Members of Sampaguita Women’s Circle (left) each prepared at least one dish for Salo-Salo, whose proceeds are to benefit the needy in Philippines.
Los Angeles Times
October 8, 1964
COMMUNITY LEADERS — Typical of the Negro fund-raising groups which support charities is the Women’s Sunday Breakfast Club. Its officers are, from left Mrs. Marilyn Green, financial secretary Mrs. Lois Byrd, treasurer Mrs. Gilbert Lindsay, president, Mrs. Mildred McKinney, recording secretary.
Los Angeles Times
July 6, 1962
Belle Sherwin, President of the National League of Women Voters, holding a silver cup to be awarded to the state League showing the greatest increase in voting between 1920 and 1924.
I recently posted an image of Cleveland’s woman suffrage headquarters. An eagle eyed follower wondered whether the Belle Sherwin in that picture was any relation to the the paint company Sherwin-Williams which is headquartered in Cleveland. Turns out, Belle Sherwin is the daughter of Sherwin-Williams co-founder Henry Sherwin and his wife Frances Smith. Belle was an important figure in Cleveland and played a substantial role in several national and international organizations.
A short list of Belle’s accomplishments:
-Graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Wellesley
-Taught school in Boston and Connecticut
-Organized the Cleveland Consumers’ League
-Served on the board of the Visiting Nurse Association of Cleveland
-Served on the board of the National Urban League, a civil right organization
-President of the Woman Suffrage Party of Greater Cleveland
-Vice President, then President of the National League of Women Voters
-Led the US delegations at the 1926 and 1928 congresses for the International Alliance of Women for Suffrage and Equal Citizenship
-Appointed by FDR to the Consumers’ Advisory Board of the National Recovery Administration and to the Federal Advisory Council of the US Employment Service
-Vice President of the National Municipal League
-Vice President for North America of the Inter-American Union of Women
-Received honorary degrees from Case Western Reserve, Denison, and Oberlin
Ho Miu Ling (Madame Wu Ting Fang) photographed by Frances Benjamin Johnson
Ho Miu Ling (1847-1937) was the daughter of a prominent Hong Kong minister. At the age of 17 she married Chinese diplomat Wu Tingfang, this photo was taken during their time in Washington. After her husband’s death in 1922 Miu Ling returned to Hong Kong and became a philanthropist. In 1906 a Hong Kong hospital was chartered in her name, which today is known as the Alice Ho Miu Ling Nethersole Charity Foundation. Miu-Ling died at the age of 91 in 1937.
Margaret Tobin Brown presenting trophy cup award to Capt. Arthur Henry Rostron for his service in the rescue of the Titanic.
Although she is generally remembered as the “Unsinkable Molly Brown,” Margaret did not use the nickname Molly.
Wealthy, but born into a working class family, Margaret was known for her community involvement long before the sinking of the Titanic. She was an active suffragette and one of the founders of the Colorado branch of the National American Woman Suffrage Association. Margaret was also a charter member of the Denver Woman’s Club which worked to improve women’s lives through philanthropy. She helped to develop the US’s first juvenile court, organized soup kitchens for miner’s families, and fundraised for the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Denver.
A passenger on the Titanic, Margaret was thrown into a lifeboat and immediately worked to aid others, stripping off her own stockings to warm under dressed survivors in the frigid cold. On board the Carpathia, Margaret spearheaded relief efforts, cajoling wealthy passengers to donate money for third class passengers who had lost family in the tragedy. She chaired the Survivor’s Committee and in addition to presenting the cup shown above, had a medal struck for each member of the Carpathia’s crew.
Against the idea of women and children first (“Women demand equal rights on land - why not at sea?”), Margaret advocated for the enlistment of female soldiers. During World War I, Margaret worked in France to aid allied soldiers and was awarded the French Legion of Honor. In her final years, she fulfilled a life long dream and briefly studied to become an actress.
More about Margaret “Molly” Brown:
Molly Brown House Museum (Denver)
The Molly Brown Birthplace and Museum (Missouri)
History Chicks Podcast Molly Brown Episode
Molly Brown: Unraveling the Myth on Amazon
Gilded Lives, Fatal Voyage: The Titanic’s First-Class Passengers and Their World on Amazon
Heroine of the Titanic: The Real Unsinkable Molly Brown on Amazon
Free Milk for France Parade, Washington D.C., 1918
Images via the Library of Congress
Free Milk for France was a response to the agricultural devastation created by World War I. Founded by a small group of New York women, branches were eventually created in 38 states by locally prominent women.
Free Milk for France shipped powdered milk to France where it was distributed by the government and government authorized facilities to children, the elderly, the sick, and nursing/pregnant women. The US government contributed $9,623.87 ($143,363.16 in today’s money) collected in fines from war profiteers.
Sister Gaume, Sister Superior of an orphanage in the Belleville quarter of Paris wrote on receiving the milk:
This precious milk is used for the orphans, for tired or old sisters, for young mothers who nurse their babies, for quite small children, for the tubercular, for the convalescent, for the people who are left destitute by the war and hide their misery… Your splendid gift is thus very much appreciated. It is very useful and we will never forget it.
Eartha M.M. White and her mother Clara White, Jacksonville, Florida, 1910.
A former opera singer, Eartha was instrumental in the construction of the first school for black children in the Bayard neighborhood of Jacksonville. By living frugally, Eartha was able to contribute to a range of philanthropic causes while working as a schoolteacher. In 1904, Eartha founded the Clara White Mission in honor of her mother, a former slave who ran a soup kitchen out her home. Initially founded to serve blacks in segregated Jacksonville, the Clara White Mission today provides social services to people of all races.
Mary Emma Allison with her three children in 1954
A minister’s wife and school librarian, Mary Emma Allison was interested in how American children could help needy children abroad. In 1949, she noticed a children’s costume parade in Philadelphia encouraging people to donate to UNICEF. Inspired, Mary Emma wrote a piece for her husband’s Presbyterian magazine suggesting children collect funds for UNICEF while they trick or treated. Her 1950 article recommended milk cartons like those pictured above be used.
In 1950, Trick or Treat for UNICEF raised $17 in Philadelphia. Over the last 61 years, it has raised over $160 million in the US alone. Donations can also be made online in the US and Canada.
