A CELEBRATION FOR EVERYONE

For my people standing staring

trying to fashion a better way from confusion,

from hypocrisy and misunderstanding,

trying to fashion a world that will hold all the people,

all the faces, all the adams and eves and their countless generations;

Let a new earth rise.

Let another world be born.

Let a bloody peace be written in the sky.

Let a second generation full of courage issue forth;

let a people loving freedom come to growth.

Let a beauty full of healing and a strength of final clenching

be the pulsing in our spirits and our blood.

-- Margaret Walker, 1937

The accomplishments of black women ought to be celebrated not only by black women, not just by black people and not only by women, Sally Irvine says.

"These women are everybody's heritage. They are your heritage and my heritage too," she says. "Just like black people have a heritage in Shakespeare."

Irvine is the director of a new University Museum project which celebrates the creativity and influence of African American women through American history. Central to the museum's observance of Black History Month in February will be the Smithsonian Institution's exhibit titled "Black Women: Achievements Against the Odds."

The exhibit, which will open at 1 p.m. Sunday, divides the accomplishments of African-American women into 13 categories: Religion, military, civil rights, art, education, labor, journalism, business, government and politics, music, law, civil rights movement, and dance, theater and entertainment.

The 20 large panels provide a chronology of little-known noteworthy firsts: Lucy Terry (Prince), America's first slave poetess; Maria Stewart, the first black woman to lecture against slavery; or Mary Ann Shadd Cary, who in 1853 became the first black American woman to edit a newspaper.

These are figures most people don't know about but they are given equal billing alongside the accomplishments of Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth and Mahalia Jackson.

The exhibit recognizes that "great things happen with small steps," Irvine says.

"...Change comes over the continuing course of history. This has been going on a long, long time.

As part of the project, poetry and literature by black women will be read by community members Feb. 17 at St. James AME Church. Among the writers whose work will be read are Phillis Wheatley, Sojourner Truth, Gwendolyn Brooks, Toni Morrison and Nikki Giovanni.

On Feb. 18, Columbia-based scholar Dr. Shirley Jordan will present a lecture about African-American women writers, many of whom remain unsung. The lecture will be at 3 p.m. at the museum.

Black History Month also will offer a series of films to be shown at the Museum Feb. 27-29. They are "Wild Women Don't Have the Blues," "Last Breeze of Summer" and "Two Dollars and a Dream." The last is a profile of Madame C.J. Walker, who created a cosmetics empire and was the first black American millionairess.

The series will be moderated by Steven Hoffman, who teaches African-American history at the university.

This copy of the Smithsonian exhibit was donated to the University Museum permanently. Irvine simply told the Smithsonian the museum had no money to buy the masterful work of artistry and scholarship. "It's amazing what you can get when you just ask," she said.

A $1,900 grant from the Missouri Humanities Council helped support the project.

A corollary exhibit will recognize local black women of achievement. Among them are: Dr. Dorothy Hardy, a poet, civil rights activist and educator; Ethel Bollinger (deceased), an evangelist, teacher and literacy advocate; the Rev. JoAnna McCauley, an evangelist, musicians and broadcaster; Dr. Bernice Coar-Cobb, an educator; Charlotte Wade, a nurse and one of the first black nursing graduates; Helen Carter, a teacher who was among Southeast's first black graduates; Juanita Spicer, an educator, civil rights activist and literacy advocate; Dr. Diane Hall, a dentist; and Alma Staten, an entrepreneur, restaurateur and nurse.

Also: Mae Sherwood, an educator; Lucille Cassell, an inventor and entrepreneur; Martha Middlebrook (deceased), a member of the armed forces; Mae Randol, a teacher and musician; Rosanne Squires (deceased), a nurse and among the first black nursing graduates in Cape Girardeau; Myrtle Shepherd (deceased), an educator and civil rights activist; Sarah Hale, an entrepreneur and cosmetologist; Costella Patterson, an educator, civil rights activist and church leader; Marie Walker, a social worker, civil rights activist and educator; and Cynthia Lambert (deceased), a church leader, teacher and educator.

Those who visit the exhibit will have an opportunity to nominate other local women they think are deserving.

"I want this to appeal to everybody so they can see they're invested in this as well," Irvine says. "It's something we all ought to celebrate."