In Honor of Women’s History Month: A celebration of New Orleans Black women history makers
13th March 2023 · 0 Comments
For some time, Black people have had to remind non-Blacks during Black History Month that Black people are Black 24-7, 365 days of the year. And each day brings the struggle for justice into their homes, businesses, jobs and daily activities.
This month, we celebrated International Women’s Day. That’s right, “Day.” What? Like Black folk, women are 24-7, 365 days a year. For one day, the honoring of women across the globe is almost insulting, as is Women’s History Month. There is not enough ink to list and publish the names of Black women who contributed massively to American culture.
If we didn’t know better, we’d think we’re reliving the good ole days of segregation, Jim Crow, or American Apartheid, whichever name suits your fancy.
Here again, are politicians trying to legislate Black people into darkness, corners where they are not seen nor heard, and invisible. Here again are the attacks on Black culture, Black lives, and Black voting strength.
Here again, white people have the unmitigated nerve to want to whitewash the accomplishments and contributions of Black people to America, along with the scourge of second-class citizenry, terrorism, and lynchings they endured and are continuing to survive as they try to force a new world order down the throats of Black people.
Black women, once again, must stand up and speak the truth to power. Not Black women who have sold out for 30 pieces of silver like those in the GOP who know Republicans are not Black people’s friends. We’re talking about those who use their platforms and gravitas to speak the truth and not fear the slings and arrows, even death threats they know will come. Just as Black women are considered double minorities, so do they face double the criticism and verbal attacks from racist ideologues.
NACW (National Association of Colored Women) and NAACP leader Mary B. Talbert’s 1915 Crisis article, “Women and Colored Women,” captured the dilemma clearly and plainly, “With us as colored women, this struggle becomes two-fold, first, because we are women and second because we are colored women.”
From voting rights to human rights to women’s rights, Black women have been on the front lines of the battle for the ballot, civil rights, and equality. As they have since before the founding of the U.S., Black women continue leading the fight against racism, segregation, discrimination, exclusion, and marginalization.
Throughout their existence in the United States, Black women have stood fearlessly, risking their lives for fairness, justice, and peace. We can go as far back as the colony’s founding, even before the existence of America, and there they are: free and enslaved Black women fighting for what would become the civil rights amendments to the U.S. Constitution – the 13th, 14th, 15th, and 19th amendments.
Today, the struggle to retain those rights and the right to exist is basically led by Black women, who comprise the soul of America for all intents and purposes. They are the conscious of the U.S., truth-tellers, and defenders of justice and equality.
These women, freedom fighters, are strung across the U.S., fighting and battling those who would take away their civil liberties and, most recently, the right to bodily autonomy. There is a call for a boycott of Walgreens Drugstore, which refuses to sell medications that provide safe, medicinal abortions.
New Orleans is a well-spring of Black women who have fought and continue to fight for the right to be treated as first-class citizens with all the benefits of that. If sometime soon, there is a New Orleans Black Women’s Hall of Fame, several notable Black women would be inducted:
Sylvanie Francoz Williams, an African-American educator and club woman, was born in New Orleans. Williams wrote a report on the educational, economic, and cultural conditions of Black residents of New Orleans and presented it at the World’s Columb-ian Exposition in Chicago in 1893.
CORE members Oretha Castle Haley and Doratha “Dodie” Smith Simmons, Leona Tate, Gail Etienne, Tessie Prevost, and Ruby Bridges risked their lives to desegregate New Orleans.
Gospel great Mahalia Jackson was the first Black woman from Louisiana to win a Grammy Award, followed by New Orleans Queen of Soul Irma Thomas and B.J. Crosby.
Dorothy Mae DeLavallade Taylor was the first Black woman elected to Louisiana’s House of Representatives. Taylor helped desegregate New Orleans public schools and the New Orleans Recreation Department (NORD). For six decades, she fought for civil rights, corrections reform of Angola Prison, and economic equality for Blacks.
Taylor was the first Black woman to become an at-large City Council member and the first Black woman to serve as head of the state Department of Urban and Community Affairs. Taylor was fearless. Her insistence on parade organizations signing anti-discrimination pledges shook up the old, segregated Mardi Gras Krewes and the city writ large.
Millie Ruth McClelland Charles founded the SUNO School of Social Work. Her commitment to social work education is evident in her advocacy to establish a nationwide bachelor’s of social work degree (BSW) and her contributions as a Council of Social Work Education (CSWE) accreditation reviewer. She also is a founding member of the New Orleans Chapter of the National Association of Black Social Workers (NABSW).
Charles was honored by the U.S. Congress in 2019, and SUNO established the Millie M. Charles School of Social Work building to commemorate her achievements.
Sybil Haydel-Morial, the first lady of New Orleans, is the widow of the city’s first Black mayor, Ernest N.Dutch Morial. She is an author, educator, filmmaker, activist, and community leader. She captured the Civil Rights Movement in her film, “A House Divided.” She was there as an eyewitness and participant in the struggle for civil rights.
Haydel-Morial and three other African-American women founded the Louisiana League of Good Government when they were refused membership in the League of Women Voters. LLOGG held voter registration drives.
Haydel-Morial is a founder of the Amistad Research Center in New Orleans and the creator of Symphony in Black. This project featured Black musicians and conductors to attract black audiences to the New Orleans Symphony.
Retired Louisiana State Supreme Court Chief Justice Bernette Joshua Johnson was the first African-American woman Asso-ciate Justice elected to the state’s highest Court and the first African-American Chief Justice in the court’s 179 years of existence. Johnson was over the state’s lower courts, the LSC affairs, and the six Republican white male Associate Justices sitting on the bench.
The Reverend Marie Galatas Ortiz founded Grass Roots Organization for Women (GROW) to encourage women to participate in politics and activism. Galatas-Ortiz was seen recently in a protest march demanding the removal of Confederate statutes.
Dyan French Cole was the first Black woman elected to lead the New Orleans Chapter of the NAACP. In later years, Cole fought for incarcerated juveniles and took a decisive stance against how New Orleanians were treated after Hurricane Katrina. Cole testified before a Congressional hearing about the federal intervention during the aftermath of the manufactured disaster. Cole is remembered for vociferously speaking truth to power.
George Ethel Warren was a civil rights activist who worked to elevate the quality of life for residents of the lower ninth ward.
Viola Francois Washington founded the Welfare Rights Organization and is still fighting for civil and economic rights.
Barbara Crain Major is a community organizer and trainer with over forty years of experience in local, national, and international community development efforts. She is an anti-racism trainer with the People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond. Major’s recently published book, “Deconstructing Racism: A Path toward Lasting Change,” written with Joe Barndt, is receiving rave reviews.
LaToya Cantrell was the first Black woman elected mayor of New Orleans. During her first administration, Mayor Cantrell shut the city down during the COVID-19 pandemic. She was pressured and criticized for having the most stringent COVID-19 protective policies, but to her credit, she saved many lives for her tough stance. Cantrell also went before the state legislature to demand a “fair share” of the multi-billion dollars generated by the New Orleans tourism sector.
Today women involved in Justice & Beyond, A Community Voice, People’s Institute for Survival and Beyond, ERASE the Board, Greater New Orleans Housing Alliance, Gordon Plaza Residents, and a host of others are fighting for the same issues, justice, equality, voting rights, and human rights, of those whose shoulders they stand on. This list of women is incomplete. We invite our readers to submit the names of sheroes and freedom fighters we may have missed.
The struggle continues.
This article originally published in the March 13, 2023 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
