Author: WOAmemphis17

Women of Achievement
2000

DETERMINATION
for a woman who solved a glaring problem despite
widespread inertia, apathy or ignorance around her:

Bernice Donald

Determination is personified in Judge Bernice Bouie Donald.

When Bernice transferred from an all-black school to Olive Branch High School in her junior year, she was the only African-American honor student invited to attend a field trip to New York. The sixth of 10 children, she knew the expense of the trip would be a hardship for her family. But her mother, Willie Bouie, assured Bernice she’d find the $200. Although Willie was a domestic worker at the time and her husband was a sharecropper, they somehow scraped together the money, and young Bernice went to New York. Today, she travels the world, but credits her mother’s determination to see her children reach their full potential as the inspiration for her own determined success.

“She’s just an incredible person,” Bernice says of her mother. “She always forced me to go beyond my comfort zone, and her persistence has paid off. Now, instead of just going to New York, I’m going halfway around the world. I really attribute it directly to her.”

The destination “halfway around the world” is Russia, where for the past three years Bernice has taught Russian women about women’s rights, the women’s movement in the U.S., and antidiscrimination laws. This year, she will do the same for women in Turkey as an advisory member on the board of the Central and Eastern European Law Initiative. Although she remains very active in local and national causes, she’s enthusiastic about her work in emerging democracies.

In 1982, Bernice became Judge Bernice Donald for the first time when she was elected to the Shelby County General Sessions Criminal Court bench, the first African-American woman to be elected judge in Tennessee. In 1988, she became the first African-American woman in the nation to be appointed as a U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge. Finally, in January 1996, she received a lifetime appointment as a federal judge in the U.S. District Court, Western District of Tennessee – another first in the state.

Bernice didn’t grow up planning to become a judge, or even an attorney. As a young girl, she would gather her dolls and those of her sisters and line them up against the bedroom wall. She would “teach” the assembled “students” by reading to them from the encyclopedia. As she grew older she aspired to become a teacher. Again, it was her mother who intervened. Willie insisted that young Bernice go to college, but told her she should reconsider her plans to become a teacher. Still, Bernice has been teaching in one fashion or another since 1980 as an adjunct professor at the former Shelby State Community College, the University of Memphis and the National Judicial College.

On December 1, 2010, Bernice Donald was nominated by President Barack Obama for a judgeship on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit. She received her commission on September 8, 2011 and continues to serve as a judge on the court.

Women of Achievement
1999

DETERMINATION
for a woman who solved a glaring problem despite
widespread inertia, apathy or ignorance around her:

Bert P. Wolff

Bert Prosterman Wolff has been a strong advocate of public education and quality education for all.

The first of her four children was born the year that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that “separate but equal” was no longer acceptable. She remembers vividly the day, less than six years later, when a half dozen African-American children entered Avon School surrounded by patrolling police and some angry, vocal citizens.

“After Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, I was even more determined to help Memphis City Schools become as good as they could become for all of our children,” Bert said.

As the NAACP and school officials negotiated desegregation, starting with “Plan A,” Bert and others created and staffed a Rumor Control Center, supported by and housed in the Chamber of Commerce, to initiate networking groups to calm and educate the community with facts, not rumors. She was a volunteer guidance counselor at Carver High, and a member of the Panel of American Women, Better Schools Committee and the integrated Frances Hooks book club for women.

In 1979, she ran for and won school board Position 2, at-large, a citywide race. From 1980 to 1984, the community was again polarized over desegregation, school prayer and family-life curriculum. As board president in 1983, she was a leader in negotiations of policy changes necessary to initiate the final steps of “Plan Z” so that neighborhood schools could begin to be reinstated after the city’s desegregation struggle. She found little support in the white power structure; her friends, Congressional delegation, and City Council and County Commission members urged her to oppose the last step to integrate Memphis City Schools. She would, they said, lose her re-election if she supported Plan Z.

Finally, after months of meetings and comments from parents, teachers, lawyers and staff, the board met at 5 p.m. and voted at 1:25 a.m. Four voted yes, four voted no. “As president, I cast the final and deciding vote – the tie breaker – to integrate. All hell broke lose … I had to be escorted home.”

For the next eight months, Bert received hate mail, bomb threats, obscene phone calls nightly from 2 to 5 a.m. And she lost her bid for a second term. “Was it worth it? Would I do it again? Absolutely.”

Bert was founding executive director of the Epilepsy Foundation of West Tennessee from 1975 to 1983 and brought it to national recognition. From 1990 to 1993 she served Opera Memphis as executive director. In her seven years at the Memphis Botanic Garden, Bert held positions including foundation director and assistant director before her retirement in 2001.

She is a charter member of the Panel of American Women, founding member of Network of Memphis and has served on the boards of the Wolf River Conservancy, Metropolitan Inter-Faith Association, Temple Israel, the National Conference of Christians and Jews, and the State Commission on Women.

Bert Wolff continues to fight for equality in the Memphis School system.

Women of Achievement
1998

DETERMINATION
for a woman who solved a glaring problem despite
widespread inertia, apathy or ignorance around her:

Shelia Tankersley

Shelia Tankersley watched her best friend, who was diagnosed with AIDS, speak out about his disease and become involved with local AIDS education and support groups. He died in 1989, but his struggle with the disease changed her life forever, and she promised him she would continue working for this cause.

At first, she organized friends and family to rock newborns at The Med. Soon the staff started asking if she could help babysit so patients wouldn’t miss appointments. Still more requests came for help with diapers and transportation. Recognizing a need in the community, Shelia founded Loving Arms in 1991, a nonprofit group with a goal of providing emotional and financial support to women and children battling HIV/AIDS.

By 1994, with a grant from the Ryan White Foundation, she was able to lease a van to provide transportation to her clients who come from St. Jude, Methodist/Le Bonheur Healthcare and most of the area hospitals and social services. Other money comes from donations and fundraisers.

As the number of clients continued to grow, Shelia was forced to make a career decision. She prayed very hard, and in 1995 she decided to walk away from her job of 14 years to devote herself full time as executive director of Loving Arms. However, the only means of support for herself and the organization was her savings.

In 1996, with another grant from the Ryan White Foundation, she was able to pay herself a salary. Her staff is comprised of about 75 volunteers working with 93 families and close to 200 children.

AIDS is a controversial disease, and Shelia has not escaped negative comments. But other people’s opinions have not slowed her down. While caring for others, she also has raised four children as a single parent. Her children are all involved in Loving Arms. One daughter quit her job to drive the van full time.

Shelia has won the J.C. Penney Golden Rule Award, the East Memphis Exchange Club’s “Book of Golden Deeds Award,” and in 1996 she was awarded Mayor W.W. Herenton’s “Make A Difference Award,” the first of 12 to be given to Memphis citizens who are giving something back to their communities. In 1997, she was featured in the Sept. 16 issue of Family Circle magazine.

Shelia says the greatest blessing has been the women and children she serves daily. Her clients are some of the bravest and most determined women she has ever met, living with the personal, emotional, physical and financial stress of their disease, yet possessing positive attitudes and a will to survive. And the children, with all the difficulties they encounter, are filled with love and joy. She feels we can all learn from these children.

Women of Achievement
1997

DETERMINATION
for a woman who solved a glaring problem despite
widespread inertia, apathy or ignorance around her:

Deborah Cunningham

In an age filled with people searching for the easy way out, determination can be hard to find. But don’t suggest the easy way out to Deborah Cunningham. And don’t ever tell her to give up.

Afflicted with polio at the age of 6, Deborah refuses to use the disease as an excuse and she tries to help others do the same. As the executive director for the Memphis Center for Independent Living, it’s Deborah’s job to fight for the rights of the disabled, but it is her determination that causes those fights to go way beyond the call of duty.

In 1990, Deborah, a volunteer with ADAPT (American Disabled for Accessible Public Transportation), along with other members of the group, began a protest against the Malco theaters. What Deborah’s group wanted was simple: seating in Malco theaters that allows people in wheelchairs to sit with nondisabled companions and still have a good view of the screen. When a letter sent to the president of the company was ignored, Deborah’s determination would not let her back down. She led the group in a 45-minute protest at 7 p.m. on a busy Saturday night. That effort got the group an audience with Malco’s president.

In 1995, Deborah decided it was high time for the Mid-South Fair to make the event more accessible. She helped pushed fair officials to move more quickly on their promised renovations on the event to bring it up to federal standards of accessibility.

Her determination has continued to shine in recent years. After feeling that the main effects of polio were behind her, Deborah discovered a few years ago that she would not be so lucky. She, like many polio victims, was diagnosed with post-polio syndrome. But instead of using this recent affliction as a reason to give up, Deborah used it as another reason to fight. Under Deborah’s direction, the Center for Independent Living started a monthly post-polio patient support group and disseminates current information on the subject.

Whether it is accessibility or other issues of concern to people with disabilities, Deborah is never afraid to speak her mind and never afraid to advocate for what is right. She is not afraid of what others think, and she is determined to make sure the playing field is level for everyone.

Deborah continues to press for accessibility as required by law in local restaurants and other facilities and adequate transportation services from Memphis Area Transportation Authority.

Deborah Cunningham died on May 7, 2015.

Women of Achievement
1996

DETERMINATION
for a woman who solved a glaring problem despite
widespread inertia, apathy or ignorance around her:

Doris Walker

When Doris Walker entered the medical field more than 40 years ago, she had two barriers to overcome: her color and her weight.

She graduated from Manassas High School with very high grades. She left Memphis after graduation to work in Chicago then moved to Milwaukee in 1945. Wanting to become a Licensed Practical Nurse, she applied to the Milwaukee Institute of Technology for an interview. After reviewing her application, the school did not believe the high grades from her high school transcript could be hers. They gave her a battery of academic and psychological tests, which she successfully completed.

Still not satisfied, a counselor told her that she should be a secretary. “To whom?” she asked. “Just give me a chance and if I can’t do it, I’ll leave.” That determination resulted in her becoming the first black student in the practical nursing program. She studied hard to make sure she did well and graduated at the top of her class. She was such a good nurse that a Milwaukee hospital, which never had a black person on staff, offered her a job.

Doris later worked in New Jersey and Detroit. In 1954, she returned to Memphis and began work as an LPN at the old John Gaston Hospital. When she learned of the E.H. Crump School for Black Nurses, she decided to pursue her dream of becoming a registered nurse. Once again, despite her excellent academic record, getting accepted was her biggest challenge. Even though she made the highest scores on the entrance exams, she was told that unless she lost weight she couldn’t enroll. She accomplished this and went on to graduate as valedictorian of the first class of black R.N.s.

After graduation Doris went to work at the City of Memphis Hospital as an R.N. She worked her way up through the ranks to become the first black operating room supervisor, the first person to supervise in-service training for all special care units and then the first assistant director of nursing over special care units.

In 1974, Doris was appointed acting associate administrator of nursing but did not have the academic qualifications to be permanently assigned the position. Determination again came into play and she went back to school, this time to Memphis State University. Married, she worked, raised her child and obtained both her bachelor’s degree in health services administration in 1977 and a masters of public administration in 1983.

After completing her bachelor’s degree, she became director of nursing at the Shelby County Health Care Center. There she worked to help the institution raise its standards. In 1980, she again returned to the City of Memphis Hospital, this time as director of nursing. She was part of the team that planned the transition of the hospital into the Regional Medical Center at Memphis. She later became the first vice president of nursing and retired in June 1985. Since that time she has worked as a consultant for senior citizen issues and for home health care.