Bess Bolden Walcott

Bess Bolden Walcott (1886-1988) was an American educator, librarian, museum curator and activist who helped establish the historical significance of the Tuskegee University. Recruited by Booker T. Washington to help him coordinate his library and teach science, she remained at the institute until 1962, but continued her service into the 1970s. Throughout her fifty-four year career at Tuskegee, she organized Washington's library, taught science and English at the institute, served as founder and editor of two of the major campus publications, directed public relations, established the Red Cross chapter, curated the George Washington Carver collection and museum and assisted in Tuskegee being placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Bess Bolden Walcott
Born
Bessie Adeline Bolden

(1886-11-04)November 4, 1886
Xenia, Greene County, Ohio
DiedApril 18, 1988(1988-04-18) (aged 101)
Tuskegee, Macon County, Alabama
NationalityAmerican
Other namesBess B. Walcott
Occupationeducator, librarian, curator and activist
Years active1908-1970
Known forestablishing the Red Cross chapter at Tuskegee Institute

In addition to her work at the school, Walcott was an active suffragist and member of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, serving in the early 1960s as the national vice president of the organization. Walcott was recognized for her contributions to the state of Alabama in 2003, when she was inducted into the Alabama Women's Hall of Fame.

Early life

Bessie Adeline Bolden was born on November 4, 1886 in Xenia, Ohio to Fannie A. (née Bizzell) and William P. Bolden.[1][2][3][4] Around 1900, the family moved to Painesville in Lake County.[4][5] In June, 1908, Bolden graduated from Oberlin College and secured employment at Tuskeegee Institute.[6][7]

Career

Bolden began her career as a science teacher at Tuskeegee[6] and helped Booker T. Washington organize his library.[1] In 1911, she married William Holbrook Walcott, who was also a professor at the Institute.[8][9] In 1918, she began teaching English at the high school of the Institute.[10] That same year, she pushed for the charter for a Red Cross chapter at Tuskegee. It would be the first black chapter granted in the United States. While Walcott was not the chairman, as executive director she was the driving force behind the organization. The initial chairman was Robert Russa Moton and the vice presidency was shared by Moton's wife Jennie and Booker T. Washington′s wife, Margaret. Jennie, Margaret and Walcott also were members of the Tuskegee Woman's Club.[11] The club was active in the suffrage movement and when women earned the right to vote, Walcott and three friends immediately went to register to vote.[12]

Walcott's Red Cross work kept her extremely busy, assisting in the war effort as well as the 1918 flu pandemic.[10][11] In 1931, Walcott transferred to the principal's office, where she directed the school’s press service and worked with newspaper publicity.[10] She also founded and edited two of the largest campus publications,[13] the Tuskegee Messenger and Service. During the Great Depression, Walcott led the Red Cross chapter's effort to distribute food and goods to poverty-stricken black farm families with grant funds secured from the national chapter.[1] In 1936, she chaired the 40th anniversary celebration committee in honor of George Washington Carver's work at Tuskegee.[13]

In 1941, during World War II, Walcott became the first African American to serve as an Acting Field Director for the Red Cross.[14][13] Between 1942 and 1946, she served as the Public Relations Director of Tuskegee[13] and much of her work focused on chronicling the development and reputation of the Tuskegee Airmen.[14] To promote the war effort, Walcott traveled extensively and sold war bonds. In 1946, she was reappointed as the Acting Field Director, serving until 1947. Her duties in the post required that she oversee aid to returning veterans and assist with training of Red Cross volunteers.[13] During the same period, she joined the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), along with other noted African American women leaders like, Sadie Sawyer Hughley, Shirley Chisholm, Coretta Scott King, and many others.[15]

In 1947, Walcott and her husband divorced, after having had four children.[9] She served as the curator of The George Washington Carver Museum between 1951 and 1962,[16] when she retired from Tuskegee.[1] In 1962, Walcott was elected as the national vice president of WILPF and went as the American delegate to the 15th Triennial Congress held in San Francisco.[1] She also participated in lectures for WILPF, speaking at events on Civil Rights, such as the conference held in Estes Park, Colorado in 1963, where she presented a lecture Next Steps Toward Integration, North and South.[17]

Between 1964 and 1965, Walcott traveled to Liberia, acting as a consultant for the proposed Tubman Centre of African Culture. William Tubman, President of Liberia and namesake of the center, honored her as a knight of the Humane Order of African Redemption.[1] At Tuskegee, she meticulously gathered and conserved artistic and historic materials created by Carver, including his correspondence. Her preservation efforts documented the pivotal role Tuskegee played in both the state and national history, preparing the path for the Tuskegee Institute’s designation as a National Historic Landmark in 1965.[1] Walcott's work as a curator of the museum led to its becoming a National Park Service site[18] and in the 1970s, she assisted the Park Service in the restoration of Booker T. Washington′s home, The Oaks.[1]

Death and legacy

Walcott died on April 18, 1988 in Tuskegee, Macon County, Alabama.[1] In 2003, she was inducted into the Alabama Women's Hall of Fame for her contributions in the state and her profession.[18]

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References

Citations
  1. National Women's History Museum 2010.
  2. Greene County Ohio Marriages 1885, p. 425.
  3. Xenia Daily Gazette 1910, p. 14.
  4. U.S. Census 1900, p. 125-A.
  5. U.S. Census 1910, p. 4-A.
  6. Xenia Daily Gazette 1908, p. 10.
  7. Oberlin College Archives 2012.
  8. Xenia Daily Gazette 1911, p. 10.
  9. Gates & Higginbotham 2008, p. 47.
  10. Hall 1932, p. 90.
  11. Lane 2001, p. 250.
  12. Alexander 1995, p. 94.
  13. Alabama Women's Hall of Fame 2005.
  14. The Tuskegee News & March 6, 2003, p. A-2.
  15. Blackwell 2004, p. 146.
  16. The Tuskegee News & March 13, 2003, p. A-5.
  17. The Sunday Oak Leaves 1963, p. 29.
  18. The Tuscaloosa News 2003.

Bibliography
  • Alexander, Adele Logan (1995). "Adella Hunt Logan, the Tuskegee Woman's Club, and African Americans in the Suffrage Movement". In Wheeler, Marjorie Spruill (ed.). Votes for Women!: The Woman Suffrage Movement in Tennessee, the South, and the Nation. Knoxville, Tennessee: University of Tennessee Press. pp. 71–104. ISBN 978-0-87049-837-4.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Blackwell, Joyce (2004). No Peace Without Freedom: Race and the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, 1915-1975. Carbondale, Illinois: Southern Illinois University Press. ISBN 978-0-8093-2564-1.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Gates, Henry Louis; Higginbotham, Evelyn Brooks (2008). African American National Biography. I. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-516019-2.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)  – via Oxford University Press's Reference Online (subscription required)
  • Hall, Dorothy, ed. (December 1932). "News of Alumni". The Oberlin Alumni Magazine. Oberlin, Ohio: The Alumni Association of Oberlin College. 29 (3): 90. Retrieved 23 January 2017.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Lane, Linda Rochell (2001). A documentary of Mrs. Booker T. Washington. Lewiston, New York: Edwin Mellen Press. ISBN 978-0-7734-7449-9.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • "1900 United States Census: Painesville, Lake County, Ohio". FamilySearch. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration. 6 June 1900. NARA T623 roll 1291. Retrieved 22 January 2017.
  • "1910 United States Census: Painesville, Lake County, Ohio". FamilySearch. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration. 20 April 1910. NARA T624 roll 1203. Retrieved 22 January 2017.
  • "Alabama Women's Hall of Fame honors two". The Tuscaloosa News. Tuscaloosa, Alabama. March 6, 2003. Archived from the original on 23 January 2017. Retrieved 23 January 2017.
  • "Bess Bolden Walcott (1886-1988)". AWHF. Marion, Alabama: Alabama Women's Hall of Fame. 2005. Archived from the original on 26 November 2016. Retrieved 23 January 2017.
  • "Colored Society". Xenia, Ohio: Xenia Daily Gazette. August 15, 1908. Retrieved 22 January 2017 – via Newspaperarchive.com.
  • "Colored Society". Xenia, Ohio: Xenia Daily Gazette. June 8, 1910. Retrieved 22 January 2017 – via Newspaperarchive.com.
  • "Colored Society". Xenia, Ohio: Xenia Daily Gazette. June 15, 1911. Retrieved 22 January 2017 – via Newspaperarchive.com.
  • "Marriage records 1881-1886 vol 8: Bolden/Bizzell". FamilySearch. Xenia, Ohio: Greene County Ohio Courthouse. 9 April 1885. Film #535127, image #254. Retrieved 22 January 2017.
  • "Mrs. Ernest Huggins Attends Meeting for Peace and Freedom". Oak Park, Illinois: The Sunday Oak Leaves. June 30, 1963. Retrieved 23 January 2017 – via Newspaperarchive.com.
  • "'Negro Graduates of Oberlin College', 1844-1972". Oberlin College Archives. Oberlin, Ohio: Oberlin College Library. 2012. Archived from the original on 21 July 2016. Retrieved 23 January 2017.
  • "Tribute to Bess Bolden Walcott". National Women's History Museum. Alexandria, Virginia. 2010. Archived from the original on 29 July 2016. Retrieved 22 January 2017.
  • "TU to celebrate Tuskegee women through several March programs". Tuskegee, Alabama: The Tuskegee News. March 6, 2003. Archived from the original on 23 January 2017. Retrieved 23 January 2017.
  • "Tuskegee's Red Cross Chapter founder Walcott in Alabama Women's Hall of Fame". Tuskegee, Alabama: The Tuskegee News. March 13, 2003. Archived from the original on 23 January 2017. Retrieved 23 January 2017.
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