Daisy Elizabeth Adams Lampkin
Encyclopedia
Daisy Elizabeth Adams Lampkin (August 9, 1883–March 10, 1965) was an American
suffragette
, civil rights
activist, organization executive, and community practitioner whose career spanned over half a century. Lampkin’s effective skills as an orator, fundraiser, organizer, and political activist guided the work being conducted by the National Association of Colored Women
(NACW); National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
(NAACP); National Council of Negro Women
and other leading civil rights organizations of the Progressive Era
.
. She was the daughter of George Adams born in Virginia & Rose Proctor born in the 1860 in Charles county, Maryland. Daisy's grandparents were Joseph Jenifer Proctor & Elizabeth Swann, free persons of color.
After completing her formal education in the public school system, she relocated to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
in 1909. In 1912, she married William Lampkin, a restaurateur in the Pittsburgh suburbs. It was during this time that Lampkin developed her passion for social justice and civic engagement. Those issues that initially resonated with her were connected to her life as an African-American housewife. Motivated by the suffragette movement of the early twentieth century, Lampkin began hosting local suffragette meetings at her home in 1912. After relocating within the city limits of Pittsburgh, Lampkin became increasingly involved in the local leadership of the suffragist movement. She joined the New Negro Women's Equal Franchise Federation, which would later be renamed the Lucy Stone League
. Lampkin’s early career as a suffragette 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 wome's club movement introduced her to the leadership circles within the federation of women's clubs, the National Association of Colored Women (NACW), in which she served as National Board Chairwoman. During this period she developed collegial friendships with black women's movement leaders such as Addie W. Hutton, 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.
and vice-Chairwoman of the Colored Voters Division of the Republican National Committee
. She established the first 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
. 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.
bill in the United States Congress
. While many historians have noted her involvement in the Button Campaign which derived as a part of efforts to increase awareness around the anti-lynching laws amongst blacks, her political astuteness is often not fully capture in their description of her role. Lampkin's direct involvement within the lobbying efforts on behalf of the bill far surpassed her collection of the $9,378 that she grossed through the button campaign during the Great Depression
. In her description of opposition to the federal bill by white southern anti-lynching activist, Jessie Daniel Ames
, because of its anti-states’ rights stance, notes: "Black women thoroughly disgusted by Ames's stance, called a meeting with her and some of her supporters, in Atlanta in 1935. Daisy Lampkin who had been involved with the confrontation with the National Woman's Party
and who was now a field secretary for the NAACP, began the discussion. The Association of Southern Women for the Prevention of Lynching's (ASWPL) silence, she said, was strengthening the position of congressional opponents of the bill. They "[would] take new courage and they [would] use it to their advantage when they can stand on the floor and say that the…southern white women did not endorse the Costigan-Wagner Bill." While other black leaders such as Nannie Helen Burroughs
and 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.
to become a member of the NAACP's Legal Defense Committee in 1938. Marshall would go on to lead the organization in its successful litigation in Brown vs. the Board of Education
before the U.S. Supreme Court. She was credited with having the most substantial gains in membership among any of the organization's executive leadership. During her last year as National Field Secretary she raised over $1 million dollars 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. 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.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
suffragette
Suffragette
"Suffragette" is a term coined by the Daily Mail newspaper as a derogatory label for members of the late 19th and early 20th century movement for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom, in particular members of the Women's Social and Political Union...
, civil rights
Civil rights movement
The civil rights movement was a worldwide political movement for equality before the law occurring between approximately 1950 and 1980. In many situations it took the form of campaigns of civil resistance aimed at achieving change by nonviolent forms of resistance. In some situations it was...
activist, organization executive, and community practitioner whose career spanned over half a century. Lampkin’s effective skills as an orator, fundraiser, organizer, and political activist guided the work being conducted by the National Association of Colored Women
National Association of Colored Women
The National Association of Colored Women Clubs was established in Washington, D.C., USA, by the merger in 1896 of the National Federation of Afro-American Women, the Women's Era Club of Boston, and the National League of Colored Women of Washington, DC, as well as smaller organizations that had...
(NACW); National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, usually abbreviated as NAACP, is an African-American civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909. Its mission is "to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to...
(NAACP); National Council of Negro Women
National Council of Negro Women
The National Council of Negro Women is a non-profit organization with the mission to advance the opportunities and the quality of life for African American women, their families and communities. NCNW fulfills this mission through research, advocacy, national and community based services and...
and other leading civil rights organizations of the Progressive Era
Progressive Era
The Progressive Era in the United States was a period of social activism and political reform that flourished from the 1890s to the 1920s. One main goal of the Progressive movement was purification of government, as Progressives tried to eliminate corruption by exposing and undercutting political...
.
Early life
Born on August 9, 1883 in Washington D.C., Daisy Elizabeth Adams was educated in Reading, PennsylvaniaReading, Pennsylvania
Reading is a city in southeastern Pennsylvania, USA, and seat of Berks County. Reading is the principal city of the Greater Reading Area and had a population of 88,082 as of the 2010 census, making it the fifth most populated city in the state after Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown and Erie,...
. She was the daughter of George Adams born in Virginia & Rose Proctor born in the 1860 in Charles county, Maryland. Daisy's grandparents were Joseph Jenifer Proctor & Elizabeth Swann, free persons of color.
After completing her formal education in the public school system, she relocated to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh is the second-largest city in the US Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Allegheny County. Regionally, it anchors the largest urban area of Appalachia and the Ohio River Valley, and nationally, it is the 22nd-largest urban area in the United States...
in 1909. In 1912, she married William Lampkin, a restaurateur in the Pittsburgh suburbs. It was during this time that Lampkin developed her passion for social justice and civic engagement. Those issues that initially resonated with her were connected to her life as an African-American housewife. Motivated by the suffragette movement of the early twentieth century, Lampkin began hosting local suffragette meetings at her home in 1912. After relocating within the city limits of Pittsburgh, Lampkin became increasingly involved in the local leadership of the suffragist movement. She joined the New Negro Women's Equal Franchise Federation, which would later be renamed the Lucy Stone League
Lucy Stone League
The Lucy Stone League is a women’s rights organization founded in 1921. Its motto is "My name is the symbol of my identity and must not be lost"...
. Lampkin’s early career as a suffragette 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 wome's club movement introduced her to the leadership circles within the federation of women's clubs, the National Association of Colored Women (NACW), in which she served as National Board Chairwoman. During this period she developed collegial friendships with black women's movement leaders such as Addie W. Hutton, Mary Church Terrell
Mary Church Terrell
Mary Church Terrell , daughter of former slaves, was one of the first African-American women to earn a college degree. She became an activist who led several important associations and worked for civil rights and suffrage....
and Charlotte Hawkins Brown
Charlotte Hawkins Brown
Charlotte Hawkins Brown was an American educator and academic.Born Lottie Hawkins in Henderson, North Carolina, in the late 1880s her family moved north to settle in Cambridge, Massachusetts...
. Still her most noted partnership would come through her association and friendship with Mary McLeod Bethune
Mary McLeod Bethune
Mary Jane McLeod Bethune was an American educator and civil rights leader best known for starting a school for African American students in Daytona Beach, Florida, that eventually became Bethune-Cookman University and for being an advisor to President Franklin D...
, 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 Chairwomen of the Allegheny County Negro Women's Republican League, vice-Chairwoman of the Negro Voters League of PennsylvaniaPennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
and vice-Chairwoman of the Colored Voters Division of the Republican National Committee
Republican National Committee
The Republican National Committee is an American political committee that provides national leadership for the Republican Party of the United States. It is responsible for developing and promoting the Republican political platform, as well as coordinating fundraising and election strategy. It is...
. She established the first 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
Pittsburgh Courier
The Pittsburgh Courier was an American newspaper published in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which was published from 1907 to 1965. Once the country's most widely circulated Black newspaper, the legacy and influence of the Pittsburgh Courier is unparalleled.A pillar of the Black Press, it rose...
, 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
1950s
The 1950s or The Fifties was the decade that began on January 1, 1950 and ended on December 31, 1959. The decade was the sixth decade of the 20th century...
. Lampkin's influence in national politics would eventually take her to the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
to meet with then President Calvin Coolidge
Calvin Coolidge
John Calvin Coolidge, Jr. was the 30th President of the United States . A Republican lawyer from Vermont, Coolidge worked his way up the ladder of Massachusetts state politics, eventually becoming governor of that state...
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 then 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-lynchingLynching
Lynching is an extrajudicial execution carried out by a mob, often by hanging, but also by burning at the stake or shooting, in order to punish an alleged transgressor, or to intimidate, control, or otherwise manipulate a population of people. It is related to other means of social control that...
bill in the United States Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
. While many historians have noted her involvement in the Button Campaign which derived as a part of efforts to increase awareness around the anti-lynching laws amongst blacks, her political astuteness is often not fully capture in their description of her role. Lampkin's direct involvement within the lobbying efforts on behalf of the bill far surpassed her collection of the $9,378 that she grossed through the button campaign during the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
. In her description of opposition to the federal bill by white southern anti-lynching activist, Jessie Daniel Ames
Jessie Daniel Ames
Jessie Daniel Ames was a civil rights activist in the Southern United States. She was one of the first Southern white women to speak out and work publicly against lynching of blacks, which were often done by white men as a misguided act of chivalry to protect their "virtue"...
, because of its anti-states’ rights stance, notes: "Black women thoroughly disgusted by Ames's stance, called a meeting with her and some of her supporters, in Atlanta in 1935. Daisy Lampkin who had been involved with the confrontation with the National Woman's Party
National Woman's Party
The National Woman's Party , was a women's organization founded by Alice Paul in 1915 that fought for women's rights during the early 20th century in the United States, particularly for the right to vote on the same terms as men...
and who was now a field secretary for the NAACP, began the discussion. The Association of Southern Women for the Prevention of Lynching's (ASWPL) silence, she said, was strengthening the position of congressional opponents of the bill. They "[would] take new courage and they [would] use it to their advantage when they can stand on the floor and say that the…southern white women did not endorse the Costigan-Wagner Bill." While other black leaders such as Nannie Helen Burroughs
Nannie Helen Burroughs
Nannie Helen Burroughs, was an African American educator, orator, religious leader, and businesswoman. She gained national recognition for her 1900 speech "How the Sisters Are Hindered from Helping," at the National Baptist Convention. She founded the National Training School for Women and Girls...
and 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, Thurgood MarshallThurgood Marshall
Thurgood Marshall was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, serving from October 1967 until October 1991...
to become a member of the NAACP's Legal Defense Committee in 1938. Marshall would go on to lead the organization in its successful litigation in Brown vs. the Board of Education
Board of education
A board of education or a school board or school committee is the title of the board of directors or board of trustees of a school, local school district or higher administrative level....
before the U.S. Supreme Court. She was credited with having the most substantial gains in membership among any of the organization's executive leadership. During her last year as National Field Secretary she raised over $1 million dollars 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. Lampkin would eventually take on a renewed interest in black women's organizing; assisting the Delta Sigma Theta
Delta Sigma Theta
Delta Sigma Theta is a non-profit Greek-lettered sorority of college-educated women who perform public service and place emphasis on the African American community. Delta Sigma Theta Sorority was founded on January 13, 1913 by twenty-two collegiate women at Howard University...
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.