Daisy Elizabeth Adams Lampkin

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Daisy Elizabeth Adams Lampkin
A middle-aged Black woman
Daisy E. Lampkin, from a 1936 magazine
Born
Daisy Elizabeth Adams

(1883-08-09)August 9, 1883
Reading, Pennsylvania, U.S.
DiedMarch 10, 1965(1965-03-10) (aged 81)
Occupation(s)Activist, suffragist, clubwoman
Spouse
William Lampkin
​
(m. 1912)​

Daisy Elizabeth Adams Lampkin (August 9, 1883 – March 10, 1965) was an

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP); National Council of Negro Women and other leading civil rights organizations of the Progressive Era
.

Early life

Born on August 9, 1883, in Reading, Pennsylvania,[1] Daisy Elizabeth Adams was educated in Reading, Pennsylvania. She was the daughter of George Adams, born in Virginia, and of Rose Proctor born in 1860 in Charles County, Maryland. Daisy's maternal grandparents were Joseph Jenifer Proctor and Elizabeth Swann, free persons of color.

After completing her formal education in the public school system, she relocated to

suffragist
included assembling street-corner speeches and organizing other black housewives to actively engage in consumer groups. In 1915, her leadership and oratorical ability earned her the position of president of the Lucy Stone League, a post she maintained until 1955.

It was also during this time that Lampkin became intimately involved with the national framework of the black women's club movement. Her leadership within the women's club movement introduced her to the leadership circles within the federation of women's clubs, particularly the

National Association of Colored Women (NACW), where she would eventually serve as National Board Chairwoman. During this period she developed collegial friendships with black women's movement leaders such as Addie Waites Hunton, Mary Church Terrell and Charlotte Hawkins Brown. Still her most noted partnership would come through her association and friendship with Mary McLeod Bethune, with whom she would later assist in founding the National Council of Negro Women
(NCNW) in 1935.

Civil Rights Movement

Upon securing the right to vote, Lampkin became increasingly involved in civic engagement and civil rights advocacy effort on both the local and national level. She served as Chairwoman of the Allegheny County Negro Women's Republican League, vice-Chairwoman of the Negro Voters League of

Red Cross chapter among black women and organized local chapters of both the Urban League and NAACP in Pittsburgh. Most notably, she was made a stockholder and subsequently vice-president of the Pittsburgh Courier, which she used to raise funds for social justice causes and events. In her role as writer, editor, and executive, the paper became the top African-American-run circulating paper in the world during the 1950s.[citation needed] Lampkin's influence in national politics would eventually take her to the White House to meet with then President Calvin Coolidge
and other noted black leaders regarding racial equality in 1924. Reflective of both the period and Lampkin's position, she was the only woman in attendance at the meeting.

Field Secretary of the NAACP

These efforts would eventually lead to the national secretary of the NAACP, Walter White recruiting Lampkin as the first field secretary for the organization in 1930. Here Lampkin's efforts to organize and bolster the image of the NAACP nationally have become legendary. In 1931, Lampkin single-handedly organized the NAACP's 1931 National Convention in Pittsburgh. Her fundraising and organizing skills so impressed NAACP leadership that in 1935, she was moved from regional to National Field Secretary of the organization. That same year, while continuing to establish local NAACP chapters and participating in fundraising efforts, Lampkin along with White, spearheaded the organization’s drive to pass a federal anti-

Mary Bethune
proved to be more conciliatory in their understanding of southern white women's opposition to the anti-lynching law, Lampkin continued to decry the lack of support amongst her supposed white peers. Such insistence garnered Lampkin the image of the no-nonsense community activist that she was most known for during the era.

Legacy

In addition to her lobbying, organizing and fundraising efforts, Lampkin has also been credited with recruiting a young Baltimore attorney and future Supreme Court Justice,

U.S. Supreme Court. She was credited with having the most substantial gains in membership among any of the organization's executive leadership.[citation needed] During her last year as National Field Secretary she raised over $1 million for the organizations. So dedicated was she to the NAACP and community organizing that has been said she to have crossed the country conducting 40 NAACP chapter meetings in one month.[citation needed] Lampkin would eventually take on a renewed interest in black women's organizing; assisting the Delta Sigma Theta
sorority with internal fundraising and the centralizing of its finances and records. She has been credited with advancing the organization's ability to have a presence in the policy-making center of the nation. She was inducted as an Honorary Member in 1947.

Death

While she resigned as national field secretary in 1947, Lampkin continued to serve on the organization's

executive board. She suffered a stroke while at a NAACP membership drive in Camden, New Jersey, and died on March 10, 1965. A Pennsylvania State Historical Marker is Placed at 2519 Webster Ave., Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania commemorating her accomplishments.[4] Her grave is at Homewood Cemetery, Pittsburgh.[5]

See also

References

  1. ^ Nichols, C. (October 30, 2007). "Daisy Lampkin (1884–1965)". BlackPast. Retrieved May 30, 2019.
  2. ^ Giddings 1984.
  3. ^ Giddings 1984, p. 209.
  4. ^ "Daisy E. Lampkin - Pennsylvania Historical Markers on Waymarking.com". www.waymarking.com.
  5. ^ "Daisy Lampkin, 1883–1965". The Homewood Cemetery Historical Fund. 2015. Retrieved November 13, 2015.

Sources

  • Axinn, J., &. Mark J. Stern (2008). Social Welfare: A history of the American response to need. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
  • Giddings, P. (1988). In Search of Sisterhood: Delta Sigma Theta and the challenge of the black sorority movement. New York: HarperCollins.
  • Giddings, P. (1984). When and Where I Enter: The impact of black women on race and sex in America. New York: HarperCollins.
  • "Daisy Lampkin. (2006, January 31)". Answer.com. Retrieved November 16, 2009.
  • Hine, D. H. (2006). The African American Odyssey, 3rd edn. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Education, Inc.
  • Houck, D. W. (2009). Women and the Civil Rights Rovement, 1954–1965. Oxford: University Press of Mississippi.
  • Levin, Steve (1998, February 2). "Daisy Lampkin was a dynamo for change". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
  • White, D. (1999). Too Heavy a Load: Black women in defense of themselves 1894–1994. New York: Norton.
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