Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Kentucky's African American Heroines


"Think nationally and act locally," was a theme among the dozens of Kentucky's African American social and political heroines illuminated by the research of Keren Cotton McDaniel.

Facts and stories about these relatively unknown women overwhelmed LWV members and guests at the Annual Meeting in the Seabury Center April 21.

McDaniel, a visiting scholar at Eastern Kentucky University this year, is both passionate and thorough in her quest to document the contributions these women made in terms of social justice and education in their communities.

One example was Lizzie Cook Fouse, who organized the women's clubs in Lexington to protest the death of a woman who died in jail without receiving medical attention. The protest set up procedures for handling the indigent and helpless.

McDaniel was particularly pleased to highlight the accomplishments of Mary E. Britton,(1855-1925) a Berea College graduate who followed a teaching career with a medical school degree. A supporter of the right of women to vote, she argued, "If woman is the same as man, she has the same rights; if she is distinct from men, then she has the right to make her own laws.

Another heroine was Emma Williams Clement, who was selected as Mother of the Year in 1946 by a national organization in New York City. Instead of talking about home and religion as scripted, she used her platform to promote the need for higher education for Negros, citing the college degrees earned by her six children.

McDaniel is also researching a Kentucky African American Encyclopedia with two other authors. Kentucky is the first state to compile such a publication.

Wednesday, April 09, 2008

Researcher, scholar to speak at Annual Meeting


Be sure to attend our annual meeting April 21 to hear special guest, Karen Cotton McDaniel, talk about lessons learned from women of vision.

McDaniel is a visiting scholar at EKU in both the African/African American Studies and Women's Studies programs.  She is a 1973 graduate of Berea College and received her Masters in Library Science from UK.  Her expertise includes the history of Kentucky African American women's clubs. 

Her topic "Transforming Vision to Action"  will explore what we can learn from women in major social movements and apply to today's social and political arena. 

As a special feature of our LWV Annual Meeting, LWV will be auctioning off poster prints by African-American artist Dr. Margaret Burroughs.  Dr. Burroughs donated the prints to LWV via her friend and Berea resident Evangeline Goss.Among her many accomplishments as an artist, educator, poet and community organizer, Burroughs was a co-founder of the DuSable Museum of African-American History in Chicago, where she currently lives. 

LWV is honored to have the opportunity to share this art with others in our community. Funds raised from the sale of the prints will support of our work for civic engagement and action here in Madison County.

The structure of this year's annual meeting allows for community members to join us for supper and McDaniel's presentation, so please invite a friends, neighbors and co-workers to the meeting.

Please RSVP to elizabeth@cwwg.org, or by phone at (859) 985-0641 by Friday, April 18th so that we know how many meals to order.