Draft:Willa Henry
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Willa Henry | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1872 Missouri |
| Died | 1936 Alameda, California |
| Citizenship | American |
| Years active | 1900 - 1936 |
| Organization(s) | Fannie Jackson Coppin Club, YWCA, Alameda County League of Colored Women Voters, California Civic League, California State Federation of Colored Women's Club |
| Known for | Women's rights activism |
| Spouse | Frank B. Henry |
Willa Henry (1872–1936) was an African American women's rights activist who engaged in a wide variety of political causes in California. She was an active contributor and one of the earliest members of the Fannie Jackson Coppin Club in Alameda County, one of the first cultural and social clubs for African American women in California.
Early Life
[edit]Willa Henry was born in Missouri in 1872. Sometime before 1920, she married a man named Frank B. Henry. Before the turn of the twentieth century, she moved to Oakland, California.[1]
Career
[edit]After arriving in Oakland, California, Henry joined the Fannie Jackson Coppin Club in 1900. It was still in its early days as the organization had only been formed the previous year in Oakland by women of the Beth Eden Baptist Church.[2] One of the first of its kind, the Fannie Jackson Coppin Club was an example of the formal and informal "uplift" organizations that were being established by African American women in California. Besides political and social activism, these women-led organizations provided support to their community through general charity and providing medical aid, burial services, education for young girls, and important support for the first Black-owned newspapers in the state.[3] Being one of the earliest members for the first cultural and social club for African American women in California meant that Henry made significant contributions to the promotion of women's rights in the early twentieth century, especially in regards to the expansion of economic and political opportunities for women of color.[1]
Henry was praised by her fellow club members, like Elizabeth Lindsay Davis, for the services she provided to the African American community in Oakland to help improve their lives, such as conducting private classes for English for adults who were unable to attend a public school institution due to the city's segregated environment.[4][5] Her efforts were recognized when she was elected to serve as a member of the parliament for the Fannie Jackson Coppin Club. Along with her role in the Fannie Jackson Coppin Club, Henry was also part of the California Civic League where for eight years she promoted women's right to vote on the basis of natural rights and that all people, including women, deserve to have a voice in the issues of the nation and can exercise that right.[1] Through these organizations, Henry was a key player in the suffragist campaign in California which led to the passing of Proposition 4 on October 10, 1911, granting women in the state the right to vote.[4]
Along with the Fannie Jackson Coppin Club and California Civic League, Henry was also part of several other organizations at the local, state, and national level which were dedicated to the rights of African American women. She was an early member of the "Civic Center" which later merged into the League of Women Voters and led to her being one of the early members for the Alameda County League of Colored Women Voters. She was unanimously elected as the first president of this organization.[4] The league became well known due to its efforts to provide women of color with a platform for vocational training, adult education, counseling and referral, recreation for young girls, and musical and cultural events.[1] She was also a member of the Colored American Equal Suffrage League (CAESL), which she was elected to serve as president for in March 1915 after her predecessor, Myra Virginia Simmons, resigned.[6] She served as president for eight years.[7] She also worked in the office of Mrs. Carter, the wife of Congressman Albert Carter, who was the Chairman of the Department of the League of Women Voters which was devoted to securing just Community Property Law for California. Around this time, Henry also joined the United States military to help with the country's efforts during World War I. According to her colleague Davis, Henry served as a "Major in the Women's Army" and returned to her activist work after the end of the war.[4]
In 1920, as a result of her involvement with the Alameda County League of Colored Women Voters, she established the Oakland chapter of the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) on Linden Street with Hettie B. Tilghman and Melba Stafford, which was the first Black YWCA in the city.[8] Henry worked as the first Executive Secretary.[4] According to Venise Wagner, one of the goals of the organization was to bridge the gap of communication between women of different racial backgrounds.[1] The three women repurposed a two-story house into four classrooms, a reception hall, two offices, and a small dormitory that could accommodate eleven girls. The intention of the dormitory was to create a home away from home for young girls who were learning life skills from the YWCA. While girls were taught traditional family values, domestic skills for home life and encouraged to marry, have children, and be a good wife as a reinforcement of middle-class gender and social hierarchies at the time, they were also taught that young girls should be educated, creative, and politically active. As a result, in addition to being taught how to sew, cook, and do needle-work, they were also able to participate in sports, summer camps, and educational classes which were offered to men and women.[8]
In its early years, the YWCA provided religious training, employment services, educational classes, and recreational activities such as handicrafts, music, sports, dramatics, hiking, and, later, a summer camp. The organization also provided accessible and affordable accommodations for migrants and traveling workers and allowed members to create clubs that matched their interests, such as business, politics, music, theatre, and sports.[8] Henry made sure in the organizations she was a part of to celebrate the success of African Americans in the Bay Area, which was an essential part of the uplift ideology that led to the creation of these social clubs and helped combat the racist stereotypes that assumed African Americans lacked intellectual and artistic abilities. In February of 1933, the Alameda County League of Colored Women Voters sponsored a celebration for a cohort of black nursing graduates from Highland Hospital, and the YWCA also hosted events often to celebrate Black accomplishments.[8] Near the end of her life, she served as a leader of the California State Federation of Colored Women's Clubs with Lydia Flood-Jackson, Hettie B. Tilghman, and Melba Stafford, including as a delegate of the organization's meeting held in Oakland in 1933.[2]
Later Life and Death
[edit]After working for years as a social leader in Oakland, she attended the Institute of Christian Psychology in California and earned a PDS degree and an honorary DD degree with a focus on dramatic art and public speaking. She eventually retired from all activities, except those related to the church and clubs, after the death of her husband.[4] Henry died before October 4, 1936 in Alameda, California. She was honored for her efforts as an activist with a memorial organized by the California State Federation of Colored Women's Clubs on October 4, 1936.[1]
See also
[edit]- Fannie Jackson Coppin Club
- Fanny Jackson Coppin
- List of California suffragists
- Timeline of the women's suffrage movement in California
- Women's suffrage in California
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f Dublin, Thomas; Sklar, Kathryn Kish (2024). "Willa Henry" from Part II: Black Women Suffragists. Alexander Street Press.
- ^ a b Altadena Historical Society (Fall–Winter 2020). ""How California's Women Won the Vote."" (PDF). The Echo. 93 (2): 4.
- ^ Coleman, Willi (2014). "African American Women and Community Development in California, 1848-1900," in Seeking El Dorado: African Americans in California. Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press. p. 111. ISBN 9780295980829.
- ^ a b c d e f Davis, Elizabeth Lindsay. "Lifting as they Climb". Alexander Street. National Association of Colored Women.
- ^ Wagner, Venus (Summer 2009). """Activities among Negroes": Race Pride and a Call for Interracial Dialogue in California's East Bay Region, 1920-31,"". Journalism History. 35 (2): 83. doi:10.1080/00947679.2009.12062788. ProQuest 205355679.
- ^ Siam, Alfonso Benny; Steppe, Cami; Gutierrez, Maria Fernanda; Raab, Eleanor (2017). Biographical Sketch of Myra Virginia Simmons 1880-1965. Alexander Street Press.
- ^ Beasley, Delilah L. (May 23, 1926). "Activities Among Negroes". Sun Oakland Tribune.
- ^ a b c d Novoa, Natalie N. (2019). A Home Away From Home: Recreation Centers and Black Community Development in the Bay Area, 1920-1960. University of California, Berkeley. p. 65-72.