923, she co-authored “Oklahoma’s Poor Rich Indians: An Orgy of Graft and Exploitation of the Five Civilized Tribe, Legalized Robbery” which discussed theft and murder by corporations seeking access to Native American-owned oil-rich lands. The article is credited with influencing the development of the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, which returned government and land management to Native Americans.

Group at the Artists Carnival and Book Fair of the National League of American Pen Women on April 15, 1920. Zitkála-Ša third from left. Image courtesy of the Library of Congress.

On November 3, 1925, Gertrude and Raymond Bonnin purchased the stone bungalow at 261 North Barton Street in Arlington. from the first owners, Loyd and Bernice Claire. The Claires had built the house only one year earlier, having bought it from the well-known Lyon & Fitch real estate development. The Lyon & Fitch real estate team sold the Lyon Park subdivision properties with deed restrictions and covenants, including one preventing the property from being sold or rented to non-whites for a period of 99 years. The census recognized people of Native American ancestry as white and therefore the Bonnin's were not prevented from purchasing the property.

In 1924, the Indian Citizenship Act granted citizenship to all Native Americans, but did not automatically afford voting rights. In response, Gertrude Simmons Bonnin co-founded and presided over the National Council of American Indians to unify First Nations in the movement to gain voting rights, healthcare, legal standing, and land rights. She also created the Indian Welfare Committee of the General Federation of Women’s Clubs, speaking often in Washington, Arlington, and Fairfax.

Gertrude Simmons Bonnin spent the remainder of her life in Arlington as president of the Council of American Indians, speaking and writing about the continuing political and social mistreatment of Native Americans. After her death, her husband continued to live in their home until his death in 1942 when the property was left in trust to their grandchildren.

Obituary for Zitkála-Ša’s husband, Raymond T. Bonnin. From The Northern Virginia Sun, October 2, 1942

References

United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Fifteenth Census of the United States, 1930. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1930. T626, 2,667 rolls.

Arlington County Land Records Office, various deeds pertaining to Gertrude S. Bonnin and R.T. Bonnin: Deed Book 609, p. 237, book 319, p. 64, and book 174, p. 152.

Zitkála-Šá, “The School Days of an Indian Girl”, Atlantic Monthly, Volume 85, 1900.

Zitkála-Šá, “Why I Am A Pagan”, Atlantic Monthly, Volume 90, 1902.

This Week in 19th Amendment History: First Issue of The Woman’s Journal

January 8, 1870

Celebrate the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment with stories about the people and events that led to the passage of women’s suffrage in the United States.

The Woman’s Journal was a women’s rights publication that produced its first issue on January 8, 1870. One of the most significant and popular publications of the women’s suffrage movement, it ran in various forms from 1870 to 1931.

Founded by suffragist Lucy Stone and her husband Henry Browne Blackwell in Boston, Massachusetts, the Woman's Journal aimed to provide a broad segment of women with information on the women’s rights movement and the suffrage cause. Content included speeches, debates, and women’s convention notes, all under the broader banner of the mission:

“devoted to the interests of Woman – to her educational, industrial, legal and political equality, and especially to her right of suffrage.”

Lucy Stone with daughter Alice Stone Blackwell. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

The Journal’s first issue aligned with a significant anniversary in the suffrage timeline, as Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s journal, The Revolution, had published its first copy on January 8, 1868, two years prior.

The Woman’s Journal was a weekly publication and published every Saturday in Boston and Chicago. In addition to Stone, editors of the first issue included Mary Livermore, Julia Ward Howe, William Lloyd Garrison and, T.W. Higginson.

Stone and Blackwell’s daughter Alice Stone Blackwell started as an editor in 1881 and became sole editor in 1909 after her mother and father’s deaths, where she remained in the position until 1917.

The Woman’s Journal was funded with a $10,000 seed donation from benefactor Elizabeth Eddy and sustained itself through advertisements and subscriptions. At the time of the first publication, subscriptions started at an annual price of $3.00, with deals offered to readers who brought in more subscribers.

Though ad sales were sparse, the journal notably did not allocate space for tobacco, liquor, or medicinal advertisements.

The Journal’s leadership did attempt to reach a larger audience by hiring suffragists licensed as “newsboys” to hawk the publication on the Boston Common.

The inaugural issue of The Woman's Journal included articles such as “Woman as a Preacher,” which contended that women could and should be leaders in their religious communities; a history of “Women’s Rights in France During the Last Century”; and investigative pieces “What the Women of California are Doing” and “Can Women Hold Office in Iowa?”.

Front page of the first issue of the Woman’s Journal, published January 8, 1870, from Harvard Library.

Suffragist Margaret Foley distributing the Woman’s Journal and Suffrage News, 1913. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

In 1916, the Journal hired Margaret Foley – a well-known speaker on women’s issues – to travel and host speaking engagements in the South and Midwest to promote the publication.

During its six decades, the Journal was absorbed and affiliated with numerous other suffrage journals, newsletters and periodicals. When the Journal was founded, it incorporated the Woman’s Advocate, and in 1910 it joined with the National American Woman Suffrage Association’s (NAWSA) in-house publication, the Progress. From 1910-1912, NAWSA contributed financial support and managerial oversight, and the Journal was subtitled as the “official organ of the National American Woman Suffrage Association.” From 1912 to 1916, the Journal was referred to as the Woman’s Journal and Suffrage News.

Front page of the ‘Woman’s Journal and Suffrage News” with the headline: ‘Parade struggles to victory despite disgraceful scenes,’ shows images of the women’s suffrage parade in Washington, March 3, 1913.
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

In response to prolonged financial instability, in 1917, the Woman’s Journal was sold to Carrie Chapman Catt’s Leslie Woman Suffrage Commission, which proceeded to merge the Journal, the Woman Voter, and National Suffrage News to form a new title, The Woman Citizen.

The Woman Citizen took the place as NAWSA’s official publication and published until the late 1920s, when it was again called the Woman’s Journal. This iteration of the publication ran until 1931.

Learn more

The full archives of the Woman’s Journal are now available through Harvard Library’s online digitized collection.

2020 marks the centennial of women’s suffrage in the United States. Learn how Arlington County is commemorating this milestone of civil rights on the Arlington County website.

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19th Amendment

May 20, 1961: Nannie Helen Burroughs Passes Away

Early Life

Training School

Woman’s Convention of the National Baptist Convention

Legacy

May 10, 1866: 11th National Woman’s Right Convention

American Equal Rights Association

Advocacy for All

Divisions in the AERA

National Woman Suffrage Association / American Woman Suffrage Association

May 4, 1912

Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888)

Early Life

Flower Fables and Other Early Works

Little Women

Clara Barton (1821-1912)

Early Career

American Civil War

Red Cross

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March 10, 1845

Dorothy Hamm (1919-2004)

Early Life

Arlington Public Schools

Civic Life

Writing

Legacy

Shirley Anita St. Hill Chisholm (1924-2005)

January 26, 1938

References

Further Reading

January 8, 1870

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