Regina's Blog

2017 Making History Profiles Q&A: 6 Women Getting the Job Done

3/30/2017

Courageous. Caring. Called.

Those words bring to mind Jannette Watts and Marilyn Calhoun, of Dallas, Texas; and, Millicent Hoskin, Paula Casey, Priscilla "Pan" Awsumb, and Dr. Mary Crawford, all from Memphis, Tennessee. Each woman is being celebrated in my 2017 Making History Profiles Q&A, which was changed from the previous name, Women's History Month Salute.

Jannette Watts (in the video) invited me to attend a Career Day event at an elementary school back in 2011. During my presentation, the attentive young students helped me create an audio clip featuring them making bird sounds.

Since then, I have chatted with Watts throughout the years at the church we attend, The Potter's House of Dallas.

And I was honored when she asked me two consecutive years to serve as Mistress of Ceremonies for the Annual Gospel Explosion during Black History Month at Kennedy-Curry Middle School.

'Ms. Community'

Watts is the community liaison for Kennedy-Curry, located in Dallas' Oak Cliff neighborhood. Principal David Welch defines her work: "A community liaison is the bridge between the school and the community... [The person] needs to be well-grounded to know what's in the community and [to work] with parents to help the school," he said during a telephone interview.

In his first year at the school, Welch has turned to Watts repeatedly to support his leadership and each time, she delivered results.

"I am a demanding administrator and she has gone over and above. I give you an example -- she has increased the number of parents who are involved in Parent Portal (a Dallas Independent School District online resource that allows a parent to follow their child's academic progress). Prior to my arrival, the percentage was very low. Thanks to her involvement, the number is 71 percent."

He ticked off a detailed list of Watts' other key accomplishments. All said, her work is driving academic progress and community involvement. And, he praised her hidden talent -- being great with crafts and decorating the school.

"She is a wonderful individual. I wish I could clone her. If I had three or four of her, it would really make my job easier," Welch said.

I first met Millicent Cade Hoskin in the library of Central High School, in my native Memphis, Tennessee, when I was a student there. To this day, I recall the now-retired librarian's commitment to excellence and education.

What is your place in history?
My place in the world is embodied in each of these titles
-- God's child, mother, educator, teacher, mentor/friend, and enabler. At one time in my life, I embraced each of them, usually all of them at the same time. However, each title has to do with service to God and mankind.

My role models, beginning with my Mother, Mrs. Laura Turpin
Cade, have been for the most part, strong African-American
women who faced and overcame the two overwhelming
forces of being both African-American and female:
Sojourner Truth; Diana Ross; Nikki Giovanni; Marva
Collins (imagine my delight in actually attending one
of her workshops!); and yes, even Queen Latifah. Also included are my female teachers, and women at my church who nurtured me and treated me as though I was their own.

What was the focus of your career? Share some of your
milestones and accolades.
I concentrated on reading and writing literacy, to ensure not only that students were able to read and write, but also that they were able to comprehend as well. Today, former students continue to thank me for the positive contributions to their attainment of education and life goals.

I was the first African-American librarian at Central High School. I served 29 years with Memphis City Schools and also worked with other educational organizations. Various groups have honored me and I received grants from the Memphis Rotary Club to provide more resources.

Additionally, I received a special request to write a Litany of Unity for the 30th commemoration of Dr. Martin L. King Jr.'s death. It was shared during the April 3,1998 service at Mason Temple Church of God in Christ.

Why do you think Women's History Month is important?
Women’s History Month will be important as long as women are important. A month is good, but a daily and monthly focus would be awesome. The initiative should be taken to keep women in the forefront of published articles in every venue, especially social media. Our daughters must be constantly
reminded of their Godly inheritance, motivated, and trained to use their inherent strengths to achieve meaningful goals and to live fulfilled lives.

Millicent Hoskin was the first African-American librarian at Central High School in Memphis, Tennessee. Her mantra is "teach with feeling." Photo from Facebook.

Will you suggest one book that everyone should read?
"Just a Sister Away: A Womanist Vision of Women’s Relationships in the Bible" is one book I would recommend that all read, especially African-American women. According to its author Dr. Renita J. Weems, this book “was written unapologetically with African-American women in mind as a way of reminding us that we are not an afterthought to salvation, that the first step toward satisfying the gnawing hunger within us is to pick up a pencil.” ...

In times when African-American women are still viewed as unequal and even not permitted to preach or be a meaningful part of religious services in certain places, we need an anchor. We need recognition as persons other than slaves forced to come to a foreign land. We need to FULLY realize that our salvation may be ‘”just a sister away." This book gives us that assurance.

As a native Memphian, I have known Paula Casey for a long time. Her amazing work is inspiring.

Paula Casey is President, Vote 70, Inc., a nonprofit educational company founded in 1989 whose mission is to preserve and promote woman suffrage history. www.paulacasey.com. Photo provided by Paula Casey.

How can Women's History Month can be elevated so that more people take notice of it?
While it's hard to ascertain an exact number, approximately 8 percent of the statues and monuments in this country are of women. That's too few. I believe more people will start paying attention as the national centennial of the 19th Amendment's ratification in 2020 draws near. People celebrate public art and particularly notice statues and monuments of women since there are so few. Public art also reflects what we think is important as a society.

What is your place in history?
My adult life has been spent trying to get women elected and promoting women's accomplishments, particularly the effort for American women to be included in the U.S. Constitution.

I have studied political and social movements and concluded the woman suffrage movement was the greatest nonviolent revolution in the United States. And, I speak around the country about the woman suffrage movement and voting rights.

How did you stand out in your work or industry?
I started the company in 1989 to produce a video,"Generations: American Women Win the Vote." Later, it became a DVD and is also available in streaming video.

The book, "The Perfect 36: Tennessee Delivers Woman Suffrage," was first published in May 1998 before one of the co-authors, Carol Lynn Yellin, died of breast cancer in March 1999. She wanted this history preserved. I got the audiobook completed in 2013 read by Dr. Jan Sherman, the other co-author. The book is available in three e-book formats - Kindle, Apple, and Nook.

Can you suggest one book that everyone should read?
"The Warmth of Other Suns" by Isabel Wilkerson is absolutely outstanding. I think it should be required reading in all high schools. It is beautifully written and provides context for understanding the overt and covert racism that persists in our country.

See also: http://www.pbs.org/video/2365977400/
http://www.nwhp.org/tennessee/
https://goo.gl/NU3V1z
www.tnsuffragemonument.org
https://goo.gl/mROxdM

Pan Awsumb has been a dear friend for many years. She and husband Carl have demonstrated integrity and determination and are making a difference in the lives of many in Memphis, Tennessee, and beyond.

What is your place in history?
I don't know what my place in history is. I really don't give it much thought. I'm too busy living life fully as a wife, mother of two, grandmother of two, good friend, and involved citizen. I enjoy speaking out about issues of importance to our community and our nation, and being a catalyst, weaving/knitting people of different backgrounds together.

My 13 years at Leadership Memphis, the last seven as executive director, were fulfilling because we ran three programs that changed many peoples' lives - an excellent yearlong in-depth executive program, a one-day intensive for new executives called Inside Memphis that was replicated in other cities across the United States, and a unique leadership training program for residents of the Memphis Housing Authority - while successfully raising an endowment to sustain Leadership Memphis in the future.

How did you stand out in your work or industry?
While heading up Leadership Memphis, I served on the boards of the Tennessee Association of Community Leadership and the National Leadership Association, and received the Chair's Community Circle Award. Furthermore, I was also chosen to receive an award as one of Fifty Women Making a Difference in Memphis.

Why do you think Women's History Month is important?
The term 'Women's History Month, like 'Black

History Month', carries some negative connotation to me. Teaching women's history and black history should be ongoing and woven into all our historical narratives, not relegated to one month a year and then given short shrift the rest of the time. However, it is essential that women be recognized for their accomplishments. In fact, I have supported Women of Achievement in Memphis for many years.

What causes or work are you involved in?
Currently, I serve on the Leadership Council of the Lynching Sites Project of Memphis. We are part of a growing network of citizens who want the whole and accurate truth to be told about the history of Shelby County. We believe that we can heal and grow in understanding when we openly face the history of racial violence in our community. The vision of the Lynching Sites Project is "to open our hearts and our communities to racial healing by shining thelight of truth on lynchings in Shelby County, Tennessee." We join in this work with the national effort of Bryan Stevenson and the Equal Justice Initiative that he founded to memorialize known lynchings in our nation from 1877 - 1950.

We are working on a major commemoration of Ell Persons, who was lynched 100 years ago on May 22, 1917, to tell the truth that has been hidden too long. Our service of healing and repentance will be held May 21, 2017 at the site of his horrific lynching, which was attended by between 3,000 and 5,000 people.

Ell Persons' lynching led to the founding of the Memphis Branch of the NAACP in 1917. It was Tennessee's first NAACP branch and two years later, heralded as the South's largest.

(For additional references, please see: the "Memphis Burning" cover feature by Martha Park in the Memphis Flyer, February 4, 2016; "Students Memorialize

Pan Awsumb, of Memphis, Tennessee, is currently serving on the Leadership Council of the Lynching Sites Project of Memphis. https://www.facebook.com/lynchingsitesmem.Photo from Facebook.

a Past Tragedy to Create a More Hopeful Future" on the Facing History and Ourselves website; and, "Putting Lynching on the Map.")

We meet weekly from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at Caritas Village, 2509 Harvard Avenue, Memphis, Tennessee. Visit us on Facebook at lynchingsitesmem.

I am also regularly protesting the absolutely horrible policies of the Trump administration, by email, phone, and in person. I strongly support Bernie Sanders' and Elizabeth Warren's approach to governing.

Got any good book suggestions?
My husband Carl and I are currently reading the book "Wonder" with 5th-grade students at Brewster Elementary School. We are encouraging the young people we read with to become discerning thinkers, not rote memorizers and responders.

There is SO much great literature out there - one book couldn't begin to touch what we all might share, except the Bible. I've come back to "The Little Prince" at different times in my life, and enjoy sharing it with our grandchildren. "And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye."

Marilyn Calhoun is one of the first people I met when I originally arrived in Dallas. We had the pleasure of working together on various projects and I continue to be enlightened by her compassion and lifelong love of learning. She is also a breast cancer survivor. In 2011, I videotaped her story of breast cancer awareness.

Marilyn Calhoun, Dallas, Texas, is President /CEO of Learning Exposures Foundation, started in 2005. She provides consulting services in education. She is also a breast cancer survivor. Photo from Facebook.

What are you are currently involved with?
I am involved with but not limited to: Breast Health & Cancer Research fund drives (www.komen-dallas.org), oral history projects with Remembering Black Dallas (www.rbDallas.com), service projects of Metropolitan Dallas Alumnae of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., Disciples Women's Ministries for the Christian Church (DOC), and south Dallas community service, e.g. K. J. Gilliam Museum (www.kathlynjoygilliammuseum.org), African American Education Archives and History Program @ African American Museum (www.aaeahp.org & Clean South Dallas. I serve as parliamentarian for four community or professional associations to educate the membership on parliamentary procedures, practices and law as an active member of The Sounding Block Unit of the National Association of Parliamentarians (https://goo.gl/pwPfYe).

What is your place in history?
My place in history is being the person I am and fulfilling my life purpose as a master teacher and an educator of personal development, to everyone I meet. I love to encourage others to be their best.

Describe your career and accomplishments.
I retired from Dallas Independent School District after serving 32 years as an elementary science teacher, demonstration teacher, site coordinator/Title 1 Dunbar I Special Projects, K-12 Science curriculum writer, instructional facilitator, assistant principal, principal, and specialist for internal charter schools. I was showcased as a presenter at local, state, and national conferences as an innovator of educational programs.

After retiring, I trained and observed teachers/interns in the Alternative Certification program.

What do you think about the importance of Women's History Month?
Women's History Month is important for HerStory to be told and shared. This would provide role models and levels to aspire for young girls and women. I think the observance of Women's History Month should include public forums such as the one held March 26, 2017 by The North Texas Business and Professional Women League, Inc. (http://www.ntbpwl.org/).

Do you have a book suggestion?
My favorite author is Toni Morrison but the book I think all should read is "The Mis-Education of the Negro" by Carter G. Woodson. This book will help the reader gain insights and concepts of being a free person - first in your mind from your own thoughts, beliefs, and perspectives. Currently, I am reading "Walking with the Wind: A Memoir of the Movement" by Civil Rights Congressman John Lewis & Michael D'Orso. It is a survival story about life, experiences, and the thoughts of an American patriot. Encourage youth to read the "March" trilogy by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell. The book won most of the 2016 book awards.

Dr. Mary F. Crawford was my dentist and I am so thankful I was her patient. She saved my smile. And, she became one of the early clients who hired me for marketing projects in Memphis. Beyond that, when I asked for help with the long distance care of my mother in Memphis, she immediately rearranged her life to support me in Dallas. Not only did she help me locate a new Memphis care facility, but she regularly visited my mother and provided me with telephone updates. Months later, when I called her from the Memphis hospital room where my mother had just died, she came to the hospital, immediately, and provided AMAZING support afterward. Thank you, Mary, for helping me when I needed it most!!!!

What is your place in history?
I decided to move back to the states permanently when my father became sick. I also had a failed marriage with an Italian dentist. So, I was thrilled to learn that once I returned to my hometown of Memphis, Tennessee, I was in time to apply for acceptance to UT Dental School (now the University of Tennessee Health Science Center College of Dentistry) in 1980. I applied after completing pre-dental studies and a battery of tests to ascertain that I could perform acceptably in that curriculum.

Coming from a long stint in Italy, 1966-1979, the last five years of which I had worked in Dentistry, I discovered I really enjoyed working in that field of medicine, even though my college degree was a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Sculpture and Printmaking.

I obtained the D.D.S. degree from the UT Center for the Health Sciences in Memphis in 1984 at age 40, almost 41. It was a good thing to have already worked in dentistry before entering dental school because when I graduated, I felt more confident. And that confidence helped me to land an ownership position with Dr. Mary L. Blackwell, one of the first women to graduate from Dental School in 1954 and to successfully practice Dentistry in her own office in Memphis.

I chose to move her practice to the Poplar Plaza Shopping Center in Memphis, setting myself up to build my own practice and to work success-

fully together with Dr. Blackwell. Once she retired, I worked with two other women dentists. The first went on to practice in the dental specialty of endodontics. The second
became my partner and we worked together for 18 years until I retired in September of 2015.

How did you stand out in your work or industry? Did you receive any special recognition?
My first claim to fame has been to practice Dentistry in my own practice for 31 years before successfully retiring. A second is that during those years I maintained a happy relationship with a wonderful husband, Paolo Solferini, and we are both healthy enough to enjoy our retirement years. The third is that I have enjoyed many friendships over my practice years, with fellow dentists, employees, lab technicians, and with patients, many of which I maintain to this day.

Currently, women make up 40 percent of graduating dentists. When I graduated in 1984, we were barely 5 percent. When Dr. Blackwell graduated in 1954, she was the single woman graduate in her class of more than 50 dental students. Additionally, I am very proud of being one of the Women Ground Breakers into the medical professions!

Why do you think Women's History Month is important?
Women's History Month celebrates ALL women who have paved the way out of constrictive roles in our American society and for that reason, it is important to continue its celebration.

Dr. Mary F. Crawford obtained her D.D.S. degree in 1984 when she was almost 41. She successfully retired in 2015 after practicing Dentistry in her own Memphis practice for 31 years. Photo provided by Dr. Crawford.

What causes or work are you involved in?
Currently, I attend dental society meetings and other occasions to collect continuing education credits should I ever need to reactivate my retired dental license. The main reason I remain involved is to continue some form of cohesion with Dentistry. I have been a member since graduation of the American Dental Association, the Tennessee Dental Association, and the Memphis Dental Society.

A word of appreciation
Many thanks go to Regina Burns, a ground breaker in her own right, with whom I have enjoyed such a long and fruitful friendship over many years. Thank you, Regina, for everything!