African American History Month is here, and oh, how I love this month. The beauty in working for an African American business, nonprofit, church, community organization, education program, media outlet, etc., is that we can be ourselves, not just during the month of February. We can be ourselves 365 days a year. Does that mean walking around, being angry all the time for what was done to our beloved Ancestors? Or does it mean holding your head up high and remembering that we come from Kings and Queens in the motherland, Africa, and do our best to live our lives in such a way that the Ancestors will be proud? I prefer to go with choice number two. Live our lives in such a way in which our Ancestors will be proud.
Each week during African American History Month, we will use this column to share some history about us from Philadelphia. Today, I choose to remind SCOOP Readers and perhaps share with other SCOOP readers for the first time, some of the history of African American women who became elected officials in Pennsylvania over the years.
One thing I know without a doubt, is whenever you start naming names– ultimately, there will be a few who were overlooked. I am going to do my best to try and capture them all in what I share right now.
Elected in 1938, Fauset was the first African American woman elected to a state legislature in the United States in a district that was, at the time, two-thirds white. She only served for one year, resigning to serve in the Roosevelt Administration, but it was one heck of a year in which she introduced nine bills and three amendments on the health and welfare of the poor, housing, and women’s rights in the workplace.
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In 1971, it was Ethel D. Allen, a Republican medical doctor, who became the first Black woman elected to Philadelphia City Council. She went on to become Secretary of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and gave the seconding speech for Presidential nominee Gerald Ford at the 1976 Republican National Convention.
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And then there was Ruth Harper. Ruth Harper was the owner and director of Ruth Harper’s Modeling and Charm School from 1963 to 2004 and director of the Miss Ebony Pennsylvania Pageant. She was also an instructor at Simon Gratz High School and Strawberry Mansion Junior High School and a columnist for the Tioga News. Leader of the 13th Ward Democratic Committee, 23rd Division, Harper was also the founder and president of the North Central Women’s Political Caucus. Elected to the Democratic National Committee, she served from 1979 to 1996. Elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives for the 1977 term, she served a total of eight consecutive terms. Appointed to the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency in 1979, she served in that role until 1984. She opted not to run for reelection to the House in 1992. She passed away in February of 2006.
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In 1980, Augusta A. Clark came on the scene as a Democratic City Councilwoman At Large. Gussie Clark worked as a librarian and lawyer before serving 20 years on City Council after her election in 1980. She was then only the second black woman elected to Council, as a Democrat At Large. Clark was born in Uniontown, Ala. before her family moved to Fairmont, W.Va., where she would graduate from West Virginia State College. She moved to Philadelphia to work as an assistant at Color Magazine, a publication modeled after Life, which targeted black readers. When the publication folded, Clark earned a master’s degree in library science from Drexel University and later, at age 39, a law degree from Temple University. Clark worked for U.S. Rep. William H. Gray before she was elected to City Council. She served as a city councilwoman from 1980-2000. She passed away in 2013 at the age of 81.
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Roxanne H. Jones became well known first as a welfare rights activist. She fought every day to try and make sure that women, in particular, who were on public assistance, would still be treated fairly by the system and treated with dignity. Roxanne Jones was a social activist and politician who served as a Democratic member of the Pennsylvania State Senate for the 3rd District from January 1, 1985 to May 19, 1996. She was the first African-American woman to serve in the Pennsylvania State Senate and the second woman to serve in the Senate since Flora M. Vare in 1928.
In 1996, she was described by the Philadelphia Daily News as someone who, in an era of despair …always saw hope—never defeat.” Ed Rendell, the mayor of Philadelphia at that time and later governor of Pennsylvania, called her the city’s “leading advocate for the poor and most vulnerable citizens …a non-stop energetic whirlwind who battled injustice with every ounce of energy she possessed.”
Senator Jones, or “Roxy” as those who loved her called her, passed away in May of 1996 at the age of 68. Jones worked with the Philadelphia Opportunities Industrialization Center and then served as chair of the Southwark public housing chapter of the Philadelphia Welfare Rights Organization from 1967 to 1968. She registered voters, worked to improve educational services for children who were enrolled in the city’s schools, and pushed elected officials to ban the use of lead-based paint due to the damage it caused to children’s developing brains. She founded Philadelphia Citizens in Action, was a board member of the Pennsylvania Minority Business Development Authority, and was a member of the Martin Luther King Center of Social Change and the National Congress of Black Women.
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Thank you for reading Thank you for reading an excerpt of Thera Martin’s article on scoopusamedia.com. To read more of Part 1 of the article, “Celebrating Black Women Elected Officials over the years,” please subscribe to Scoop USA Media. Print subscriptions are $75.00 and online subscriptions (Print, Digital and Vizion) are $90. (52 weeks/1 year)
