By Sister Shirley Tarpley
Down through history, Black women have made contributions to our society. Unfortunately, most of the time, you will not find their stories in America’s history books.
Cathay Williams, because of an error in correctly understanding her name, became William Cathay (a male soldier) according to the Army doctor; William Cathay enlisted in the United States Regular Army as a Buffalo Soldier in 1866. An Army surgeon examined William Cathay, the recruit, but failed to realize that William Cathay was a female and not a male; the surgeon determined the recruit fit for duty and assigned William Cathay to the 38th U.S. Infantry; it was established in August 1866.
Cathay Williams (the female) was 22, 5’9” with black hair and black eyes and black complexion. The surgeon, not realizing that William Cathay was a female.
In March 1869, after William Cathay’s disability discharge in 1868, the 38th and 41st Infantries were consolidated into the historically familiar African-American 24th and 25th Infantries.
Cathay Williams carved a small, but symbolically important place in the history of American women, in the history of African American women and in the history of the United States Army. She was the only woman to serve in the U.S. Regular Army in the 19th Century. To date, she is the only documented African American woman who served in the U.S. Army prior to the official introduction of women.
Nannie Helen Burroughs was one of the best known and well-respected African Americans of the early twentieth century. She was called The Black Goddess of Liberty. She was an educator, institution and organization-builder and a major figure in the Black church and secular feminist movement.
In 1900, at the annual meeting of the National Baptist Convention (NBC) in Virginia, Burroughs gave a speech, “How the Sisters are Hindered from Helping.” This oration gained her national recognition and served as a lightning rod for the formation of the largest Black women’s organization in the United States, the Woman’s Convention (WC) an auxiliary to the NBC.
Furthermore, in 1896, Burroughs joined other women and formed the National Association of Colored Women (NACW) to promote political mobilization of Black women. Burroughs became a much sought after participant, particularly by the Republican Party. When Herbert Hoover was elected president in 1928, he chose Burroughs to head a fact-finding commission on housing. In 1909, she founded the National Training School for Women and Girls, which was renamed the Nannie Helen Burroughs School in 1964.
Zora Neale Hurston was a novelist, folklorist, and anthropologist; she was the prototypical authority on Black culture from the Harlem Renaissance. In this artistic movement of the 1920s Black artists moved from traditional dialectical works and imitation of white writers to explore their own culture and affirm pride in their race. Hurston pursued this objective by combining literature with anthropology. In 1935, her book, Mules and Men, which investigated voodoo practices in Black communities in Florida and New Orleans, brought her kudos.
Annie Onieta Plummer was dubbed The Dictionary Lady; she was born in 1936; the fifth of twelve children. In 1992, she noticed that many school children in Savannah, Ga., were not carrying any books. On her own initiative, she invested 50 dollars in 30 pocket dictionaries and proceeded to hand them out on the street corner. Her project gained nationwide attention and was emulated in other areas and mushroomed. Always aware of the value of education, she went back to school at the age of 42. In each dictionary she handed out, she inscribed the motto of the United Negro College Fund, “A mind is a terrible thing to waste,” supplemented by her personal message, and “I challenge you not to waste yours.”
“I saw the children with no books. I wondered what I could do to help.” “Children need to know that people of all races have made contributions to society. That should be integrated into all curriculums, every day – not just during Black History Month in February.” – Annie Onieta Plummer.
