1. The Political Black Women’s
Memorial of Pennsylvania
www.PoliticalBlackWomensMemorial.org

2. The Political Black Women’s
Memorial of Pennsylvania
www.PoliticalBlackWomensMemorial.org

3. About the Memorial
• The Political Black
Women’s Memorial of
Pennsylvania celebrates
the work and lives of black
women elected or
appointed to positions in
the three branches of
government of the
Commonwealth of
www.PoliticalBlackWomensMemorial.org

4. About the Memorial
• The memorial will be located at 54th and
Vine Streets, in the Haddington section of
West Philadelphia, in the side garden, at
the former home of Crystal Bird Fauset,
the first African-American woman elected
to serve in a state legislature in the
United States.
www.PoliticalBlackWomensMemorial.org

5. About the Memorial
• The Pennsylvania Historical and Museums
Commission designated the Crystal Bird
Fauset House a historic landmark in 1991,
and this was the first step in chronicling
the history of black women and their
successes in statewide politics.
www.PoliticalBlackWomensMemorial.org

6. About the Memorial
• The women honored here were
educators, businesswomen, physicians,
lawyers and homemakers representing
the needs and concerns of the citizens of
Pennsylvania.
www.PoliticalBlackWomensMemorial.org

7. About the Memorial
• Their legacies established an indelible
precedent for other women to follow. The
Political Black Women’s Memorial of
Pennsylvania is to be created in their
honor.
www.PoliticalBlackWomensMemorial.org

8. About the Memorial
• The memorial is a part of a three
component project that also focuses on
establishing an archive of the history of
African-American women in Pennsylvania
politics and the renovation of the Vine
Street property to its former Victorian
splendor.
www.PoliticalBlackWomensMemorial.org

9. About the Memorial
• The final layout and design of the
memorial will be solicited through a
design competition among African-
American female students in Pennsylvania
colleges and universities.
www.PoliticalBlackWomensMemorial.org

10. The Political Black Women’s
Memorial of Pennsylvania
www.PoliticalBlackWomensMemorial.org

11. The Honorees
Crystal Bird Fauset
Legislative Branch Executive Branch
• Crystal Bird Fauset • C. Delores Tucker
• Susie Monroe • Dr. Ethel Allen
• Sarah A. Anderson
• Frances E. Jones Judicial Branch
• Ruth B. Harper • Juanita Kidd Stout
• Roxanne Jones
www.PoliticalBlackWomensMemorial.org

12. Crystal Bird Fauset
• Crystal Bird Fauset, born in Princess Anne,
Maryland, was the first African-American woman
elected to serve in a state legislature in the United
States.
• She served in the Pennsylvania State Legislature
from 1938-1941.
www.PoliticalBlackWomensMemorial.org

13. Crystal Bird Fauset
• She grew up in Boston but she spent most of her
adult and political life in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania
• She attended public schools and between 1914
and 1918 she worked as a public school teacher
in Philadelphia.
www.PoliticalBlackWomensMemorial.org

14. Crystal Bird Fauset
• Fauset graduated from Teachers College,
Columbia University in 1931.
• As a social worker for the YWCA in New York and
Philadelphia she gained a reputation an eloquent
and persuasive speaker.
www.PoliticalBlackWomensMemorial.org

15. Crystal Bird Fauset
• Fauset was named executive secretary of the
Institute of Race Relations at Swarthmore
College in 1933.
• That same year Crystal Bird married sociologist
and political thinker Arthur Fauset and they
became a dynamic political couple.
www.PoliticalBlackWomensMemorial.org

16. Crystal Bird Fauset
• Five years later the Democratic Party in
Philadelphia asked Fauset to run for a seat in the
Pennsylvania House of Representatives from the
13th district.
• She won the position, becoming one of three
women serving at that time.
www.PoliticalBlackWomensMemorial.org

17. Crystal Bird Fauset
• Later, Fauset was appointed to Franklin D.
Roosevelt’s New Deal Council and worked
alongside Mary McLeod Bethune to affect social
and political equity.
• She helped found the United Nations Council of
Philadelphia, which later became the World
Affairs Council.
www.PoliticalBlackWomensMemorial.org

18. Crystal Bird Fauset
• She served as chair of the Philadelphia Negro
Woman’s Democratic League, was on the board
of trustees of Cheyney State Teachers College,
and was on the board of directors of the Small
Business Opportunities Corporation of
Philadelphia.
• Fauset was also an accomplished pianist.
www.PoliticalBlackWomensMemorial.org

19. Crystal Bird Fauset
• Always on the vanguard of the women’s rights
movement, Fauset’s career helped to pave the
way for many women engaged in local, national
and international public service.
• Crystal Bird Fauset died March 27, 1965 in
Philadelphia.
www.PoliticalBlackWomensMemorial.org

20. Susie Monroe
• Susie Monroe a dressmaker and retired
Philadelphia school teacher, was first
elected to the Pennsylvania House of
Representatives in 1948.
www.PoliticalBlackWomensMemorial.org

21. Sarah A. Anderson
• Sarah A. Anderson a former teacher, who served
seventeen years in the Pennsylvania House of
Representatives starting in 1954.
• Anderson was the first African-American woman to
preside over the General Assembly.
www.PoliticalBlackWomensMemorial.org

22. Frances E. Jones
• Frances E. Jones, funeral director, succeeded her
husband to the Pennsylvania House of
Representatives in 1950 and was reelected four
times.
www.PoliticalBlackWomensMemorial.org

23. Ruth B. Harper
• Ruth B. Harper, was first elected a state
representative in 1976, representing the old 196th
Legislative District in North Philadelphia.
• She retired from the legislature in 1992.
www.PoliticalBlackWomensMemorial.org

24. Roxanne Jones
• Roxanne Jones, a former welfare recipient, achieved
a milestone in 1986 when elected to the
Pennsylvania State Senate.
• She was the first black to serve in the Pennsylvania
State Senate and served for ten years.
www.PoliticalBlackWomensMemorial.org

25. C. Delores Tucker
• C. Delores Tucker, as an activist, led efforts to make
Pennsylvania one of the first states to pass the Equal
Rights Amendment.
• In 1971, she was appointed Secretary of the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and thus became
the first black female to serve in such a capacity in
the United States.
www.PoliticalBlackWomensMemorial.org

26. Dr. Ethel Allen
• Dr. Ethel Allen was appointed Secretary of the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 1979.
• Dr Allen, a graduate of the Philadelphia College of
Osteopathy, was a long-time advocate for women’s
rights, fair housing, and environmental issues. She
also triumphed as the first African-American
councilwoman elected to an at-large seat on the
Philadelphia City Council.
www.PoliticalBlackWomensMemorial.org

27. Juanita Kidd Stout
• Juanita Kidd Stout was the first African-American
elected to a judgeship in the United States in
1959.
• She also served as a Justice of the Supreme
Court of Pennsylvania from 1988 until she
mandatorily retired.
www.PoliticalBlackWomensMemorial.org

28. The Honorees
www.PoliticalBlackWomensMemorial.org

29. The Honorees
• These are only a few of the women singled out for
their advocacy and commitment to social change in
Pennsylvania.
• Also included are Rosa Simpson, appointed to the
Pennsylvania State Industrial Board; Alice Jones the
Drug Device and Cosmetic Board; and Mary Murray
appointed as the Superintendent of Inheritance Tax.
www.PoliticalBlackWomensMemorial.org

30. The Honorees
• These women were businesswomen, educators,
physicians, lawyers and homemakers
representing the needs and concerns of the
citizens of Pennsylvania.
• Their legacies established an indelible precedent
for other women to follow. The Political Black
Women’s Memorial of Pennsylvania is to be
created in their honor.
www.PoliticalBlackWomensMemorial.org

31. The Political Black Women’s
Memorial of Pennsylvania
www.PoliticalBlackWomensMemorial.org

32. Crystal Bird Fauset
Distinguished Service Award
• This distinguished service award was established
as a component of The Political Black Women’s
Memorial of Pennsylvania
www.PoliticalBlackWomensMemorial.org

33. Crystal Bird Fauset
Distinguished Service Award
• To recognize women of African descent,
currently in an elected or appointed position in
one of the three branches of Pennsylvania
government, who exhibit outstanding and
distinguished achievements in a public service.
www.PoliticalBlackWomensMemorial.org

34. Crystal Bird Fauset
Distinguished Service Award
• The awardee is selected by a panel review of
nominations solicited statewide. The initial
recipient will be announced in the spring of
2012.
www.PoliticalBlackWomensMemorial.org

35. The Crystal Bird Fauset House
• The three story twin
townhouse was built in
the Victorian Italianate
style towards the end
of the 19th Century in
the Haddington section
of West Philadelphia.
www.PoliticalBlackWomensMemorial.org

36. The Crystal Bird Fauset House
• The multilevel house
features flat roofs, wide
cornices with single and
paired decorative
brackets, and narrow
two-over-two double-
hung shuttered windows
with curved window
caps
www.PoliticalBlackWomensMemorial.org

37. The Crystal Bird Fauset House
• The side bay window has
inset wooden panels and
corner boards. The house
also has a side porch that
faces the garden.
www.PoliticalBlackWomensMemorial.org

38. The Crystal Bird Fauset House
• Over the years the
decorative elements
have been lost from
the porch and rear
section of the home.
www.PoliticalBlackWomensMemorial.org

39. The Crystal Bird Fauset House
• The bay window was
shirted with stucco. A
carriage house was at
the rear of the
property but has since
been demolished.
www.PoliticalBlackWomensMemorial.org

40. The Crystal Bird Fauset House
• The exterior renovation
of the Vine Street
property that will return
it to its former Victorian
splendor will consist of
reinstating the cornice
and decorative brackets.
www.PoliticalBlackWomensMemorial.org

41. The Crystal Bird Fauset House
• Rebuilding and restyling
the bay window;
recreating the porch and
adjusting the addition to
conform with the overall
improvements; as well
as re-framing the
windows in period style.
www.PoliticalBlackWomensMemorial.org

42. The Crystal Bird Fauset House
• The Political Black
Women’s Memorial of
Pennsylvania will be in
the side garden for
viewing.
www.PoliticalBlackWomensMemorial.org

43. The Crystal Bird Fauset House
• And there are plans to have
the property re-zoned to
accommodate a bed and
breakfast and convert the
front parlor and library into
small museum exhibiting
portraits, political and
personal memorabilia.
www.PoliticalBlackWomensMemorial.org

44. Political Black Women’s Archives
• Research continues into Pennsylvania’s politics to
chronicle the history and contributions of Black
women.
• Available information is scant, hidden in archives
of old publications, and scattered across the
internet in fragments or in fading memories.
www.PoliticalBlackWomensMemorial.org

45. Political Black Women’s Archives
• This project will consolidate pertinent
information on past and current elected and
appointed African-American women in
Pennsylvania government.
www.PoliticalBlackWomensMemorial.org

46. Political Black Women’s Archives
• The Political Black Women Memorial of
Pennsylvania is designed to bring to the public’s
attention the contributions of key black women
who dedicated their lives to the service of their
communities.
www.PoliticalBlackWomensMemorial.org

47. Political Black Women’s Archives
• Additionally, and maybe even more importantly,
it will be a repository of information on not just
the careers of women who served on the state
level, but also the lives of all political Black
women from community grassroot to the
executive level.
www.PoliticalBlackWomensMemorial.org

48. Political Black Women’s Archives
• It is intended to also include all black women
throughout the commonwealth in local, state,
county and community positions, and
incorporate a comprehensive database and
library, entirely available on one valuable
website.
www.PoliticalBlackWomensMemorial.org

49. Thank you for
visiting!
www.PoliticalBlackWomensMemorial.org
info@PoliticalBlackWomensMemorial.org
www.PoliticalBlackWomensMemorial.org