Flower Mission Hospital
The Indianapolis Flower Mission was a women’s charity organization founded by Alice Wright in 1876 [1]. The organization met every two weeks to give the patients of Indianapolis City Hospital a wide variety of flowers and gifts [2]. Early activities also included setting up a boarding house for homeless boys in 1879 [3]. After years of maintaining and raising funds for the boarding home, members envisioned a hospital that specialized in the care of women and children [4]. Due to a lack of funding, this idea did not come to fruition; instead the Mission set up the country’s second training school for nurses, which they ran until the City Hospital took over in 1896 [5]. The Flower Mission also started the city’s first visiting nurse program, for which they hired a nurse to visit patients at home to provide care and supplies. The school closed in 1980, having offered nursing training for almost a century [6].
The Mission received needed funding in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, thanks to very generous donations from Colonel Eli Lilly, a local philanthropist and pharmaceutical entrepreneur [7] Eleanor Hospital, the mission’s first hospital which focused on the care of sick children, was named after the Colonel’s deceased daughter [8]. The mayor of Indianapolis at the time, John Holtzman, was another big supporter for the Mission. Upon the opening of the Mission’s first hospital for late-stage tuberculosis patients in 1903, Holtzman was quoted in a local newspaper as having said, “I want to assure the ladies of the Flower Mission that the present administration will give every assistance in the great work of earing for the sick and poor.” He claimed that any person that suffered from “the great white death” deserved the utmost care [9].
When it opened, The Flower Mission was one of the only medical institutions in Indiana that dealt with patients who were in the final stages of tuberculosis [10]. However, this quality of care was not available to African Americans. The early twentieth century surge of tuberculosis hit the black community particularly hard. Living conditions for African Americans in Indianapolis were already poor, and the effects of tuberculosis only made it worse. There was no medical facility in the city where black tuberculosis patients could receive the appropriate care they needed [11]. In 1916, the Indianapolis Women’s Improvement Club (WIC) appealed to the Flower Mission Hospital to accept African American patients. The WIC was organized by African American women to benefit the Indianapolis black community [12]. While the hospital did initially agree to WIC’s plea to accept black patients, a short time later, it rescinded this action and no longer accepted African Americans. A year later, the Flower Mission financially aided the WIC in employing a black social worker who provided at-home care to African American patients, much like their own visiting nurses. In 1918, WIC members were allowed to furnish a room in the Flower Mission Hospital to be used exclusively by black patients. When the Mission opened their final hospital on Fall Creek Boulevard in 1938, they provided a segregated ward for African American patients [13]. Years after the opening of the Mission’s first hospital in 1903, Mayor Holtzman’s words were true to the hospital’s purpose: any person who suffered from tuberculosis deserved care, and finally, African Americans were included, albeit still segregated from white patients. After the 1930s, activity slowed for the Indianapolis Flower Mission. The tuberculosis crisis was under control, and the Flower Mission primarily became a grant funding institution until they disbanded in 1993. The Flower Missions Memorial Hospital is now home to the Bellflower Clinic and the Wishard Memorial Nursing Museum, where the public can learn of the Flower Mission’s history [14].
<a href="https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/show/227">Interview 2 with Patricia Brown</a>
[1] Brittany D. Kropf, “Indianapolis Flower Mission,” Discover Indiana, last updated April 2, 2019, https://publichistory.iupui.edu/items/show/18.
[2] Kropf, “Flower Mission.”
[3] Indianapolis Flower Mission Records: 1884-1987, 1976.0206, 1997.0125. Indiana Historical Society Archives, Indianapolis, Indiana.
[4] Indianapolis Flower Mission Records.
[5] Indianapolis Flower Mission Records.
[6] Kropf, “Flower Mission.”
[7] Ibid.
[8] Ibid.
[9] “Mission Gives Hospital Keys to the Mayor,” The Indianapolis Star, November 27, 1903, https://www.newspapers.com/clip/4068531/flower-mission-hospital-opening-mayor/.
[10] Kropf, “Flower Mission.”
[11] Earline Rae Ferguson, “The Woman's Improvement Club of Indianapolis: Black Women Pioneers in Tuberculosis Work, 1903–1938,” Indiana Magazine of History 84, no.3 (1988): 237-61, http://www.jstor.org/stable/27791176.
[12] Ferguson, “The Woman's Improvement Club of Indianapolis”
[13] Ibid.
[14] Kropf, “Flower Mission.”
Student Authors: Gwyneth Harris and Phillip Brooks
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
PHOTO & VIDEO:
Flower Mission Tuberculosis Hospital, Indiana Historical Society, M0384.
https://images.indianahistory.org/digital/collection/tuberculosi/id/99/rec/13
Indianapolis NAACP Branch 3053
In 1912, Mary Cable, then president of the Colored Women’s Civic Club, organized the Indianapolis branch of the National Association for the Advancement for Colored People (NAACP) to help the African American community of Indianapolis organize themselves in their struggle, on various fronts, against discrimination and racism.[1] Cable served as the founding president of the Indianapolis NAACP, the first NAACP branch in Indiana. After an all-woman board served the Indianapolis NAACP branch for 13 months, they then asked the men to take over as officers because “the men had more time.[2]”
In the 1920’s, the Indianapolis NAACP turned their focus to combating the Ku Klux Klan’s (KKK) rising political power. This was no easy task given the KKK’s vast influence on politics, city and state education, employment practices, and housing regulations throughout Indiana.[3] Without the organization of the NAACP or the collection of resources that it offered the African American community, the effects of the KKK’s overt segregationist and racist policies throughout the 1920’s would likely have been far worse. The NAACP worked tirelessly against the KKK’s agenda, and supported the Independent Voter’s League (IVL), an “Anti-Klan Organization” founded in 1924, to encourage African Americans to register to vote in favor of the Democratic Party. The efforts of the NAACP and IVL dramatically altered the future Indiana political landscape in favor of desegregation and improving racial equality.[4] , [5]
Early NAACP efforts failed to prevent the construction of a segregated African American high school for Indianapolis. However, the resulting Crispus Attucks High School quickly became a collective sense of pride for the African American community. With highly qualified teachers, partial funding for extracurricular activities, and an NAACP branch fighting fervently for the equality and desegregation of all school districts, Crispus Attucks High School became a centerpiece of the NAACP’s agenda in Indianapolis.[6] Robert Lee Brokenburr, the first African American Indiana state legislator and a former president of the Indianapolis NAACP, was successful in passing legislation that allowed African American student athletes to participate in state high school sports tournaments. Efforts like these paved the way for the iconic 1955 Crispus Attucks Tigers basketball team, starring Oscar Robertson, to become the first African American high school in the nation to win a state championship.[7]
In the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, the Indianapolis NAACP began fighting to end de facto segregation in all public schools.[8] The NAACP also demanded police reform in 1966, when members met with the Indianapolis mayor in an attempt to reform racist and discriminatory hiring practices. Thanks to serious reforms that helped prevent systemic racism in the Marion County police department, Captain Spurgeon Davenport was able to become the first African American Inspector in Indianapolis Police Department history. [9]
The Indianapolis NAACP Branch #3053 is now located at 300 E. Fall Creek Parkway, and remains active in the Indianapolis community. One member claims, “no one should be fooled into believing that the NAACP no longer has a purpose.[10]” In 2009, the organization represented hundreds in a major lawsuit against discriminatory practices at Eli Lilly and Company, and, in 2020, they have been working with Indiana Governor Holcomb to protect low-income families from eviction in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic that has caused statewide unemployment.[11],[12] The Indianapolis Branch of the NAACP continues to act as a catalyst for improving the lives of the African American community, and helps protect their rights in the workplace, in equal housing opportunities, and educational settings.
<a href="https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/show/226">Interview 1 with Patricia Brown</a>
[1] “Our Branch History,” Indy NAACP, accessed July 2, 2020. https://www.indynaacp.org/branch-history
[2] Ibid.
[3] William W. Griffin. “The Political Realignment of Black Voters in Indianapolis, 1924,” June 1983, Vol. 79(2) Pp. 134(5). Accessed via Indiana University Press (JSTOR).
[4] Ibid.
[5] “Our Branch History.”
[6] Indy WIN Committee of the Greater Indianapolis NAACP Branch #3053. “Greater Indianapolis Branch #3053’s History, 1912-2009.”
[7] Ibid.
[8] “Our Branch History.”
[9] Ibid.
[10] Perry A. Brandon. “Don’t Count NAACP Out: 100-Year-Old Organization Still Viable and Much Needed,” Indianapolis Recorder, July 9, 2020. http://www.indianapolisrecorder.com/news/features/article_fd7e85a7-4ec4-5d4b-b1ef-f268fa8d49aa.html
[11] Ibid.
[12] “Indianapolis NAACP Branch #3053,” Facebook, accessed July 2, 2020. https://www.facebook.com/indynaacp.org/
Student Author: Joel Sharp
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
PHOTO & VIDEO:
NAACP leaders with poster, attributed to Al Ravenna, Public domain, via Wikimedia commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NAACP_leaders_with_poster_NYWTS.jpg
NAACP Freedom Rally March, Indianapolis Recorder Collection, Indiana Historical Society.
https://images.indianahistory.org/digital/collection/p0303/id/387/rec/57
Madam C.J. Walker
<p><span data-contrast="auto">Madam C.J. Walker, originally named Sarah Breedlove, was born </span><span data-contrast="auto">in</span><span data-contrast="auto"> 1867 in Louisiana to former slaves.</span><span data-contrast="auto"> At the age of </span><span data-contrast="auto">seven</span><span data-contrast="auto">, she became an orphan and lived with her older sister Louvenia</span><span data-contrast="auto">.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">1]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> Breedlove married Moses McWilliams at the age of 14 and </span><span data-contrast="auto">in 1885, </span><span data-contrast="auto">they had a daughter Lelia</span><span data-contrast="auto">. </span><span data-contrast="auto">Widowed </span><span data-contrast="auto">two years later, </span><span data-contrast="auto">Sarah </span><span data-contrast="auto">Breedlove McWilliams and her daughter moved to St. Louis, where she worked as a laundress and studied at night school.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">2]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">Breedlove McWilliams</span><span data-contrast="auto"> suffered from hair loss, which inspired</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">experiment</span><span data-contrast="auto">ation</span><span data-contrast="auto"> with homemade hair care remedies, resulting in products that promoted </span><span data-contrast="auto">healthy </span><span data-contrast="auto">hair growth.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">3]<br /></span><span data-ccp-props="{"335559740":480}"><br /></span><span data-contrast="auto">In 1906, while living in Denver, Colorado, Breedlove McWilliams married </span><span data-contrast="auto">Charles Joseph</span><span data-contrast="auto"> Walker</span><span data-contrast="auto">, who worked in advertising</span><span data-contrast="auto">. </span><span data-contrast="auto">She became known as Madam C.J. Walker and</span><span data-contrast="auto"> decided to sell her</span><span data-contrast="auto"> own hair care</span><span data-contrast="auto"> products under </span><span data-contrast="auto">her new moniker</span><span data-contrast="auto">.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">4]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">The </span><span data-contrast="auto">new name</span><span data-contrast="auto"> evoked a French flair </span><span data-contrast="auto">to make her products more impressive to potential buyers</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">as opposed to a</span><span data-contrast="auto"> “condescending name like ‘Aunt Sarah</span><span data-contrast="auto">.</span><span data-contrast="auto">’”[</span><span data-contrast="auto">5]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">In 1908, </span><span data-contrast="auto">while living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, </span><span data-contrast="auto">Walker founded Lelia College, named for her daughter, which offered a course in her</span><span data-contrast="auto"> hair care and beauty</span><span data-contrast="auto"> methods</span><span data-contrast="auto"> to aspiring “hair culturists”</span><span data-contrast="auto">.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">6]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">In 1910, </span><span data-contrast="auto">the Walkers </span><span data-contrast="auto">moved to Indianapolis, Indiana, where she opened a laboratory and a beauty school. </span><span data-contrast="auto">Walker and her husband </span><span data-contrast="auto">divorced</span><span data-contrast="auto"> in 1912.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">7]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-ccp-props="{"335559740":480}"> <br /><br /></span><span data-contrast="auto">The Madam C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company included a factory, and along with the laboratory and beauty school, </span><span data-contrast="auto">manufactured </span><span data-contrast="auto">Walker’s beauty products and train</span><span data-contrast="auto">ed</span><span data-contrast="auto"> her nationwide sales force of “beauty</span><span data-contrast="auto"> culturi</span><span data-contrast="auto">sts” using the “The Walker System”. </span><span data-contrast="auto">With </span><span data-contrast="auto">the factory employees</span><span data-contrast="auto"> and</span><span data-contrast="auto"> thousands of </span><span data-contrast="auto">African American women sales </span><span data-contrast="auto">agents across the country, Walker ran a successful </span><span data-contrast="auto">line of </span><span data-contrast="auto">cosmetic and </span><span data-contrast="auto">hair care products that not only promoted hair growth, but hair </span><span data-contrast="auto">and skin </span><span data-contrast="auto">beautification as well</span><span data-contrast="auto">. </span><span data-contrast="auto">Her agents made sales and educated customers on the importance of hygiene and presenting oneself in a </span><span data-contrast="auto">clean </span><span data-contrast="auto">and </span><span data-contrast="auto">proper </span><span data-contrast="auto">manner.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">8]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> In 1916, her agents organized into the National Beauty Culturist and Benevolent Association of Madame C.J. Walker Agents</span><span data-contrast="auto">, </span><span data-contrast="auto">later </span><span data-contrast="auto">known as</span><span data-contrast="auto"> the Madam C.J. Walker Hair Culturists Union of America</span><span data-contrast="auto">, holding annual conventions</span><span data-contrast="auto">.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">9]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">Walker encouraged her sales agents to give back to improve society, </span><span data-contrast="auto">giving</span><span data-contrast="auto"> rewards to the sales agents </span><span data-contrast="auto">who made the largest philanthropic contributions in their African American communities. </span><span data-ccp-props="{"335559740":480}"> <br /><br /></span><span data-contrast="auto">Walker</span><span data-contrast="auto"> was </span><span data-contrast="auto">an active philanthropist and social activist in </span><span data-contrast="auto">Indianapolis. </span><span data-contrast="auto">In all areas of her life, she strove for and demanded</span><span data-contrast="auto"> equal rights,</span><span data-contrast="auto"> including</span><span data-contrast="auto"> filing suit against</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">the</span><span data-contrast="auto"> Isis Theater </span><span data-contrast="auto">for charging a higher admission rate (25 cents vs. 15 cents) </span><span data-contrast="auto">for African American patrons</span><span data-contrast="auto">. She</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">protested </span><span data-contrast="auto">segregation within the military during World War I</span><span data-contrast="auto"> and advocated for an African American army officer training camp</span><span data-contrast="auto">.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">10]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> Madam Walker </span><span data-contrast="auto">donated </span><span data-contrast="auto">to multiple </span><span data-contrast="auto">African American </span><span data-contrast="auto">charities</span><span data-contrast="auto"> and community organizations</span><span data-contrast="auto"> in Indianapolis </span><span data-contrast="auto">such as the Senate Avenue YMCA,</span><span data-contrast="auto"> the Bethel AME Church, Flanner House, and Alpha Home. </span><span data-contrast="auto">On a nationwide level, she contributed to campaigns to stop </span><span data-contrast="auto">lynching</span><span data-contrast="auto"> and supported the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), which was newly- formed in 1909.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">11]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-ccp-props="{"335559731":720,"335559740":480}"> <br /><br /></span><span data-contrast="auto">Throughout her life, Madam C.J. Walker worked tirelessly to create a better life for herself</span><span data-contrast="auto">,</span><span data-contrast="auto"> her family</span><span data-contrast="auto">, an</span><span data-contrast="auto">d her African American community in a segregated Indianapolis</span><span data-contrast="auto">. </span><span data-contrast="auto">The</span><span data-contrast="auto"> hard work</span><span data-contrast="auto"> and hardship</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">took its toll</span><span data-contrast="auto">, and she</span><span data-contrast="auto"> developed </span><span data-contrast="auto">health issues</span><span data-contrast="auto"> in her </span><span data-contrast="auto">late </span><span data-contrast="auto">forties</span><span data-contrast="auto">.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">12]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">In</span><span data-contrast="auto"> April 1919, </span><span data-contrast="auto">she </span><span data-contrast="auto">passed away on May 25, 1919 at the age of 51.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">13]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">At the time of her death, she was worth an estimated $600,000 (over $6 million in 2020 dollars), and was considered the wealthiest African American woman in America.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">14]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">She is often lauded as the “America’s first self-made female millionaire."[15]<br /></span><span data-ccp-props="{"335559740":480}"><br /></span><span data-contrast="auto">The legacy of Madam C.J. Walker </span><span data-contrast="auto">is exemplified</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">in the</span><span data-contrast="auto"> personal</span><span data-contrast="auto"> pride</span><span data-contrast="auto">, entrepreneurship, and </span><span data-contrast="auto">sense of </span><span data-contrast="auto">civic </span><span data-contrast="auto">responsibility</span><span data-contrast="auto"> that her products, business, and personal life instilled in</span><span data-contrast="auto"> African American</span><span data-contrast="auto">s, especially</span><span data-contrast="auto"> African American</span><span data-contrast="auto"> women</span><span data-contrast="auto">,</span><span data-contrast="auto"> throughout the country</span><span data-contrast="auto">. </span><span data-contrast="auto">After Walker’s death, her daughter took over the </span><span data-contrast="auto">Walker Manufacturing Company</span><span data-contrast="auto"> and in 1927, moved the factory and headquarters to the newly built Walker Building</span><span data-contrast="auto"> in Indianapolis. The building included</span><span data-contrast="auto"> a ballroom, theater, hair salon, </span><span data-contrast="auto">other</span><span data-contrast="auto"> public</span><span data-contrast="auto"> spaces</span><span data-contrast="auto">,</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">and became an African American community cultural center.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">16]</span><span data-contrast="auto"> The Walker Building</span><span data-contrast="auto">, </span><span data-contrast="auto">and the surroundi</span><span data-contrast="auto">ng Indiana Avenue </span><span data-contrast="auto">neighborhood,</span><span data-contrast="auto"> became a hub for the</span><span data-contrast="auto"> African American arts, culture, and jazz scene in </span><span data-contrast="auto">segregated Indianapolis through the 1960s.</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">A tangible reminder of her legacy,</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">The</span><span data-contrast="auto"> Madame C.J.</span><span data-contrast="auto"> Walker Building </span><span data-contrast="auto">was listed in</span><span data-contrast="auto"> </span><span data-contrast="auto">the </span><span data-contrast="auto">National Register for Historic Places in 198</span><span data-contrast="auto">0 and was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1991</span><span data-contrast="auto">.[</span><span data-contrast="auto">17]</span><span data-ccp-props="{"335559740":480}"> </span></p>
<span>[1] </span><span>Moore, Wilma, Alan Rowe, Lyndsey Blair, Rebecca Pattillo, and Maire Gurevitz. </span><span>“</span><span>Madam C.J. Walker Papers Addition, 1911</span><span>-</span><span>2005 (Bulk1950s</span><span>-</span><span>80s).</span><span>”</span><span>Indiana Historical Society. December 2017. Accessed March 12, 2020.<br /></span><span>[2] </span><span>Ibid.<br /></span><span>[3] </span><span>Latham Jr., Charles. “Madam C.J. Walker & Company.” </span><span>Traces</span><span>1989, Vol. 1, No.3, pp. 29.<br />[</span><span>4] </span><span>Michals, Debra. Madam C.J. Walker. National Women’s History Museum, 2015. Accessed March 12, 2020. <br /></span><span>[5] </span><span>Moore, Wilma, Alan Rowe, Lyndsey Blair, Rebecca Pattillo, and Maire Gurevitz. <br /></span><span>[6] </span><span>Mo</span><span>ore, Wilma, Alan Rowe, Lyndsey Blair, Rebecca Pattillo, and Maire Gurevitz. <br /></span><span>[7] </span><span>Ibid.<br />[8] Latham Jr., Charles. pp. 29.<br />[9] Ibid, 30-31.<br />[10] Ibid, 31.<br />[11] Latson, Jennifer “How America’s First Self-Made Female Millionaire Built Her Fortune”, accessed March 15, 2020.<br />[12] Latham Jr., Charles.pp. 32. <br />[13] Ibid.<br />[14] “Madam C.J. Walker”. The Philanthropy Hall of Fame. Philanthropy Roundtable, accessed March 13, 2020.<br />[15] Latson, Jennifer.<br />[16] Latham Jr., Charles. pp. 32.<br />[17] National Register of Historic Places, Madame C.J. Walker Building, accessed March 13, 2020.<br /><br /></span>
Studen Authors: Robin Johnson and Sydney Schlock
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
PHOTO & VIDEO:
Madam C.J. Walker, attributed to Scurlock Studio, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Madam_CJ_Walker_face_circa_1914.jpg
<a href="https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/62762a1d-b804-482f-84c0-e4d5929dad2c?branding=NRHP" target="_blank" rel="noopener">National Register of Historic Places</a>
Indiana Federation of Colored Women's Clubs/Minor House
African American women’s clubs in the twentieth century were created following the model of women’s rights and literary societies that were famous in the 1800s. The goal of African American women’s clubs was to unite black women to fight racial oppression and to promote moral and religious values. They believed the status of African American women in America could improve through the education of their youth and providing health and social services. <br /><br />To join forces in the late nineteenth century, the leaders of several African American women’s clubs in Indiana decided to merge into the National Association of Colored Women of Indiana. In 1896, the Young Ladies of Trilby Club of Evansville, the National Federation of Afro-American Women and the Colored Women’s League formed a united Association of Colored Women’s Clubs.[1] Lillian Thomas Fox, the first African American newspaper reporter for the Indianapolis News, was the state organizer for the National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs in Indiana. She persuaded local clubs to form a state federation.[2] In April 1904, a state convention of African American women’s clubs was held at the Bethel AME Church in Indianapolis in order to form a state federation. A total of 19 key women’s organizations from Indianapolis, South Bend, Anderson, Marion, Muncie, and Terre Haute formed the Indiana State Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs (ISFCWC).[3]<br /><br />The federation’s local clubs undertook various projects to improve life for their African American communities. For instance, the Woman’s Club of Indianapolis established an outdoor tuberculosis camp from 1905 to 1916, ran a tuberculosis home for patients until 1935, and then funded financial assistance for African American families affected by the disease.[4] Clubs provided food, clothing and housing for flood victims and to low-income families who lacked those necessities.[5] During World War I, ISFCWC members distributed Bibles to departing African American soldiers at the Thursday Afternoon Coterie Club in Indianapolis.[6] The ISFCWC helped fund the Frederick Douglass Home in Washington, D.C. They also set up scholarship funds for African American students, such as those from Crispus Attucks High School in Indianapolis, to help with college tuition and expenses.[7] In addition, the ISFCWC organized local day schools and kindergartens for African American children.[8]<br /><br />There were 97 clubs and over 1,500 ISFCWC members by 1914, and membership increased to over 1,600 with 89 clubs a decade later. By 1933, the number of ISFCWC chapters declined to 56 clubs from 49 cities throughout Indiana. In 1927, the ISFCWC purchased an existing family home in Indianapolis to serve as its clubhouse and state headquarters. Known as the Minor House, after its original owners who built it in 1897, the headquarters is still in use today. Because of its architectural integrity and its significant role in African American history in Indiana, the Minor House was added to the National Register for Historic Places in 1987.[9] In 1997, the Indiana Historical Bureau and the ISFCWC erected a historical marker in front of the Minor House in recognition of the civil rights contributions the Indiana State Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs made to Indiana.[10]
<span>[1] </span><span>King, Lou Ella. </span><span>The History of Indiana State Fede</span><span>ration of Colored Women’s Clubs. Gary: Harris Printing Company</span><span>, 1953. </span><span>P.53<br /></span><span>[2] </span><span>NACWC. </span><span>A History of the Club Movement Among the Colored Women of the United States of America. </span><span>Was</span><span>hington, D.C.: </span><span>NACWC, 1902. P.101.<br />[</span><span>3] </span><span>Indiana State Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form, 1987. National </span><span>Park Service. A</span><span>ccessed March 10, 2020.<br />[4] King, Lou Ella. P.57.<br />[5] National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form.<br />[6] Ibid.<br />[7] Hine,Darlene Clark (1981). When the Truth is Told: A History of Black Women's Culture and Community in Indiana, 1875–1950. Indianapolis, Indiana: National Council of Negro Women. p. 36<br />[8] Leslie, LaVonne. The History of the National Association of Colored Women’sS Clubs, Inc.: A Legacy of Service. Xlibris Corporation, 2012. P.22<br />[9] National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form.<br /></span>
Student Authors: Emma Guichon and Robin Johnson
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
PHOTO & VIDEO:<br />Indiana State Federation of Colored Women, attributed to Nyttend, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Indiana_State_Federation_of_Colored_Women%27s_Clubs.jpg
<a href="https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/9ae99284-d9ef-4096-a3e4-8ef5f8dfcd00/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">National Register of Historic Places</a><br /><a href="https://www.in.gov/history/markers/227.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Indiana Historical Bureau: Historical Marker</a>
Congresswoman Katie Hall
<p>Katie Hall was born in 1938 in Mound Bayou, Mississippi. She graduated from Mississippi Valley State University in 1960. She then moved to Bloomington, Indiana to start her master’s degree at Indiana University.<span>[1]</span> She later taught social studies in Gary, Indiana, where she lived with her husband and their three children. Hall took part in local Gary political campaigns in the 1960s.<span>[2]</span> She was elected to the Indiana House of Representatives from 1974 to 1976, and to the Indiana Senate from 1976 to 1982. In 1982, Hall was nominated to represent her district from northern Indiana in the United States House of Representatives. White Democrats were concerned about her electability because of her race.<span>[3]</span> Gary’s population was primarily black, but Hall’s district was 70% white.<span>[4]</span> She nonetheless won with 56% of the vote and became the first black woman from Indiana elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.<span>[5]</span> Veteran lawmaker William Gray III stated: “She brought freshness of approach, a spirit of reconciliation to what had sometimes been a bitter battle.”<span>[6]</span> </p>
<p>Hall supported the reduction of urban and industrial unemployment in her district, and also supported a number of measures to solve crime, alcohol and drug abuse, particularly in cities. She endorsed the Fair Trade in Steel Act, a measure designed to revitalize Gary’s crumbling steel and manufacturing industry.<span>[7]</span> In addition to domestic concerns, Hall became involved in the fight against famine in Africa after a visit to Ethiopia.<span>[8]</span></p>
<p>In 1983, Hall introduced a bill to make Martin Luther King’s birthday a federal holiday stating that for him “equality always prevailed.”<span>[9]</span> This bill had detractors that criticized the large cost of a paid holiday for federal employees, and several Republican senators questioned the legitimacy of King’s legacy. President Ronald Reagan signed the bill into law in November 1983, and the first Martin Luther King, Jr. Day occurred in January 1986.<span>[10]</span></p>
<p>After retiring from Congress, she served as the vice chair of Gary’s housing board and became the city clerk in 1985. Hall passed away on February 20, 2012 in Gary, Indiana. Her work and legacy is immortalized in a marker from the Indiana Historical Bureau, installed in 2019, highlighting her effort to make Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day a reality.</p>
<a href="https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/show/232">Junifer Hall interview 1</a><br /><a href="https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/show/233">Junifer Hall interview 2</a><br /><a href="https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/show/234">Junifer Hall interview 3</a><br /><a href="https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/show/235">Junifer Hall interview 4</a><br /><a href="https://digitalresearch.bsu.edu/digitalcivilrightsmuseum/files/show/236">Junifer Hall interview 7</a>
<p><span>[1]</span> United States Congress. "Katie Hall (id: H000058)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. P.124<br /><span>[2]</span> House Office of History and Preservation. <em>Black Americans in Congress, 1870-2007</em>. Edited by Matthew Wasniewski. Third edition. Washington: United States Congress, 2008. P.530<br /><span>[3]</span><span> Ibid. P.532<br /></span><span>[4]</span> Catlin, Robert A. "Organizational Effectiveness and Black Political Participation: The Case of Katie Hall." Phylon 46 (September 1985). P.179<br /><span>[5]</span> Ibid. P.190<br /><span>[6]</span> House Office of History and Preservation. <em>Black Americans in Congress, 1870-2007</em>. Edited by Matthew Wasniewski. Third edition. Washington: United States Congress, 2008. P.530<br /><span>[7]</span> Ibid.<br /><span>[8]</span> United States Congress. "Katie Hall (id: H000058)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.<br /><span>[9]</span> House Office of History and Preservation. <em>Black Americans in Congress, 1870-2007</em>. Edited by Matthew Wasniewski. Third edition. Washington: United States Congress, 2008. P.532<br /><span>[10]</span><span> Origin of MLK Day Law. </span>Indiana Historical Bureau. Accessed February 10, 2020.</p>
Student Authors: Emma Guichon and Robin Johnson
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
PHOTO & VIDEO:
Katie Beatrice Hall, attributed to U.S. Congress, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Katie_Beatrice_Hall.jpg
<a href="http://www.state.in.us/history/markers/4447.htm">Indiana Historical Bureau: Historical Marker</a>
Madam Walker Theatre Center
<p>The Walker Theatre is a part of the Madam C.J. Walker Building constructed in 1927 at 617 Indiana Avenue in Indianapolis.<span>[1]</span> The building opened to fanfare on December 26, 1927, with presentations of the feature film <em>The Magic Flame</em> and performances of a Chicago-based dance ensemble set to an orchestra both showing at various times throughout the week for 25 to 40 cents.<span>[2]</span> The Walker Theatre was regularly advertised and reviewed in the black newspaper, <em>Indianapolis Recorder</em>, promoting its “Vaudeville and First-Run Pictures.”<span>[3]</span> The theatre joined a vibrant culture of African American entertainment along Indiana Avenue, known for its dance halls, taverns, and jazz clubs.<span>[4]</span></p>
<p>The Walker Theatre was named after Madam C.J. Walker, a successful African American entrepreneur who developed a revolutionary line of beauty and hygiene products for African American women. Her profits from the Madam C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company made her one of the wealthiest people in the nation, but Walker’s recognition as the first black female millionaire in the United States is a myth; her estate was worth approximately $600,000 at the time of her death in 1919.<span>[5]</span> Nevertheless, Walker used her success and wealth to advocate for African American rights and improve the lives of black women in her community. As her business expanded, it began to outgrow its original Indianapolis headquarters, and Madam Walker started planning the Walker Building, constructed after her death.<span>[6]</span></p>
<p>The building, designed by the premier Indianapolis architectural firm Rubush and Hunter, held a new factory and office space for the Walker Company, as well as a casino, drugstore, coffee shop, and additional offices for rent.<span>[7]</span> The Walker Theatre was a special project of Madam Walker’s, intended as a place of entertainment for the local African American community.<span>[8]</span> The movie theater was a particularly notable addition to the building, as Madam Walker herself had experienced discrimination in Indianapolis movie theaters.<span>[9]</span> In 1915, she sued the Central Amusement Company, which owned the Isis Theatre in Indianapolis, for its discriminatory pricing; African American patrons were required to pay an extra 15 cents for admission.<span>[10]</span> Soon after its opening, the Madam CJ Walker Theatre Center developed into a lasting cultural cornerstone on historic Indiana Avenue.</p>
<p>The Walker Building was constructed by the William P. Jungclaus Company.<span>[11]</span> It was lavishly built in the style of the Art Deco movement, popular during the 1920s. The Walker Building is significant because it is decorated heavily with African elements, using terra cotta accents of African, Moorish, and Egyptian symbols.<span>[12]</span> Sphinxes, Yoruba masks, shields and spears are found throughout the building, especially in the extravagant ballroom and theater, marking the building as a source of racial pride for African Americans, something Madam Walker strove to create in all of her endeavors.<span>[13]</span></p>
<p>The Madame C.J. Walker building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.[14] From 1979-1988, the Madame Walker Urban Life Center, the not-for-profit organization that owns the building, oversaw extensive renovations to the Madam C.J. Walker Building, including the Walker Theatre.[15] The renovated site is now known as the Madam Walker Legacy Center. In 2018, the Madam Walker Legacy Center partnered with Indiana University and began another round of renovations of the building, funded by a 15 million dollar Lilly Endowment Grant.[16] This partnership will not only ensure the continuation of the Walker Theatre as a cultural landmark, but also equip the Madam Walker Legacy Center with the resources and means to revitalize the heritage of Indiana Avenue. As Stephanie Nixon, the former chair of the board of the Madam Walker Legacy Center, stated, “It is truly the start of a new day for the Walker.”[17]</p>
<p></p>
[1] U.S. Department of Interior, National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Walker, Madame C.J. Building, (Indiana 1986), page 1. <br />[2] “Grand Opening!” Indianapolis Recorder (Indianapolis, IN), Dec. 24, 1927. <br />[3] “Walker Theatre: Indianapolis’ Newest and Most Beautiful Amusement Edifice,” Indianapolis Recorder (Indianapolis, IN), Jan. 7, 1928. <br />[4] Emma Lou Thornbrough, Indiana Blacks in the Twentieth Century, ed. Lana Ruegamer, (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2000): 31. <br />[5] A’Lelia Bundles, On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C.J. Walker, (New York, NY: Scribner, 2001): 277. <br />[6] U.S. Department of Interior, National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Walker, Madame C.J. Building, (Indiana 1986), page 10. <br />[7] Ibid., 4.; Charles Latham, Jr., “Madam C.J. Walker & Company,” Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History 1, no. 3 (1989): 34. <br />[8] U.S. Department of Interior, National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Walker, Madame C.J. Building, (Indiana 1986), page 10. <br />[9] Bundles, On Her Own Ground, 161. <br />[10] Wilma L. Gibbs and Jill Landis, “Madam C.J. Walker (1867-1919) Papers, 1910-1980. Indiana Historical Society. August 13, 1993. Bundles, On Her Own Ground, 161. <br />[11] U.S. Department of Interior, National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Walker, Madame C.J. Building, (Indiana 1986), page 4. <br />[12] Ibid., 3-4. <br />[13] Ibid., 1-2.; Charles Latham, Jr., “Madam C.J. Walker & Company,” Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History 1, no. 3 (1989): 31. <br />[14] U.S. Department of Interior, National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Walker, Madame C.J. Building, (Indiana 1986). <br />[15] Wilma Gibbs, “Madame Walker Urban Life Center,” in The Encyclopedia of Indianapolis, ed. David J. Bodenhamer, Robert G. Barrows, and David G. Vanderstel (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1994), 953. <br />[16] “Madam Walker Legacy Center,” Madam Walker Legacy Center, accessed November 26, 2019, Amber Denney, “Madam Walker Theatre Center and IU Begin Partnership to Continue Rich Legacy of Madam C.J. Walker,” Indiana University, January 18, 2018, <br />[17] Ibid.
Student Authors: Allison Hunt and JB Bilbrey
Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson
Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
PHOTO & VIDEO:
Walker Theatre Indy, attributed to Jonathunder, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WalkerTheatreIndy.jpg
<a href="https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/GetAsset/62762a1d-b804-482f-84c0-e4d5929dad2c?branding=NRHP" target="_blank" rel="noopener">National Register of Historic Places</a>
Lucy Higgs Nichols, New Albany
Lucy Higgs Nichols was born in Halifax County, North Carolina on April 10, 1838. [1] Lucy, along with her family, was held in chattel slavery by farmer Reubin Higgs. During this time, the Higgs family moved to Mississippi, then to Tennessee, taking Lucy and other enslaved people with them. In 1862, Lucy learned that she was to be moved south again, even further from freedom. Instead, she escaped with her young daughter, Mona, to the camp of the Indiana 23rd Volunteer Regiment. According to some sources, Lucy was accompanied by her husband as well, who was said to have died later after enlisting in the Union Army. [2] Lucy managed to travel “some twenty or thirty miles” to the camp of the 23rd Regiment in Bolivar, Tennessee. [3] <br /><br />After making it to the camp of the Indiana 23rd Volunteer Regiment, Lucy was pursued by her former master. However, under the Confiscation Acts of 1861 and 1862, she was able to beg protection from the regiment, who ensured that she would not be sent back to slavery. [4] These acts declared that any property, including enslaved people, which was being used to aid the Confederate rebellion was to be seized by the federal government. [5] The Confiscation Act of 1862 went even further in describing the new protected status of enslaved people, declaring that: "All slaves of persons who shall hereafter be engaged in rebellion against the government of the United States, or who shall in any way give aid of comfort thereto, escaping from such persons and taking refuge within the lines of the army; and all slaves captured from such persons or deserted by them and coming under the control of the government of the United States; and all slaves of such person found on or being within any place occupied by rebel forces and afterwards occupied by the forces of the United States, shall be deemed captives of war, and shall be forever free of their servitude, and not again held as slaves." [6] <br /><br />Although these acts were intended to deprive the Confederacy of labor, it was also a step towards emancipation, which thoroughly benefitted Lucy and her family and allowed her to escape slavery with the help of the 23rd Regiment. To show her gratitude to the Indiana 23rd Volunteer Regiment, Lucy, 30 years old at the time, “remained with the Twenty-third as hospital nurse, cook, laundress and sewing woman.” [7] She followed the regiment throughout the rest of the war, caring for soldiers on the front lines and on many long, arduous marches. [8] Lucy was present at such critical battles as the Siege of Vicksburg and the Siege of Atlanta, then followed the 23rd Regiment through General William Tecumseh Sherman’s March to the Sea. [9] Lucy even remained with the regiment after her daughter Mona, no older than five, died just after the surrender of Vicksburg. Mona was apparently well-loved by the soldiers, and was given an “elaborate funeral” by the 23rd Regiment, as they covered her body with flowers and laid her to rest “in a long trench on the hillside above the city, where many a silent figure in blue was stretched out” in their own final resting places. [10] Lucy was heartbroken and “left absolutely alone, but she still clung to the regiment.” [11] <br /><br />After the war, Lucy followed the 23rd Regiment to Washington, D.C., where she proudly marched with them as part of the “grand review of the Federal armies.” [12] When the regiment was mustered out of service, the men invited her to return with them to New Albany, Indiana, where many of them were from. [13] There, she was “employed as a servant in the families of several of the officers” of the 23rd Regiment. [14] In 1870, she married laborer John Nichols, and they lived together on Nagel Street in New Albany until his death in 1910. [15] After her husband’s death, Lucy remained in the city “as a boarder and a laundress.” [16] <br /><br />While living in New Albany, Lucy maintained contact with her fellow members of the 23rd Regiment. She attended every regimental reunion and marched in each Memorial Day parade. [17] Lucy provided care for ill former troops, nursing them “as she did in war times,” while they cared for her in times of sickness and need as well, affectionately calling her “Aunt Lucy.” [18] Lucy became a member of the New Albany chapter of the Grand Army of the Republic, a fraternal organization of veterans of the Union forces. [19] Despite the remarkable recognition for her service by her immediate compatriots, Lucy was not recognized for her work as a Union Army nurse by the federal government. In 1892, Congress passed an act granting pensions to “all women employed by the Surgeon General of the Army as nurses, under contract or otherwise, during the late war of the rebellion” who were in need of financial assistance. [20] Lucy applied for pension, citing medical issues which impacted her ability to work, but was rejected twice. [21] Finally, in December 1898, a special act of Congress was passed and Lucy was approved for a $12 per month pension for the rest of her life. [22] After the death of her husband John, Lucy was admitted to the Floyd County Poor Farm on January 5, 1915. [23] She died there just weeks later, on January 29, 1915, and was buried with military honors in an unmarked grave in West Haven Cemetery in New Albany. [24] The exact location of her grave is unknown because there was no written documentation and no tombstone. On July 3, 2019, a statue of Lucy Higgs Nichols and her daughter Mona was erected in New Albany, Indiana. [25] It joined a 2011 state historical marker outside the Second Baptist Church, where Lucy was a member of the congregation. [26] These monuments stand as a testament to her valor, from escaping slavery, to serving as a nurse on the front lines of the Civil War, to fighting for her right for compensation. <br /><br />Unfortunately, Lucy Higgs Nichols was not the last black American veteran to be barred from receiving the benefits earned through their service. In 1944, Congress passed the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act, popularly known as the G.I. Bill of Rights. [27] This landmark legislation provided American veterans with four major entitlements: special job placement services, unemployment compensation, home and business loans, and educational subsidies. [28] While there was no language in the bill that definitively excluded black veterans on the basis of race, the G.I. Bill was unequally implemented to the benefit of white veterans. Black World War II veterans, especially those living in the south, experienced difficulties when they attempted to access the benefits due to them through the G.I. Bill, “because of a combination of racial discrimination and the poor administration of the bill’s benefits.” [29] Like Lucy Higgs Nichols, many black veterans fought for their benefits after World War II, but many found that access blocked by racist white administrators, and unlike Nichols, were unable to appeal their mistreatment. [30]<br /><br />An Indiana Historical Bureau historical marker, installed in 2011, in New Albany, Floyd County, commemorates Lucy Higgs Nichols' life.
[1] Pamela R. Peters, Curtis H. Peters, and Victor C. Megenity, “Lucy Higgs Nichols: From Slave to Civil War Nurse of the Twenty-Third Indiana Regiment,” Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History 22, no. 1 (2010): 36. <br />[2] “A Female Civil War Veteran,” The New York Times (New York, NY), Dec. 27, 1898. <br />[3] “Why Aunt Lucy got a Pension,” The Denver Sunday Post (Denver, CO), Dec. 18, 1898. <br />[4] Peters, Peters, and Megenity, “Lucy Higgs Nichols,” 38. <br />[5] Matthew Pinsker, “Congressional Confiscation Acts,” Dickinson College Emancipation Digital Classroom, July 14, 2012, http://housedivided.dickinson.edu/sites/emancipation/2012/07/14/congressional-confiscation-acts/. <br />[6] Steven F. Miller, “The Second Confiscation Act,” University of Maryland Freedmen & Southern Society Project, last updated August 26, 2019. http://www.freedmen.umd.edu/conact2.htm. <br />[7] “Why Aunt Lucy got a Pension,” The Denver Sunday Post (Denver, CO), Dec. 18, 1898. <br />[8] Ibid. <br />[9] Peters, Peters, and Megenity, “Lucy Higgs Nichols,” 38-39. <br />[10] “Why Aunt Lucy got a Pension,” The Denver Sunday Post (Denver, CO), Dec. 18, 1898. <br />[11] Ibid. <br />[12] “Negress Who Nursed Soldiers is a Member of the G.A.R.,” The Freeman, (Indianapolis, IN), Sep. 3, 1904. <br />[13] Peters, Peters, and Megenity, “Lucy Higgs Nichols,” 39. <br />[14] “Why Aunt Lucy got a Pension,” The Denver Sunday Post (Denver, CO), Dec. 18, 1898. <br />[15] “Lucy Higgs Nichols,” Indiana Historical Bureau, accessed October 18, 2019, https://www.in.gov/history/markers/4121.htm. <br />[16] Ibid. <br />[17] “Negress Who Nursed Soldiers is a Member of the G.A.R.,” The Freeman, (Indianapolis, IN), Sep. 3, 1904. <br />[18] Ibid. <br />[19] Peters, Peters, and Megenity, “Lucy Higgs Nichols,” 35. <br />[20] Fifty-Second Congress. Sess. I. Chs. 375,376,379. (1892). Library of Congress. https://www.loc.gov/law/help/statutes-at-large/52nd-congress/session-1/c52s1ch379.pdf. <br />[21] “Lucy Higgs Nichols,” Indiana Historical Bureau, accessed October 18, 2019, https://www.in.gov/history/markers/4121.htm. <br />[22] Peters, Peters, and Megenity, “Lucy Higgs Nichols,” 39. <br />[23] Ibid. <br />[24] Ibid.; Amanda Beam, “New Albany Bicentennial: Floyd County Poor House,” News and Tribune (Jeffersonville, IN), Jul. 3, 2013. <br />[25] John Boyle, “Celebrating an Icon: Statue of New Albany’s Lucy Higgs Nichols Unveiled,” News and Tribune (Jeffersonville, IN), Jul. 3, 2019. <br />[26] “Lucy Higgs Nichols,” Indiana Historical Bureau, accessed October 18, 2019, https://www.in.gov/history/markers/4121.htm.; John Boyle, “Celebrating an Icon: Statue of New Albany’s Lucy Higgs Nichols Unveiled,” News and Tribune (Jeffersonville, IN), Jul. 3, 2019. <br />[27] David H. Onkst, “’First a Negro…Incidentally a Veteran’: Black World War Two Veterans and the G.I. Bill of Rights in the Deep South, 1944-1948,” Journal of Social History 31, no. 3 (1998): 524. <br />[28] Ibid., 518. <br />[29] Ibid. <br />[30] Ibid., 519.
Student Authors: Allison Hunt and Jordan Girard <br />Faculty/Staff Editors: Dr. Ronald V. Morris, Dr. Kevin C. Nolan, and Christine Thompson<br />Graduate Assistant Researchers: Carrie Vachon and JB Bilbrey
PHOTO & VIDEO:
Lucy Higgs Nichols, attributed to 1898 photo, Public Domain, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lucy_Higgs_Nichols_head_shot.JPG
<a href="https://www.in.gov/history/markers/4121.htm" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Indiana Historical Bureau: Historical Marker</a>