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Howard University

Women celebrate 100 years of voting

August 25, 2020 By Kathy Steele

In 1920 Harry T. Burn, a 24-year-old delegate in the Tennessee General Assembly, heeded his mother’s admonishment in a letter to be “a good boy” and vote for women’s suffrage.

Burn did as he was told, and Tennessee — by the margin of one vote — became the 36th state to ratify the 19th amendment to the United States Constitution.

Congress officially certified the 19th amendment on Aug. 26, 1920, a date now celebrated annually as Women’s Equality Day.

To honor the 100th anniversary of women’s right to vote, the Pioneer Florida Museum & Village is hosting a Smithsonian poster exhibit, “Votes for Women: A Portrait of Persistence!”

College women, often members of sororities, picketed in front of the White House from January 1917 until the 19th amendment was ratified. (Courtesy of Stephanie Black, Pioneer Florida Museum (From the Smithsonian poster exhibit, ‘Votes for Women: A Portrait of Persistence!’)

The exhibit runs through Nov. 3 — the date for the 2020 presidential election.

“We’re excited to have this here,” Stephanie Black, the museum’s executive director, said regarding the exhibit. “It’s very interesting and very diverse.”

The posters highlight more than seven decades of struggle to earn women a place in America’s political life. But, it also reveals the racism that separated white and black suffragists who worked toward the same goal. In the end, black women, including activists Mary Church Terrell and Ida B. Wells, were marginalized and the 19th amendment won only white women the right to vote.

Black women and black men in the South waited another 45 years for the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Native American women won legal citizenship and the right to vote in 1924. But they, like black men and women, suffered racist attacks that denied their access to the ballot box.

Even with its limitations, the 19th amendment shook up the political and cultural world of America.

“You’ve got to start somewhere,” said political scientist Susan MacManus. “It shows that a lot of things in the political world take time because the work takes a while.”

Today, women are filing to run for political offices in local, state and national races in numbers never seen before. MacManus counts 178 Florida women seeking office in 2020 – a record for the state.

Pollsters are focused intently on the women’s vote and its impact on dozens of races across the country, including the presidential contest.

Ida B. Wells was an investigative journalist and suffragist.

But now, as in 1920, MacManus said people make a mistake in thinking women vote as a bloc.

All women didn’t support the 19th amendment. Anti-suffrage clubs did their own protesting.

Women today also hold diverse opinions on everything.

“That’s never been truer than in politics,” MacManus said.

For some suffragists, the 19th amendment came too late.

Susan B. Anthony, who wrote the ‘Anthony amendment’ for women’s right to vote, didn’t live to see it approved. She cast an illegal ballot in New York in 1872. She was arrested, but refused to pay the $100 fine.

Women voted in the first presidential election in 1920 ushering Republican Warren G. Harding into the White House. Records suggest women represented about 36% of the electorate. It’s likely some women asked their husbands for voting advice.

Slowly over the years, women began running for office, at first mostly in local elections. They became role models for women who came behind them.

Many black women can trace their modern political activism to college sororities who organized for suffrage as well as the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s, MacManus said.

Black women students from Howard University and Delta Sigma Theta were among those who marched in Washington D.C., in 1913. White organizers feared offending Southern lawmakers and told black women to march in the rear of the parade.

But, Wells boldly caught up with the white Illinois delegation and walked with them, refusing to be ignored and segregated.

Sororities set up picket lines outside the White House during Woodrow Wilson’s presidency. “Some stayed until the bitter end,” said MacManus.

Wilson eventually threw his support to the suffragists.

MacManus said Kamala Harris comes from that tradition as a Howard University graduate and a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha. Harris made history last week by becoming the first woman of color running on a major political party’s ticket as vice president.

In Florida, black women have role models, including Carrie Meek, Frederica Wilson and Val Demings.

“More women are getting into politics and lot of that is driven by more women than men — by far — going to college,” MacManus said. “This is especially true with minority women.”

The #MeToo movement also has had an impact, the political scientist said.

By 1980, a voting gender gap emerged as more women than men voted in each of the last nine presidential elections.

In 1913, women held a Suffrage Pageant. Actor Hedwig Reicher is in the foreground.

A record number of 100 women held seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, in 2018. About 90 are Democrats. But, a growing number of Republican women also are seeking elected office.

According to the Rutgers Center for American Women and Politics, about 200 Republican women are running for House seats in 2020, an increase from 133 candidates in 2018.

“We’re raising our numbers,” said Sandy Graves, who won in the Aug. 18 Primary Election in the race for Republican State Committee Chairwoman for Pasco County. “We’re working very hard to try and encourage women to get in there.”

Graves is a lifelong Republican and especially honored to win an election in a year that celebrates women’s right to vote.

The amendment “was a hard-fought battle,” she said. “It is a testament to our country.”

She noted that Florida didn’t ratify the amendment until 1969, when Claude Kirk was the first Republican governor since Reconstruction.

The Pasco County Commission had planned to recognize the 100th anniversary, as well as the month of March as women’s history month, but that was delayed due to COVID-19 concerns.

Several women in past and current leadership roles will be honored when the recognition takes place, including former County Administrator Michele Baker, former Clerk and Comptroller Paula O’Neil, County Commissioner Kathryn Starkey and Assistant County Administrator Cathy Pearson.

Cheryl Pollock said the event will be scheduled once the county commission is again able to meet in person.

Pollock is the first black woman to serve as chair of the county’s Commission on the Status of Women. She joined the commission about three years ago.

“While there are limited women of color in leadership roles in our county, the county itself is slowly growing in diversity based on census reports,” Pollock said, via email.

She also said the Commission on the Status of Women is dedicated to “strive to understand disparate issues of women in our community and work toward solutions.”

A poster exhibit from the Smithsonian, “Votes for Women: A Portrait of Persistence!”
Where:
Pioneer Florida Museum & Village, 15602 Pioneer Museum Road, Dade City
When: Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., now through Nov. 3
Cost: $10 general admission adults; $8 for seniors; $5 for students; free for children under age 5; group rates available
Info: (352) 567-0262 or PioneerFloridaMuseum.org.

Timeline for Women’s Suffrage
1848: Seneca Falls, New York convention; “Declaration of Sentiments” issued
1850: First National Woman’s Convention
1866: Suffragists sent petition to Congress requesting women’s right to vote
1872: Susan B. Anthony arrested in New York for voting illegally. Fined $100, but never pays
1878: Susan B. Anthony wrote the “Anthony amendment”
1890s: National Association of Colored Women founded by Mary Church Terrell
1909: National Suffrage Party founded
1910: Suffrage parades begin
1913: Congressional Union for Women’s Suffrage founded by Alice Paul and Lucy Burns; Alpha Suffrage Club of Chicago founded by journalist Ida B. Wells
1913: More than 10,000 women march for suffrage in Washington D.C.; Ida B. Wells defiantly marches with Illinois delegation, refusing to be segregated
1917: College women begin picketing White House
1917: Anthony Amendment reintroduced in Senate & House
1919: Congress approved the 19th Amendment; sent it to states
1920: League of Women Voters founded
1920: 19th Amendment ratified by 36th state (Tennessee)

Published August 26, 2020

Filed Under: Top Story Tagged With: 19th Amendment, Alpha Kappa Alpha, Carrie Meek, Cathy Pearson, Cheryl Pollock, Civil Rights, Commission on the Status of Women, Dade City, Delta Sigma Theta, Frederica Wilson, Harry T. Burn, Howard University, Ida B Wells, Kamala Harris, Kathryn Starkey, Mary Church Terrell, Michele Baker, Pasco County Commission, Paula O' Neil, Pioneer Florida Museum & Village, Republican State Committee, Rutgers Center for Women and Politics, Sandy Graves, Susan B. Anthony, Susan MacManus, Tennessee General Assembly, U.S. House of Representatives, United States Constitution, Val Demings, Voting Rights Act, Warren G. Harding, Women's Equality Day, Woodrow Wilson

Artistic couple opens home gallery in Wesley Chapel

November 7, 2018 By Brian Fernandes

Upon entering the front door, various colors seem to emanate from all directions.

The living room and dining room walls are covered with diverse paintings.

The tables are decked with sculptures of different shapes and proportions.

Bernard and Gwendolyn Brooks have opened their Wesley Chapel home to the public as an art gallery. (Brian Fernandes)

More artworks can be found in the bedrooms, too.

This is the Wesley Chapel home of Bernard and Gwendolyn Brooks, who moved to the area a year ago from Washington D.C., to live closer to their family.

Their residence doubles as their art gallery.

The artists have dedicated their lives to teaching and exposing the world to their craft.

Each grew up around art.

Gwendolyn’s father, a painter, was a curator at Howard University for 33 years before retiring.

She grew up painting and also developed a love for music through the piano.

Although a passionate artist and musician, she felt a stronger calling to creating art.

“I realized that art as well as music are disciplines that require a lot of time and energy,” she said, reflecting on the competing desires. “I couldn’t do both, so I chose art.”

She pursued her education, receiving a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Art Education from Howard University and a Master of Arts in Education/Counseling from Trinity College.

She spent her career as an art teacher in Washington D.C., and in Gambia, Africa.

In this painting, Bernard Brooks pays homage to legendary blues musician, B.B. King.

Bernard recalled that his uncle was an artist who was quite “comfortable” in his line of work.

His uncle was an art instructor and helped establish the art department at Carver Vocational High School in Baltimore, Maryland.

Bernard noticed and admired his uncle’s contentment, which, in turn, influenced Bernard to pursue a life in the arts.

Bernard received a Bachelor of Fine Arts at Howard University, where he remained as the chief medical illustrator for more than 26 years.

It was during this time that he would design the interior of local dentist offices throughout the Washington D.C., area.

His artwork — known for its cotton fabric, metallic mediums and watercolors — began to gain notoriety.

“I was attracting people early on that had influence,” Bernard said, of his art’s growing popularity. “I always had a captive audience.”

His pieces would go on to be featured on national television shows, including “The Fresh Prince of Bel Air” and “The Parkers.”

Gwendolyn Brooks was inspired to create this piece after taking a trip to Cuba.

After becoming established, Bernard continued to be an advocate for up-and-coming young artists in the nation’s capital.

He often opened his home, giving many a place to stay and hiring some, as interns.

The couple said their art has been inspired by international influences, noting they’ve lived in the Caribbean islands and visited numerous countries.

Recently, a trip to Cuba inspired each of them to create pieces reflecting life on the island.

Hoping to gain a local following
Both feel compelled to create, but their approaches differ.

“I consider myself an intuitive artist,” Gwendolyn said, noting she never plans her work, but instead lets her feelings guide the work.

Bernard, on the other hand, said he needs to set an agenda for himself before putting paint to canvas.

The concept of their work is also what distinguishes their paintings.

Bernard tends to focus on artistry that conveys political or social issues in the world.

This portrait by Bernard Brooks is both a painting and collage of real images paying homage to U.S. Troops.

He doesn’t concern himself with what message viewers takes away, as long as they get a message.

Gwendolyn, on the other hand, avoids controversial issues — focusing instead on positive aspects of humanity.

“I like to brighten the person’s life – take them away from what’s happening in the world,” Gwendolyn said.

In addition to painting, she enjoys creating dolls and handmade quilts.

Stitching quilts by hand can be a tedious process, but it makes her work feel more personal, she said.

The couple has had art shows around the world, and they continue to do so. In some cases, their works go on display even when they can’t be present.

At home, they have two separate rooms they use as galleries for their respective works.

In addition to creating art, they also appreciate work created by other artists.

Their house is a showcase of ethnic diversity, with paintings and sculptures from French, Haitian, Japanese and Jamaican artists among others.

For every piece, the couple can name the creator, and tell the story behind it.

Some works hold a more significant meaning to Gwendolyn because they were painted by her father. He passed on much of his work to her, and those pieces tend to focus on African-American culture and identity.

When they were in Washington D.C., the Brooks had home shows with a cook-out in the back for visitors.

They’re hoping to gain a similar following here, and are trying to make a name for themselves in the Tampa Bay art scene.

Their home gallery in Wesley Chapel is open to the public, with pieces available for purchase.

To find out more, call Bernard or Gwendolyn at (813) 618-0916.

Bernard and Gwendolyn Brooks Home Art Show
Where: 5242 Riva Ridge Drive in Wesley Chapel
When: Nov. 10, 2 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Cost: Free
Details: Bernard and Gwendolyn Brooks will open their home gallery to the public with paintings for sale.
Info: To RSVP, call the Brooks at (813) 618-0916 or email .

Published November 7, 2018

Filed Under: Local News, Wesley Chapel/New Tampa News Tagged With: Bernard Brooks, Carver Vocational High School, Gwendolyn Brooks, Howard University, Riva Ridge Drive, Trinity College, Wesley Chapel

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