Stacey Abrams

1973-present

Birthplace: Madison, Wisconsin

• Lawyer

• Voting Rights Activist

• Politician

• Author

• Served in the Georgia House of Representatives

• Founder of “Fair Fight”

Abrams’ parents participated in civil rights movements and advocated for their six children to participate in education and civic engagement. She grew up in Wisconsin, Mississippi and Georgia as a child. Both her parents became ordained Methodist ministers while Abrams was in high school.

In 1991 Abrams was chosen as valedictorian of her high school and invited to the annual valedictorians’ reception. Abrams and her parents traveled by bus to the governor’s mansion. At the security gate the guard told them to leave thinking they did not belong. This mistake was eventually corrected but the experience stuck with her. She says she doesn’t remember meeting the governor or the other valedictorians that day. All she remembered was a man at the gate telling her she didn’t belong. She would never let someone make her feel out of place again.

Abrams attended Spelman College, an all women's HBCU (historically Black college or university). While there she led protests against the Rodney King verdict, co-founded a group called the “Students for African American Empowerment” and attended protests in support of removing the Confederate flag from places of honor.

She graduated “magna cum laude'' with a B.A. in interdisciplinary studies (political science, economics, and sociology). Abrams then earned a master’s degree from Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin, and a Juris Doctor degree from Yale Law School. Returning to Atlanta as a tax attorney, she was later appointed the Deputy City Attorney for Atlanta at age 29.

In 2006 Abrams was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives. In 2010 she became the House Minority leader – the first African American woman to do so in Georgia. She began advocating to increase educational opportunity, economic security, criminal justice reform, expanded Medicare and pushed for better understanding of mental illness. In 2013 while still a member of the Georgia House, she created a voter registration non-profit called The New Georgia Project, helping to complete 86,000 new voter applications.

Running for governor of Georgia in 2018 she lost by 55,000 votes, but again made history as the first African American woman to receive a major party’s nomination for governor. Allegations of voter suppression, particularly those targeted at the votes of African Americans during that election made Abrams vow she would not let voter suppression or lack of turnout affect the outcome of another race.

Abrams continues to advocate for and help with voter registration and founded Fair Fight in 2018. Fair Fight is an organization created to address the issues of voter suppression. Stacey Abrams is credited with being one of the major reasons for the Democratic wins in Georgia in the 2020 Presidential and Senate races. She ran for governor again in 2022 but was defeated.

She continues to be the face of voting advocacy around the country focusing on young voters and voters of color.

Her documentary is an important watch:

All In: The Fight For Democracy (2020)

Abrams was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. She is an author of nonfiction, fiction, romance and children’s literature.

Stacey was fun to create. I found the perfect wool for her hair. The suit was made using pre felt wool. Her "Fair Fight" board was created by the talented bead artist Kim Boeckman who owns the Urban Bead Gallery.

"My being a black woman is not a deficit. It is a strength. Because I could not be where I am had I not overcome so many other barriers. Which means you know I'm relentless, you know I'm persistent, and you know I'm smart. " – Stacey Abrams

#Blackhistorymonth #Blackhistorymonth2023 #Staceyabrams #thewomen #fairfight #needlefelt #needlefeltingartist

Sources:

womenshistory.org

Fair Fight

National women’s history museum

Encyclopedia Britannica

Georgia.gov

Kamala Harris

1964-present

Birthplace: Oakland, California

• District Attorney, San Francisco, California

• Attorney General, State Of California.

• United States Senator - California

• Author

• 49th Vice President - United States of America

Vice President Kamala Harris was born in Oakland, California to immigrant parents. Her father came from Jamaica and her mother from India. Her parents exposed her to activism and civil rights demonstrations early on. When Harris was introduced to Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and the Honorable Constance Baker Motley, the first African American woman to be appointed federal judge, she knew she wanted to become a prosecutor.

Harris graduated from Howard University and University of California Hastings College of Law.

In 1990 she joined the Alameda County District Attorney’s Office specializing in prosecuting child sexual assault cases. She moved to managing attorney in the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office and then chief of the Division of Children and Families for the San Francisco Attorney’s Office.

Harris was elected District Attorney of San Francisco in 2003, becoming the first woman to hold that position.

Seven years later, Harris was elected California’s Attorney General and oversaw the largest state justice department in the US. She did this as the first African American woman and South Asian American woman to hold the office.

In 2017 she became United States Senator Kamala Harris representing California.

On August 11, 2020 Harris accepted President Joe Biden’s invitation to become his running mate. She is the first woman, the first Black American, and the first South Asian American to be elected Vice President.

Vice President Harris is the author of several books: Smart on Crime: A Career Prosecutor’s Plan to Make Us Safer.

In 2019 The Truths We Hold: An American Journey about her career highlights and personal philosophy, along with an illustrated children’s book Superheroes Are Everywhere .

Vice President Kamala Harris shattered the glass ceiling for women. A closer study of the above image and you will note that Harris would have been enslaved under Vice President Andrew Johnson’s regime. (red) She would not have had the right to vote under Vice President Calvin Coolidge. (blue) She would have endured segregation under Vice President Richard Nixon (yellow) and could not have had her own bank account under Vice President Spiro Agnew. (green)

A hat tip to Vice President Kamala Harris. Her example inspired me to needle felt her likeness. The fact that a woman REGARDLESS of political affiliation was being sworn in to the second highest position in the USA was going to happen with very little celebration was very sad to me as a woman. I spent three days and nights creating her. I was felting simple little black shoes on her feet as she was being sworn in so I could post her on Inauguration Day January 20, 2021.

I choose the black pearl necklace Harris is wearing to honor her mother. Harder than white pearls, black pearls signal the “fighting spirit” the Vice President credited to her mother. The history of how they won esteem despite centuries of bias favoring white pearls is a trajectory shared by women — especially those of color — who aspire to high political office. Her blue suite is made of pre felt fabric, as pictured below.

Her hair is made of alpaca, including highlights which I source from the Alpaca farm: Alpacas of the Heartland LLC in Fort Calhoun, NE.

“What I want young women and girls to know is: You are powerful and your voice matters. You’re going to walk into many rooms in your life and career where you may be the only one who looks like you or who has had the experiences you’ve had. But you remember that when you are in those rooms, you are not alone. We are all in that room with you applauding you on. Cheering your voice. And just so proud of you. So you use that voice and be strong.” – Kamala Harris

#Blackhistorymonth #Blackhistorymonth2023 #kamalaharris #womenshistory #thewomen #needlefeltart

#needlefeltingartist

Sources:

The White House.gov

senate.gov

nationalwomenshistory.org

Encyclopedia Britannica

Ruby Bridges

1954-present

Birthplace: Tylertown, Mississippi

• First African American student to desegregate an all-white school at 6 years old

• Civil Rights Activist

• Author

• Recipient United States Presidential Citizens Medal 2001

Ruby’s birth year coincided with the US Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in Brown v. The Board of Education of Topeka Kansas, which ended racial segregation in public schools.

Southern states continued to resist integration and in 1959 Ruby attended a segregated New Orleans kindergarten. A year later, a federal court ordered Louisiana to desegregate. The school district created entrance exams for African American students to see whether they could compete academically at the all-white school. Ruby, along with five other students passed the exam.

Her parents were worried about sending Ruby to the all-white William Frantz Elementary School, which was a few blocks from their home. Her father was concerned for her safety. Her mother wanted her daughter to have the educational opportunities they had been denied. Of the five other students that passed the exam 2 decided to stay in the school they were in. Three others went to another all-white school.

On her first day of school, Ruby and her mother were escorted by four federal marshals to the school and every day that year in 1960. Ruby didn’t understand what was going on as she walked into the school. She thought with all the yelling and excitement of the crowd it must be like Mardi Gras. Ruby's teacher, Mrs Henry, was brought in from Boston to teach her. Some families supported Ruby and her family. Northerners sent money in support. Segregationists withdrew their children permanently. Others protested. She was in a class of one, eating lunch every day alone or with her teacher. Over time other Black students enrolled.

The Bridges family suffered for their bravery. Ruby's father lost his job and her mother was refused service at grocery stores. Even her crop-sharing grandparents were evicted from the farm they had lived on for a quarter-century.

Ruby was the subject of Norman Rockwell's painting The Problem We All Live With 1964 which hung on display in the West Wing outside the Oval Office of the White House in 2011 during President Barack Obamas' presidency.

After graduating from a desegregated high school, Ruby became a travel agent, married, and had four sons. She also went on to write about her experiences as a child in two books.

A lifelong racial equality activist, Ruby established The Ruby Bridges Foundation to promote tolerance and change through education in 1999,

I chose to needle felt Ruby in her white dress and school supplies in hand as this is the iconic image of her facing down white hatred. The most difficult part of this reincarnation was trying to get Ruby to appear to be walking, like the portrait. I found a miniature book and clip board, a small piece of shim cut out worked well to paint and mark as a ruler. I felted her lunch bag.

Ruby at age 6 walking into school.

“Don't follow the path. Go where there is no path and begin the trail. When you start a new trail equipped with courage, strength and conviction, the only thing that can stop you is you!” – Ruby Bridges

#Blackhistorymonth #Blackhistorymonth2023 #Rubybridges #history #thewomen #needlefelting #needlefeltingartist

Sources:

womenshistory.org

Encyclopedia Britannica

rubybridges.com

PBS

NPR