Author: WOAmemphis17

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Maxine Starling Strawder

WOMEN OF ACHIEVEMENT
2019

INITIATIVE
for a woman who seized the
opportunity to use her talents and created her own future:

Maxine Starling Strawder

Maxine was always told by her mother “Remember who you are. You are loved, you are valued and you are enriched by the people in your life.” She knew the history of her family and its struggles and understood early that she was defined by family, not situations outside of herself.

In Beckley, West Virginia, Maxine was born with very poor vision. The family moved to Cleveland, Ohio, where, at age 10, Maxine saw legendary African-American dancer and choreographer Katherine Dunham dance. That performance led Maxine to a life-long passion for dance.

At her request, her parents enrolled at Cleveland, Ohio’s Karamu House, one of the oldest African-American theaters in America. She exhibited great talent, always dancing without her usual Coke-bottle glasses, barely able to see the stage and other performers.

In recognition of her talent, at age 16, she was chosen to study and travel to Haiti in a program sponsored by her inspiration, Katherine Dunham.

Her parents wanted her to attend Fisk University, which had no dance program. Exhibiting further initiative, while at Fisk, Maxine worked for two years cleaning houses and then, using her savings, went to Europe, studying in Denmark and Germany. Back in the states, she worked with dancer/choreographer Bob Johnson’s Pittsburgh Black Theatre Dance Ensemble.

Maxine then returned to Cleveland and Karamu House, where she danced with several modern dance troupes while obtaining a Bachelor’s degree at Case Western Reserve. She married and had a daughter, Dawn Rebecca, at age 23, but the marriage was short-lived.

With a Master’s in Library and Information Science from the University of Indiana at Bloomington, in 1974 she took a job with the Memphis and Shelby County Public Library and Information Center, one of the first African-American librarians in Memphis. She later became manager of the Gaston Park Branch.

But Maxine never gave up her passion. In 1973, she was one of the organizers of the First National Congress of Blacks in Dance. Maxine continued to dance, to teach dancers, and be actively involved in the Memphis arts community for the next several decades through groups such as the Harry Bryce Dance Theatre, the Memphis Black Arts Alliance, and Project: Motion. All of this in spite of her poor vision and later-diagnosed hearing problems.

While dancing with Harry Bryce, she came to be called Silverbird, a name that has graced many dance programs.
The year Maxine turned 75 she asked Project Motion if she could choreograph a piece in an annual show. Not only did they agree, they asked her to produce the entire show. 75 Rotations: Celebrating Maxine Strawder’s Passion for Dance had three sold-out performances. All profits went to the Project: Motion Maxine Strawder Dance Enrichment Scholarship at the University of Memphis.

A lifelong learner, Maxine earned a second Master’s degree in Liberal Arts, and received professional certification in diversity training and tai chi.

While in Cleveland she fought blatant housing discrimination and participated in marches and sit-ins for civil rights. In Memphis she continues to participate in social justice activities.
At the age of 80, Maxine keeps limber with dance classes and by teaching tai chi. She continues her studies at the University of Memphis as a perpetual scholar of the arts, languages, history, and world cultures.

“Dance is a universe unto itself,” she says, “It’s not only taking care of your body. It’s taking care of your mind. It’s a worldview.” Reflecting on her life, she said, “Both my mother and grandmother lived to be 96 years old, both faced many obstacles in life, and both possessed a loving fierceness. They instilled that in me.”

Women of Achievement salutes Maxine Starling Strawder who continues to take initiative to overcome obstacles and inspire others with her talent and passion.

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Gabriela Salinas

WOMEN OF ACHIEVEMENT
2019

HEROISM
for a woman whose heroic spirit was tested and
shown as a model to all in Shelby County and beyond:

Gabriela Salinas

Gabby Salinas’ story of survival and heroic devotion has been told all over the world. She was brought to the United States from Bolivia by her father at the age of seven, unable to walk, to be treated for cancer, but the family was turned away from a leading New York hospital after they were unable to pay for her treatment.

Without specialized care, Gabby did not have long to live.

Lucky for them that actress Marlo Thomas, daughter of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital founder Danny Thomas, read about them and immediately faxed the story to Memphis. Two days later Gabby and her dad, a Bolivian Air Force pilot, were flown to Memphis courtesy of St. Jude – where no patient ever pays.

It was March 1996.

The medical team at St. Jude fought the Ewing sarcoma – pediatric bone cancer – in Gabby’s spine, helped her learn to walk again and saved her life – and not for the last time.

Gabby Salinas’ story, says WMC TV, “has plot twists worthy of a Steven Spielberg film.”

Gabby has survived cancer three times, suffered the loss of her father and younger sister in a horrific car crash, works as a scientist to discover new drugs to treat ravaging diseases and ran for the Tennessee State Senate – and she is only 30 years old!

Thirteen months after the Salinas family arrived at St. Jude, as they drove on Interstate-40 northeast of Memphis, their car crashed. Her father and sister were thrown from the car and killed. Her pregnant mother was paralyzed.

The surviving family – mother, Gabby, twin brother, toddler and infant – continued in Memphis. In 2001 Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson sponsored a bill in Congress, signed by President Bill Clinton, to grant them citizenship. Gabby was educated at St. Ann Bartlett (2003), St. Agnes Academy (2007) and Christian Brothers University (2011).

She was diagnosed twice again with cancer and again was treated at St. Jude – in 2003 and 2007. In 2010, still a college student, she joined the St. Jude Department of Chemical Biology and Therapeutics. She also helped establish “Danny’s Dream Team,” former St. Jude patients who run races that raise funds for St. Jude in honor of founder Danny Thomas. In 2010 this woman who once lost ability to walk participated in her first half-marathon to raise money for the hospital.

Acutely aware of the urgent need for access to health care and medical insurance, Gabby lobbied in Nashville for expansion of Medicaid after the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010. She watched helplessly as her state senator ignored his own Republican governor in shooting down the effort. She later saw the rural hospital that had treated her injured family members close.

It all sparked her political awakening which led her to run in 2018 for her state senator’s seat in Senate District 31: Cordova, Germantown, east Shelby County and Hickory Hill. She defeated two opponents to become the Democratic nominee, facing a nine-year incumbent in a solidly-Republican district.

Gabby became the target of $369,000 in negative TV, radio and direct mail ads in a fear-mongering campaign funded by huge companies and a conservative political action committee, aided by Tennessee’s lieutenant governor. The ads painted Gabby as a dangerous radical and featured images of masked men representing criminal immigrants.

When Election Day ended, the incumbent had only 1,520 votes more than Gabby.

After almost a year of campaigning, she has returned to writing her thesis in Pharmaceutical Sciences for the University of Kentucky.

Gabby is a true hero. She has certainly been tested and her spirit shown – in print, television and online – as a heroic model over and over again. We salute Gabby Salinas as our Woman of Achievement for Heroism 2019.

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Rachel Coats Greer

WOMEN OF ACHIEVEMENT
2019

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

Rachel Coats Greer

In 1958, Rachel’s father started Rachel’s Flowers, a small florist near the University of Memphis. In 1997, the business moved to 2486 Poplar near Hollywood, on the edge of Binghamton, the geographic heart of the city. The neighborhood behind the shop suffered from a lack of jobs and businesses. This resulted in crime, poverty and hopelessness.

After the move, Rachel Coats, working in the shop that bears her name, answered a knock at the back door. A young boy asked for a part time job to buy clothes and school supplies. She initially said no but he kept coming. She finally agreed to hire him. The next day he brought a friend. Then three. Then more. She said yes to them all.

As she got to know them, she realized they needed more than money. She started tutoring them, buying cakes for birthdays and helping with school clothes. Her parents and late husband Harry Greer worked with her.

She began mobilizing friends, family and employees to volunteer their time to mentor and tutor neighborhood kids. Her church, Central Christian Church, provided support.

In 2002, Rachel’s Kids, Inc. became a non-profit. The mission: Provide opportunities and improved quality of life for the children of Binghamton. The method: Call Rachel.

In 2003, Rachel and Harry moved their home to Binghamton and opened their door. Mondays and Tuesdays would find 25 kids there, most with tutors recruited from their church, their friends, or nearby Rhodes College. They took the kids to Tigers’ games, to medical appointments, sent them to camp. Rachel shopped at thrift stores to help with school clothes.

Rachel’s Kids, Inc. is not a calendar of grant-funded programs. It is a relationship with families. The nonprofit depends on donations from individuals and support from Rachel’s Flowers.
Rachel does what is needed as it is needed.

She never knows when the phone rings what the problem will be, but if possible, she’ll find a solution. If it requires money, she’ll spend it. She says that just as the bank account is getting low, funds arrives. Her mother, who lived with Rachel, slept in her tennis shoes because she never knew where they’d go when they got a call.

Help with school? Tutors are hired. Need food? It is delivered. Transportation? It is arranged. If there is domestic violence or another need for safe haven, it is found. If it’s advice or an opinion, Rachel doesn’t hesitate. Her kids know they can tell her anything.

And once a Rachel’s Kid, always a Rachel’s Kid.

More than 300 kids have been helped by Rachel and her volunteers. Rachel believes that it is not her place to judge actions taken by others, that she is there to help those who ask in whatever way she can. For older kids that may mean, cell phones, cars, childcare for their kids, or help with a college application.

Now kids are growing up and giving back.

Rachel constantly reminds her kids to believe in themselves and not to allow their circumstances to define their future.

A long-time customer says, “Rachel is a shining light of hope in a neighborhood where there are growing opportunities but still devastating challenges. She is a mentor, a counselor, a business partner, a problem solver, a go-to person and a humble servant leader for this neighborhood.”

Sometimes Rachel wonders if she’s made a difference. The many little Rachels and Haleys living in Binghamton named for Rachel and her daughter say yes! Women of Achievement says yes. Rachel’s determination continues to make a difference in the lives of kids in Binghamton.

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Mary E. Mitchell

WOMEN OF ACHIEVEMENT
2019

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

Mary E. Mitchell

Born in 1936, Mary Mitchell has lived in the same home in Orange Mound since she was six years old. Today, Orange Mound has one of the higher levels of housing blight in Memphis. The unemployment rate has for some time remained above 20%. Some tidy homes and thriving small businesses have faded into boarded-up storefronts. Television and media too often present negative stories of poverty and violence.

Yet to Mary, Orange Mound is sacred ground. She determined that the rich historic and cultural heritage of Orange Mound deserved to be preserved and celebrated and she works to make this happen.

Orange Mound started in 1890 as one of the nations’s first planned African-American communities. It was a source of pride to the business owners, lawyers, teachers and other professionals who called it home. In 1919 it became part of Memphis.

The Orange Mound Mary Mitchell grew up in was thriving. During World War II her grandparents and neighbors strategically organized their limited resources. They worked together to ensure that neighborhood children were fed before heading to school. Children watched adults go to work every day, instilling a work ethic and making sure that every young person knew their value. The community had a vision and a purpose that Mary recognized as she matured.

At some point, as Mary watched, the neighborhood began a slow decline. Buildings closed, employment opportunities decreased, the beautiful neighborhood park shut down, and poverty and crime were on the rise.

Mary became a mother in her teens, raising five children, but she always planned to go to college. In 1980, at age 44, she enrolled at LeMoyne-Owen, graduating with a degree in Philosophy in 1984. She had always loved Orange Mound, but it was a project at LeMoyne-Owen that inspired her to start telling the story of her beloved community.

After graduation, she started a business but continued to promote the importance of Orange Mound at every opportunity.

From 2000 through 2005 she chaired the Orange Mound Collaborative. Funded by the Ford Foundation, the Collaborative stressed education through empowerment. Included were an Early Childhood Institute, an oral history project and a community newspaper. After grant funding ended Mary enlisted the help of the University of Memphis Journalism Department to continue the paper for several more years.

Unwilling to lose the momentum begun by the Collaboration, in 2006 she and several others founded the Melrose Center for Cultural Enrichment in Orange Mound. The group is committed to the preservation and restoration of the Historic Melrose School building which include a genealogy center as well as a museum.

According to her nominator, Mary promotes collaborations by uniting teams around historical, cultural and socioeconomic factors to advocate for the epic history of “The Mound.” She sees opportunity and progress even when faced with challenges. Mary sees the best in people and encourages those behind her to reach past the obstacles of today and be the bright spirits of the future. Thanks, in part to the extraordinary determination of Mary Mitchell, the history of Orange Mound has been documented through newspaper articles, tours, speaking engagements and documentaries.

Mary E. Mitchell, Shelby County’s Honorary Orange Mound Historian, is determined not to make lemonade out of lemons but to make orange juice out of oranges.

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Mildred Richard-Edwards

WOMEN OF ACHIEVEMENT
2019

COURAGE
for a woman who, facing active opposition,
backed an unpopular cause in which she deeply believed:

Mildred Richard-Edwards

Born to a drug addicted mother, at the age of 12, Mildred dropped out of school to care for her twin siblings who had been abandoned. They had not yet reached their first birthday. In 2000 Mildred Richard-Edwards found out she was HIV+ after she gave birth to her son, due to a pregnancy that was a result of rape.

Mildred was overwhelmed. She felt alone, ashamed and unworthy of love. She would accept help from no one, not even her best friend.

She was referred to Hope House. There she met staff members Maria Randall and Melissa White. For the first time she met other women like herself. There she learned how to live with HIV and she earned her GED. She says the support she received was phenomenal.

Hope House was having a Hopes and Dreams luncheon to raise funds for a new space.

Maria asked her to speak but she said no. Maria told her it would only be a few people. She still said no. But finally she agreed.

When she got to the University Holiday Inn, the room was packed. She was terrified but Maria convinced her she could do it and stood by her side as she spoke. She cried as she talked and so did many of those listening. She won a standing ovation and was then hugged by lots of strangers. She’d thought that since becoming HIV+ she couldn’t be touched by others. The experience was life-changing and she’s been speaking about living with HIV ever since.

Her mother didn’t love her. After her diagnosis she became estranged from her father. She believed that she didn’t deserve love. Yet for one year, the man who became her husband left roses on her doorstep every morning. She was living with a mentally ill aunt and 4 children and on their first date he took her and all the kids. They married in 2003 and he has supported her in her work ever since.

Mildred is a tireless advocate on behalf of people living with HIV, counseling them through Hope House and Friends for Life. She has been a peer mentor, patient navigator and case manager, often taking calls herself in the middle of the night. Though no longer working for those groups, she is still part of the family. And her clients are still with her. “You don’t leave someone who is living with HIV,” she says.

Mildred received the annual National Public Citizen of the Year Award in 2016 from the National Association of Social Workers for her outstanding work advocating on behalf of people living with HIV/AIDS. She continually pushes for better care for people living with the disease and shows them they can live full lives.

Mildred is founder of “My Sista’s Keeper,” which started as a small group for women living with HIV or caring for someone who is living with HIV. The group has now grown to over 80 women who meet monthly. Some are HIV+ and some are not but they all share problems and concerns. She provides a meal. Mildred describes it as Girls Night Out with an edge.

Her siblings and son are grown. She now works for a pharmaceutical company, traveling to teach people how to live successfully and even happily with HIV. She continues to tell her story and in fact will be doing so at Vanderbilt this week.

A force of nature, Mildred Richard-Edwards courageously speaks out as a person living with HIV, despite societal stigma. We honor her courage which has transformed countless lives.

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Cherisse Scott

WOMEN OF ACHIEVEMENT
2018

VISION
for a woman whose sensitivity to women’s needs
led her to tremendous achievements for women:

Cherisse Scott

28 years old.

Singing the lead in a national touring company production.

Pregnant.

Home to Chicago and to an abortion clinic.

Only it wasn’t. It was a crisis pregnancy clinic where Cherisse Scott was convinced to stay pregnant and sent home with a onesie. She went back to her pre-musical job as a paralegal, delivered her son and seven months later was unemployed, on food stamps and getting nothing from the crisis clinic to sustain the life, health and well-being of her child.

For six years, and through three pregnancies that were terminated by abortion, Cherisse worked temp jobs and performing gigs. She says, “I didn’t understand my body. I had no information. After the third time, I ran into a reproductive justice advocate who finally taught me how to understand my fertility.”

The power of understanding her body – fertility, pregnancy and how to prevent it – made her passionate about sex education. She knows full well how life changes positively when a woman is empowered with access and information about her reproductive and sexual health.

She began volunteering with her new friend’s group – Black Women for Reproductive Justice – and soon joined the board and then the staff.

In 2011 Cherisse moved to Memphis where her mother lives and where she had spent part of her childhood. Her mother saw the need for what Cherisse was doing in Chicago to be black-woman led on behalf of black women, Cherisse says.

With her mother and grandmother as honorary co-founders, she launched SisterReach, a nonprofit whose mission is focused on empowering women and girls of color through a broad interpretation of reproductive justice.

SisterReach defines reproductive justice as “the complete physical, mental, spiritual, political, economic and social well-being of women and girls, and will be achieved when women and girls have the economic, social and political power and resources to make healthy decisions about our bodies, sexuality and reproduction for ourselves, our families and our communities in all areas of our lives.”

SisterReach provides comprehensive sexuality education, sexual communication training and outreach to women and girls, men and boys, families and LGBTQI individuals at churches, schools, community centers and through local, state, regional and national collaboratives such as Memphis Teen Vision, Free Condoms Memphis, Choose2Wait, Healthy and Free Tennessee, Advocates for Youth, Trust Black Women and Raising Women’s Voices. Outreach efforts and classes cover healthy relationships, anatomy, birth control, consent and risky behavior.

Women in higher poverty areas are at greater risk of unwanted pregnancy, dropping out of school and other things related to sexual health so SisterReach strives to guide women and girls to resources for pap smears, emergency contraception, testing and treatment.

Cherisse and SisterReach produced a 2015 report on the need for comprehensive sexuality education for Southern youth of color; opposed anti-abortion billboards in Memphis targeting black men, trained clergy and faith leaders on social justice issues; and presented to the United Nations Working Group on the Issue of Discrimination against Women in Law and Practice on the impact of fetal assault legislation on Tennessee women. SisterReach’s work and state and national partners led to defeat of the fetal assault bill which in 2016 criminalized women struggling with drug addiction.

Cherisse is a 2016 Rockwood Institute Fellow, Reproductive Justice and Faith Fellow with the Center for American Progress and has been featured in New York magazine, O magazine, NBC News #31DaysofFeminism Campaign and Full Frontal with Samantha Bee. A recent push for meetings in Washington are aimed at talking to decision-makers about the kind of support black women need.

And on top of all that, Cherisse has returned to her music, singing jazz/soul/R&B fusion. She will release a third album this year and wants to create a one-woman show that incorporates her social justice passion and her music.

In a social and political atmosphere which scapegoats and stereotypes young women of color for their sexuality, Cherisse instead teaches, supports and advocates for them in claiming control over their bodies and their reproductive decisions.

“I’m a bisexual black woman who is also a Christian and a minister,’ Cherisse says. “I hope SisterReach is a space for black and brown women to feel community.”

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Wanda Taylor

Women of Achievement
2018

INITIATIVE
for a woman who seized the
opportunity to use her talents and created her own future:

Wanda Taylor

Born to parents who battled long-term alcohol and drug addiction, and raised in LeMoyne Garden and Claiborne Home housing projects, no one who knew her as a child and teenager would have expected Wanda Taylor to succeed.

“At 11, I was introduced to cocaine, alcohol and sex,” she told blogger Wiley Henry in 2014. “I started experiencing domestic violence at 15, dropped out of school in the 11th-grade, and became a teen mom. I had no morals and values.

“I was so confused. I was selling drugs, stealing, in and out of the court. I’m the face in incest, homelessness, substance abuse, incarceration – everything. I lived at the Salvation Army twice, in a vacant apartment with my children, and out of my mom’s car. . .I was shot at, stabbed, almost burned alive, and tied up. Guns were pulled on me countless times,” said Taylor. She also survived an abusive marriage lasting almost three years.

In 1992, at the age of 21, she found the strength to turn her life around so that her two children would have better lives. She found Jesus Christ and took the initiative to transform her life. She couldn’t read or write or analyze a sentence well, but she was determined. While working both a full-time and a part-time job, as well as taking care of her family, she returned to school at age 26 and two years later earned her high school diploma. She then went to Southwest Tennessee Community College, receiving a Technical Certificate in Substance Abuse Counseling and an Associate of Science degree in Human Services. She later enrolled in the University of Phoenix and earned a B.S. degree in Business Management.

She knew she wanted to help other women. She used her own experiences to educate and motivate others for over 25 years, teaching through the Salvation Army, Serenity Recovery Center, Shelby County Rape Crisis Center, Department of Human Services and Shelby County Child Support Office.

She also volunteered to share her life experiences through various organizations in Memphis — to women in prison, to women in homeless situations through Project for the Homeless Connect, to teenagers through Juvenile Court and other programs.

In 2004 she self-published her life story as a book, A Woman of God: An Inspirational Book for Women.

Many treatment programs last an average of 28-30 days and the relapse rate averages 70%. To cycle in and out of rehab several times is common. Knowing the limits of the average substance abuse treatment programs, Wanda wanted to create a program that would have a better chance of breaking the cycle and preventing substance abuse relapse. She began LINCS, Ladies in Need Can Survive, in 2013, out of her own home and with her own money and serves as the CEO and Executive Director. LINCS today provides a one-year residential program with structured, training. Participants go through an intensive drug and alcohol outpatient program, counseling, anger management, domestic violence education, parenting & life skills coaching, job readiness, career and financial planning, and a health and wellness program, along with First Aid/CPR and SIDS Training, and housing assistance.

Because it is demanding and holistic, the program is small. “Every woman who comes through the door, I mentor them and provide services to get them back on track,” Wanda said. She holds their hands and walks them through the process, provides transportation to school, and prepares them for structure and stability when they leave the program.

For taking the initiative to turn her own life around and using her experiences to help other women; for her initiative in realizing the weaknesses of traditional rehabilitation and creating LINCS as a holistic rehabilitation alternative, Wanda Taylor has earned the Women of Achievement Initiative Award.

As she sums it up, “Other programs deal with the addiction. I deal with the core issue, the root cause.”

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Miriam DeCosta-Willis

WOMEN OF ACHIEVEMENT
2018

STEADFASTNESS
for a woman with a lifetime of achievement:

Miriam DeCosta-Willis

Educator, author and Civil Rights activist, Dr. Miriam DeCosta-Willis has steadfastly worked to advance the cause of Civil Rights and widen knowledge of the Black experience in the United States and the African Diaspora. She understands what it means to break racial and gender barriers and defy the odds. She embodies much of what the Women’s and Civil Rights Movements hoped to accomplish in the last half of the 20th Century.

Miriam organized her first protest while a high school junior in Orangeburg, South Carolina. That same year, she and her mother were invited to lunch by the white wife of a local judge and the wife’s black friend. It was a test to see if she was a “nice Negro girl” who could integrate the prestigious, all-white Westover School for girls, in Connecticut. Though she didn’t know the lunch was a test, she passed and went on to graduate at the top of her Westover class. In 1952, on she went to Wellesley, from which she graduated Phi Beta Kappa.

Marriage brought her to Memphis. After having two children, she decided to pursue a Master’s degree. But, because she is black, this Wellesley Phi Beta Kappa was refused entry into the then-Memphis State University grad school.

Not one to give up, she applied to the Johns Hopkins program in 1959 under her married name – Sugarmon – and was accepted because that school thought she was Jewish. The professor who oversaw the process questioned whether a good Jewish wife and mother would leave her responsibilities at home, but let her in despite his doubts. We can only imagine his surprise upon their first meeting!

Being a black woman in a sea of white women at Wellesley and in a sea of white men at Johns Hopkins taught her a thing or two about challenging situations.

At Johns Hopkins she completed a Masters and later became the first African American to earn a PhD there. By then she had four children.

Miriam returned to Memphis to become the first black faculty member at the same university that had previously denied her entrance.

Miriam has been present for significant events in Civil Rights. Visiting her mother, she became an eye-witness to the Montgomery Bus Boycotts. She accompanied her mother to bus stops to pick up black workers and give them rides to their jobs. She was there the day Martin Luther King, Jr.’s home was bombed. Her mother drove them to the site. The crowd was ordered by police to step back. Miriam says, “But my mother stood there with her little short self, and she refused to move. I think that one incident really kindled my own courage and determination not to move back in the face of oppression.”

Miriam was in Memphis when Dr. King was assassinated. She participated in marches in the DC area when teaching at area universities. She and her children marched, were maced, and she has been arrested.

In Memphis, as secretary of the local NAACP, she organized what became known as “Black Mondays,” five days when black students stayed home in protest for quality of education and against lack of African-American representation on the school board. At the University she was advisor to the Black Student Association. Of course, she organized a sit-in at the President’s Office!

All the time she was steadily pursuing her academic and writing careers. A co-founder of the Black Writer’s Workshop, her published titles include: Daughters of the Diaspora; Afra-Hispanic Writers; Notable Black Memphians; Homespun Images: an Anthology of Black Writers and Artists (with Fannie Delk); The Memphis Diary of Ida B. Wells; Singular Like a Bird, the Art of Nancy Morejon and Black Erotica (with Reginald Martin).

Over the years, in addition to Memphis State, she has taught or served in administrative positions at Howard University, LeMoyne-Owen College, George Mason University and the University of Maryland. Now retired, she continues to write.

Miriam attributes her success to her family. Her father was a college professor and her mother a social worker, college professor and public schools counselor. She often heard the story of her grandmother, who registered to vote just two weeks after the passage of the 19th amendment. Her family emphasized education, achievement and accomplishment; tenets she has held firmly.

For this, Women of Achievement gratefully salutes Miriam DeCosta-Willis.

Miriam DeCosta-Willis passed away on January 7, 2021.

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Lois DeBerry

WOMEN OF ACHIEVEMENT
2018

HERITAGE
for a woman whose achievements still enrich our lives:

Lois DeBerry

Born in Memphis on May 5, 1945, Lois DeBerry grew up in the Bunker Hill neighborhood of South Memphis and graduated from Hamilton High School. During the 1960’s she took part in the Civil Rights Movement, despite her parents’ objections. She participated in the March on Washington in 1963 and heard Dr. King’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech. She was part of the Student Sit-In Movement against segregation in public places, and marched the 50 miles from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama with Dr. King in 1965, publicizing the lack of voting rights for African-Americans. She said later in an interview with Linda T. Wynn, “Every time I would read the paper, I would get mad about what was going on…I felt that I had to be there to make my contribution….”

She graduated from LeMoyne-Owen College with a B.A. degree in elementary education in 1971 and began to work as a counselor for a federally funded program in Memphis housing projects as a link between families and schools.

She soon realized she was a token African-American as well as one of the few women in a program that wasn’t doing its job to motivate black children to stay in school. She tried calling on a few male politicians with her doubts and, getting no response, she felt frustrated and didn’t know what to do.

She had a chance conversation with an older African-American woman when picking up her car from a repair shop during this time and one thing the woman told her was, “Baby, the only way you can change the system is to get in the system.” This catalyzed her to run for office in 1972, specifically as state representative from the 91st District as a Democrat. She won against four male candidates and headed for Nashville in 1973, one of only five women in the Tennessee General Assembly, the second African-American woman elected, and the first from Memphis.

She gained a reputation as outspoken and assertive, but she made allies, who called her “Lady D.” One of the first bills she sponsored was a law allowing senior citizens the opportunity to attend any state college or university free of charge. Another was gaining the inclusion of African-American history in Tennessee in school textbooks. In 1976 she became chair of the House Special Committee on Corrections and realized it was important to focus on young offenders. She fought for a correctional facility that offered treatment to youth criminals with special problems and in 1978 it came into existence, named in her honor.

In 1981 she married Charles Traughber, chair of the Tennessee state parole board, and had one son from a previous marriage. She continued her legislative career, serving as House majority whip for two legislative sessions in the 1980’s, then decided to run for the position of House of Representatives Speaker Pro Tempore. The Speaker Pro Tempore presides over the House when the Speaker is absent and is a voting member of all House committees, a powerful leadership position. Rep. DeBerry said in her interview with Wynn that she “could not take an all-white, all-male leadership team. I felt I had to challenge the system for the sake of women and for the sake of children. Even if I lost, I felt I had to run.”

In 1986 she was elected Speaker Pro Tempore and became the first woman and the first African-American to hold that position, making her one of the most influential members of the General Assembly. She kept the position for 22 years, until control of the House passed from the Democrats to the Republicans in 2009, after which in 2011 she was honored as Speaker Pro Tempore Emeritus.

While serving in the House, Lois DeBerry was also the first woman to chair the Shelby County Democratic Caucus. She served as president of the National Caucus of Black Women and as president and later a member of the executive committee for the National Caucus of State Legislators. She came to national attention for her 2000 presidential nominating speech for Al Gore, who had been a friend and ally for 30 years. She was a member of Delta Sigma Theta sorority. She encouraged other women to run for office and was a powerful role model for them.

She died after an almost five-year struggle with pancreatic cancer in 2013, having represented the people of the 91st District for four decades, the longest serving representative in the Tennessee state legislature.

Former Memphis Mayor A C Wharton called her “an intelligent, cosmopolitan personality whose passion for the people she served knew no bounds.” Republican Gov. Bill Haslam praised “her wit, charm and dedication to her constituents.”

“She intentionally focused on tough issues, daring others to join her and, by her words, could inspire people to get involved,” said Democratic State Senator Lowe Finney, then of the 27th District. Congressman Steve Cohen called her “a go-to person on everything from civil rights to children’s and women’s issues.” House Speaker Emeritus Jimmy Naifeh said, “Lois is a true Tennessee stateswoman. In the Legislature she led the way on a number of issues important to all Tennesseans including healthcare, education, corrections oversight, and economic development.”

Perhaps her best epitaph is what she said of herself, “I’m not afraid to speak out, and I’m going to stand on my principles, even if I have to stand by myself.”

Women of Achievement celebrates the powerful legacy of Lois DeBerry, our 2018 Heritage honoree.

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Tami Sawyer

WOMEN OF ACHIEVEMENT
2018

HEROISM
for a woman whose heroic spirit was tested and
shown as a model to all in Shelby County and beyond:

Tami Sawyer

The shooting of Trayvon Martin 6 years ago was a transformative moment for Tami Sawyer. She was then living in Washington, D.C. and working as a diversity analyst at the Navy Yard. Seeing the gentrification of her neighborhood drive out Black businesses and homeowners, Tami began thinking about moving back to Memphis. When a shooter killed 13 co-workers in the Navy complex where she worked, the decision to move home came easily.

Tami’s early life took place in Chicago, where her father was an entrepreneur who founded the first Black wedding magazine and her mother ran her own catering company. They moved back to her mother’s hometown of Memphis when Tami was 12. She found quite a different social world. Friendships among girls across the color line were not commonplace and, though her education was excellent, not everyone was supportive, even when she was elected president of her freshman class.

Her parents had raised her to believe in herself, to embrace her African American heritage, and to advocate for others. She knew who she was, and she was not afraid to speak up.

After graduating from St. Mary’s school, she attended the historically black Hampton University and graduated with a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Memphis. After spending some time at Howard University Law School, she worked on diversity issues for the Navy for the next 13 years.

Once she returned to Memphis, she worked for Shelby County Schools until assuming her current position as Director of Diversity & Cultural Competence with Teach for America, Memphis. She runs workshops for new TFA recruits and mentors the young teachers in area schools. She is a model, a confidant, and sometimes a mother to them.

The award for “heroism” is, of course, much more than embodying one’s values in one’s career. Once connected to a vibrant group of young activists here, Tami Sawyer emerged as the energizing force behind (hashtag) #TakeEmDown901, the citizen group that pressured the city to remove two Confederate statues from downtown parks.

As part of that effort, she called a public meeting at which some 300 citizens, from diverse backgrounds, ethnicities, and experiences, stood to testify to the pain that these Confederate memorials had caused or to decry the distorted history they promulgated. Speaking to groups across the city, she also collected thousands of petition signatures, and, with other local groups, proposed ways that the statues could be legally removed. Many had worked on this issue before. Tami pushed it to the forefront through social media and citizen protest.

She has since founded “Woke United,” a movement of young Black political activists from cities across the country dedicated to removing at least 5% of all Confederate statues in the country. It is a movement with growing support from historians, mayors, and city officials in many states.

Tami was included in The Commercial Appeal’s “2017 Person of the Year” recognition. And this year, she was named as “one of 18 Tennesseans to watch” by The Tennessean and The Commercial Appeal. She has been featured in The New York Times, Huffington Post, MLK50, the New Tri-State Defender, the Memphis Daily News and the Memphis Flyer. She has been heard on Al Jazeera, NPR and BBC Radio. She has been an introductory speaker for social justice leaders Angela Davis, Gloria Steinem and Minister Louis Farrakhan.

The protracted protests stemming from the deaths of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Eric Gardner, Sandra Bland and so many others led Tami to realize that standing outside the seats of power and asking for change was not working.

Change comes faster from being on the inside. Consequently, in 2016 Tami ran in the Democratic primary for a seat in the Tennessee legislature. Losing to the incumbent John DeBerry only strengthened her determination for public service. She is currently a candidate for the Shelby County Commission, District 7.

A hero leads by example and provides endless encouragement to others. A hero continues to push the boulder up the mountain, even when the task seems hopeless. A hero needs tireless energy. Charisma helps.

Despite death threats and the seemingly intractable racism that she fights, Tami Sawyer’s heroic spirit sustains her and changes our community. For her bravery and commitment, Women of Achievement salutes the 2018 Woman of Achievement for Heroism, Tami Sawyer.