University of South Carolina Scholar Commons Theses and Dissertations Fall 2018 Sites Seen and Unseen: Mapping African American Women’s Public Memorialization Alexandria Russell Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd Part of the History of Philosophy Commons Recommended Citation Russell, A.(2018). Sites Seen and Unseen: Mapping African American Women’s Public Memorialization. (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd/5018 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you by Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. SITES SEEN AND UNSEEN: MAPPING AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN’S PUBLIC MEMORIALIZATION by Alexandria Russell Bachelor of Arts College of Charleston, 2009 Bachelor of Science College of Charleston, 2009 Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History College of Arts and Sciences University of South Carolina 2018 Accepted by: Wanda A. Hendricks, Major Professor Patricia Sullivan, Committee Member Allison Marsh, Committee Member Melissa Cooper, Committee Member Cheryl L. Addy, Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School © Copyright by Alexandria Russell, 2018 All Rights Reserved. ii DEDICATION For Samantha. iii ABSTRACT Beginning in the late nineteenth century, black clubwomen began naming organizations after formerly enslaved women like Phillis Wheatley to keep their public memory alive. In doing so, they created a culture of recognition that acknowledged the organizational namesake as well as the contributions of members. Named memorialization celebrated the very best of African American women and continued to expand as Jim Crow laws encroached on black citizenship. Catalyzed by African American women while also supported by black journalists and local bureaucracies, named memorialization was the primary public history medium used to honor the legacies of African American women in the early twentieth century. In the 1960s, the Civil Rights, Black Power, and Black Studies Movements ushered in the golden age of new traditional public history memorials centered around black women. The Mary McLeod Bethune statue and historic site in the National Park Service signaled a significant shift in how African American women’s legacies could be memorialized. Innovative and persistent, African Americans and organizations like the National Council of Negro Women and the Charlotte Hawkins Brown Historical Foundation collaborated with national, state, and local governments to create historic sites, house museums, statues, and historic markers. African American memorializers and public memory crafters have been integral to the process of erecting, saving, and maintaining memorials to black women. In the twenty-first century, new technologies and social media have iv transformed public commemorations while traditional public history memorials continue to flourish and have expanded to celebrate new aspects of African American women’s history. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Dedication .......................................................................................................................... iii Abstract .............................................................................................................................. iv List of Tables .................................................................................................................... vii List of Figures .................................................................................................................... ix Introduction..........................................................................................................................1 PART ONE—CREATING THEIR OWN WORLD: NAMED MEMORIALS OF AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN DURING JIM CROW…………….……16 Chapter 1: The Phillis Wheatley Brand ...........................................................................17 Chapter 2: Memorializing the ‘Symbol’ & the Freedom Fighter ....................................48 Chapter 3: Memorializing The Three Marys & the National Association of Colored Women ................................................................68 Chapter 4: Public Building Named Memorialization.......................................................91 PART TWO— THE NATIONAL, STATE, & LOCAL STAGE: USHERING IN THE GOLDEN AGE OF AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMEN’S MEMORIALIZATION………………...…………………………………………………….112 Chapter 5: Mary McLeod Bethune & the National Park Service ..................................113 Chapter 6: From Murdering Voodoo Madame to the Mother of Civil Rights .....................................................................................................136 Chapter 7: Economic Memorialization Through the Walker Theater ...........................149 Chapter 8: Charlotte Hawkins Brown & State Sponsored Memorialization ...................................................................................169 vi Chapter 9: Celia Mann, Modjeska Simkins, & Historic Columbia................................188 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................208 Bibliography ....................................................................................................................221 vii LIST OF TABLES Table 8.1: North Carolina General Assembly Appropriations for the Charlotte Hawkins Brown Site from 1983 to 1991…………………………………….186 Table 8.2: Private and Additional State Funding for the Charlotte Hawkins Brown Site as of 1991..…………………………………………….187 viii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.1: Lillie Brooks Wheatley Bread Advertisement…………………………...…45 Figure 1.2: Wheatley Bread Advertisement……………………………...……………..46 Figure 1.3: Bethune at Wheatley Y, 1943……………………………………………....47 Figure 2.1: Sojourner Truth, 1883…...………………………………………………….66 Figure 2.2: Harriet Tubman, 1895...………………………………………………....….67 Figure 4.1: Ida B. Wells Homes, 1942……………...…………………………………109 Figure 4.2: Ida B. Wells Homes Dedication Ceremony Flyer, 1940………………......110 Figure 4.3: Celia Dial Saxon………...……………..…………………………….…….111 Figure 5.1: Mary McLeod Bethune Memorial, Washington, D.C…...………………...134 Figure 5.2: Mary McLeod Bethune Council House National Park Service Historic Site……………………...………………………..……135 Figure 6.1: Mary Ellen Pleasant at 87…………………………………….……………148 Figure 7.1: Madam Walker Advertisement……………………………………………168 Figure C.1: Maggie Lena Walker……………………………………...………………219 Figure C.2: 110 ½ E. Leigh Street, c. 1923……..………………………….………….220 ix INTRODUCTION Chilled air whipped through the air on a cold February 1984 morning in Denver, Colorado as the construction crew came ready to move Justina Laurena Ford’s two-story house. In the days before, they spent considerable time excavating surrounding dirt, using metal jacks to crank the house up from its foundation, and place thick beams underneath. On this day, the home was erected from its original resting place, 2335 Arapahoe Street, and placed on an oversized wheeled platform. For thirteen blocks, the home traveled through the streets of Five Points neighborhood. Upon arrival, the crew removed the home from the wheeled platform and placed it on a concrete slab at 3091 California Street.1 Since that day, Justina Ford’s home has been the site of the Black American West Museum. Justina Laurena Ford was the first African American woman licensed as a medical doctor in the state of Colorado. Born in 1871 in Knoxville, Illinois, Justina’s mother, who worked as a nurse, greatly influenced Justina’s desire to work in the medical field. After graduating high school in 1890, she moved to Chicago to attend Hering Medical College. While there she met and married Reverend John L. Ford in 1892 and by 1899 she had obtained her degree. She began her career as a doctor in Chicago, but in 1902 she and John relocated to Denver, Colorado. While applying for her license to practice 1 Lane Ittelson, “Justina Ford House,” National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form, Historic Denver, Inc., October 24, 1984, 2, 4; Betsy Wade, “Tourist sites trace triumphs, tragedies of black Americans,” Fairbanks Daily News, July 14, 1991. 1 medicine in Colorado, a snarky clerk proclaimed that as a black woman Ford had “two strikes” against her. Though he assumed a black woman would or could never receive state authorized licensing, Ford prevailed making her the first African American woman licensed doctor in the state. The realities of raced and gendered discrimination made practicing in Denver’s hospitals impossible and she was unable to join the Colorado Medical Association. In addition to dealing with the structural confines of embedded racism in society, black women doctors like Ford, “were forced to battle not only sexism, including that of black men, but also racism, including that of white women.”2 Ford overcame the setbacks and complexities of the “two strikes” against her. She set up a successful medical practice in her home in the heart of the Five Points African American neighborhood. A thriving neighborhood in downtown Denver, Five Points was filled with black professionals, musicians, artists, and writers. Because of its vibrant reputation for black culture and professional achievement, it was known as the Harlem of the West. As part of the African American professional elite, Ford felt obliged to meet the needs of those in Denver with limited access to health