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Bears, Bears and More Bears: a Community Effort
 In March a few members of a neighborhood listserve in Hyde Park floated the idea that Hyde Park residents display bears in their windows so that parents could use these "be
ar sightings" to make walks with young children more interesting. The idea took off like wildfire.
The listserve was flooded with announcements of "a new bear" and an address. They were joined by more bears and other stuffed animals. A spreadsheet was created
on which residents added their addresses and announced what was in their window. Some examples from the 318 (!!) entries:
- 4 Bears and 3 Snoopy dolls hanging out at the front picture window
- Green and Brown bears
- Panda Bear in East facing window, 1 level above street. Black and white (live) cat too if you are lucky
- Yellow bear in 1st floor window, white bear in 2nd floor window
- Hyena and parrot
- Teddy bear and Albert Einstein doll
One grateful mother wrote: "
We went on a Bear hunt yesterday morning with our 6-year-old and she loved it! Appreciated anything in the windows, not just bears! Thanks everyone."
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For our May issue, Working Women's History Project would like to
acknowledge and honor all the women and mothers who have
given their very best during this challenging time and who have
shown all of us what it means to go above and beyond.
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Tales from the Homefront: Silvia's Story
by Joan McGann Morris
Silvia is a young Christian Latina mother who lives in Chicago, and like so many others, is balancing her work from home while taking care of her family. This is her story in her own words.
I am at home with four kids, and my parents live with me. My parents have their own apartment, and we provide each other support. We are extremely grateful to be quarantined together. It has definitely been a rollercoaster ride of emotions to process the pandemic. There are days that I have felt like a chicken without a head trying to tackle and balance remote learning as a Pre-K teacher and as a mother to two elementary students and one high schooler. My toddler just wants to be part of EVERYTHING! LOL! There are days my head spins trying to multi-task between home and work responsibilities. It has been non-stop since the Stay-at-Home order was put into place.
In addition, I am a Chicago Public School preschool teacher from a school in the Belmont-Cragin neighborhood. As a teacher, my responsibility is to continue teaching my Pre-K students remotely, digitally and non-digitally. So, my Pre-K colleagues and I collaborate to create lesson plans for our digital students and our nondigital students. Our digital students have access to the internet and a technology device at home. Our nondigital students do not have access to the internet and/or a technology device at home. I ensure that my students' parents received the plans and support them in implementing them at home. So, I meet three times a week online via Google Meets (similar to the Zoom platform) with my digital preschoolers and their families to teach lessons and provide social/emotional support. I reach out to my non-digital families via a phone call to provide academic support on a one-on-one basis. There has definitely been a ton of ongoing communication between my students' families and me.
In a nut-shell, these are my daily professional responsibilities. Although it has been non-stop, it has been a blessing to connect with my students' families and know they are in good spirits. Most of my students' families are making the best of this situation and are very humble in implementing the recommended learning plans at home. They have been amazing.
There's very little Netflix or tackling spring cleaning projects for this mama.
But there has been a whole lot of PEACE. In spite of it all, my faith has helped my emotional state. My faith has provided me with patience, understanding, and wisdom. I've learned to be thankful for these challenges because they have only strengthened me. I pray and hope to become a better version of myself. Most importantly, my kids are watching me through all of this.
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A Suffragist Who Moved in Both Black and White Worlds:
Mary Church Terrell
Mary Church Terrell (1863 - 1954) grew up in an era when African American suffragists were finding their own voices, fighting for civil rights for Blacks as well as for women's suffrage. By the time Terrell attended college, she was an avid suffragist.
Terrell was born in Memphis to a well-to-do, mixed-race family, who had been former slaves. Her mother sent her out of Memphis to Ohio for a better education, elementary as well as high school. She earned her B.A. from Oberlin College. After college, she taught for two years at Wilberforce University in Ohio, a historically Black College, and then moved to D.C. to teach classics at M Street High School (for coloreds) where she became an inspiration for future suffragists such as Nannie Helen Burroughs. (It was also where she met her future husband, an attorney, who was the principal of the school.)
Terrell returned to Oberlin for her M.A. and then spent two years studying in Europe where she learned German, French, and Italian. Returning from Europe in 1890, she taught for another year at M Street High School and then married Robert Terrell. They had 4 children, three of whom died in infancy. Only their daughter Phyllis Terrell survived to adulthood.
Terrell wrote prodigiously for both Black and white publications, focusing on racial and gender equity. She was able to move between white and Black worlds. When she became a member of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA), she met Susan B. Anthony, who became a lifelong friend. But Terrell was also ready to challenge her white sisters, as she did in 1904 when speaking at a NAWSA conference: "My sisters of the dominant race, stand up not only for the oppressed sex, but also for the oppressed race." At Seneca Falls in1908 she spoke out against "educated suffrage," that is, suffrage limited to women who could read and write English. Terrell spoke about the need for all women, including Blacks, Jews, and other minorities to have the power to vote.
A social justice activist for her whole life, she made a significant mark on her world.
- A founder of the National Association of Colored Women, she was immediately elected its first president. "Lifting as we climb" was its motto; its job, to elevate African American women in a secular setting.
- In 1895, she was the first Black woman appointed to the District of Columbia Board of Education, a position she kept until 1906.
- In 1898, she was invited to be the unofficial (Black) ambassador for the NAWSA.
- In 1904, she addressed the International Congress of Women in Berlin, Germany. She received an enthusiastic ovation when she honored the host nation by delivering her address in German . . . and then in French, and then in English.
- In 1909, Terrell was one of two Black women, along with journalist Ida B. Wells-Barnett, to become a founding member of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
- In 1910, she co-founded the College Alumnae Club, later renamed the National Association of University Women.
- In 1917 with her daughter Phyllis, she picketed the Wilson White House with National Women's Party (NWP) members for support of suffrage.
- In 1918 - 1919 she served in War Camp Community Service and in 1919 she addressed the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom in Zurich, Switzerland.
- In 1920, she was president of the Women's Republican League during Warren G. Harding's presidential campaign. This first national election after passage of the 19th Amendment, however, proved discouraging for Black women who were repeatedly denied the vote, especially in the South. Terrell petitioned the NWP to make it their top priority to ensure that no colored women would be prohibited from voting on account of their race. The NWP, however, declined. In an interview, Terrell said she understood that the NWP wanted to continue with work common to all women and "not on discriminations that were based on race only, rather than on sex." But it was a disappointment.
- In 1940 she published her autobiography, A Colored Woman in a White World.
- In 1949 she was elected chairman, Coordinating Committee for the Enforcement of D.C, Anti-Discrimination Laws.
- In 1950, at age 86, Terrell started a successful fight to integrate eating places in D.C. In 1953, the Supreme Court ruled that segregated eating facilities were unconstitutional.
Terrell died in 1954, two months after
Brown v. Board of Education.
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Mother Jones, a labor leader who fought tirelessly for workers' rights, was born Mary Harris in County Cork, Ireland and baptized in 1837. Although the exact date of her birth is unknown, her birthday is celebrated on May 1st, International Workers Day, when many countries around the world commemorate the struggles and gains of the labor movement. In Chicago, Mother Jones' birthday has been celebrated on May 1st at the Irish American Heritage Center. This year, however, it was observed virtually with people taking part from many locations. See Working Women's History Project's Facebook page for board member, Brigid Duffy Gerace's portrayal of Mother Jones.
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Working Women's History Project
Please contact us through Amy Laiken
312-402-4188
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