36th State to Ratify | Tennessee | Higgins Bond, Artist
Her Flag Artist, Higgins Bond
In my pencil drawing I wanted to honor some of my heroes of the long journey of Women's rights.
Not just the fight for the vote, but also the fight to no longer be seen as second class citizens. They are (left to right):
IDA B. WELLS, editor, businesswoman, women's rights leader and a prolific and influential writer. She used her highly successful newspaper columns to spread the gospel of her anti-lynching crusade and promote equal rights. She was a founding member of the NAACP.
MARY CHURCH TERRELL, spent her life fighting for the rights of blacks and women. A pioneer educator and activist who organized Black women in their fight against racism and sexism. She helped to establish the National Association of Colored Women in 1895.
ROSA PARKS, is known as the mother of the civil rights movement. Her refusal to give up her seat on a segregated bus and subsequent arrest sparked the Montgomery, Alabama Bus Boycott by blacks. Led by Dr. Martin Luther King, the boycott soon grew into the Freedom Movement that helped end segregated public accommodations throughout the south.
ELLA BAKER, brilliant organizer and activist, she helped to create the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. She was also instrumental in the success of the Montgomery Bus Boycott.
FANNIE LOU HAMER was one of the major figures of the Freedom Movement, this civil rights activist was a pivotal force in the Freedom Democratic Party. Born a sharecropper, she and her family endured violence after attempting to register to vote. But that only strengthened her resolve to change things. She was a founder, organizer, spokesperson and elected representative of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party formed to give disenfranchised Black citizens an organized political voice.