May Mann Jennings
Encyclopedia
First Lady
First Lady or First Gentlemanis the unofficial title used in some countries for the spouse of an elected head of state.It is not normally used to refer to the spouse or partner of a prime minister; the husband or wife of the British Prime Minister is usually informally referred to as prime...
of Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
as wife of Florida Governor William Sherman Jennings. She was one of Florida's most powerful and influential women.
Early years
May Mann was born in the Centerville section of Bayonne, New JerseyBayonne, New Jersey
Bayonne is a city in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. Located in the Gateway Region, Bayonne is a peninsula that is situated between Newark Bay to the west, the Kill van Kull to the south, and New York Bay to the east...
. Her parents moved to Crystal River, Florida
Crystal River, Florida
Crystal River is a city in Citrus County, Florida, United States. The population was 3,485 at the 2000 census. . According to the U.S Census estimates of 2005, the city had a population of 3,539. The city was incorporated in 1903 and is the self professed "Home of the Manatee"....
in 1874 where her father, Austin Mann, was elected to the Florida Senate
Florida Senate
The Florida Senate is the upper house of the Florida Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Florida. The Senate is composed of 40 members representing an equal number of districts, with each district having an average population of 470,032....
. Her mother died in 1882 when she was 9, and her father sent May and her older sister away to St. Joseph Academy
St. Joseph Academy (St. Augustine, Florida)
St. Joseph Academy Catholic High School is a private Catholic high school in St. Augustine, Florida. It is located in and administered by the Roman Catholic Diocese of St. Augustine. The oldest Catholic high school in Florida, it was founded in 1866....
in St. Augustine, Florida
St. Augustine, Florida
St. Augustine is a city in the northeast section of Florida and the county seat of St. Johns County, Florida, United States. Founded in 1565 by Spanish explorer and admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, it is the oldest continuously occupied European-established city and port in the continental United...
.
The children spent vacations with their father in Tallahassee
Tallahassee, Florida
Tallahassee is the capital of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat and only incorporated municipality in Leon County, and is the 128th largest city in the United States. Tallahassee became the capital of Florida, then the Florida Territory, in 1824. In 2010, the population recorded by...
when the Legislature
Florida Legislature
The Florida State Legislature is the term often used to refer to the two houses that act as the state legislature of the U.S. state of Florida. The Florida Constitution states that "The legislative power of the state shall be vested in a legislature of the State of Florida," composed of a Senate...
was in session. May was very bright and learned everything she could about people, politics and the Capitol
Florida State Capitol
The Florida State Capitol, in Tallahassee, Florida, USA, is the state capitol of the U.S. state of Florida. The building is an architecturally and historically significant building, having been listed on the National Register of Historic Places....
. She graduated valedictorian of her class in 1889. Austin Mann ran for the state House of Representatives
Florida House of Representatives
The Florida House of Representatives is the lower house of the Florida Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Florida. The House is composed of 120 members representing an equal number of districts, with each district having an average population of 156,677.The House convenes at...
and May assisted in the campaign, hosting teas
Tea (meal)
Tea can refer to any of several different meals or mealtimes, depending on a country's customs and its history of drinking tea. However, in those countries where the term's use is common, the influences are generally those of the former British Empire...
and talking with people at rallies.
Marriage
Mann met Hernando CountyHernando County, Florida
Hernando County is a county located in the U.S. state of Florida. As of 2000, the population was 130,802. The U.S. Census Bureau 2006 estimate for the county is 165,409 . Its county seat is Brooksville, Florida. The majority of the county's population is in Spring Hill, west portion of Hernando...
Judge William Sherman Jennings at her father's home near Brooksville, and a courtship began. May's father won the election and when the legislative session began in January, 1891, May went to Tallahassee to serve as her father's aide, with responsibility for her father's appointments, correspondence and hosting social events. Williams Jennings came to Tallahassee and the courtship continued. Judge Jennings married May Mann on May 12, 1891 and they were escorted down the aisle by the full legislative membership.
The newlyweds lived in Brooksville in the William Sherman Jennings House
William Sherman Jennings House
The William Sherman Jennings House is a historic site in Brooksville, Florida, United States. It is located at 48 Olive Street. On October 22, 1998, it was added to the U.S...
. Her husband William was elected to the Florida legislature in 1893 and became Speaker of the House in 1895. The couple had one child, a son, Sherman Bryan Jennings. William then ran for and was elected governor in 1900. Many credit his meteoric rise in the state Democratic Party
Florida Democratic Party
The Florida Democratic Party is the official organization for Democrats in the state of Florida.-History:The Florida Democratic Party has historically dominated dodo Florida's state and local politics. Florida's Governor's Mansion was closed to Republicans from 1877 until 1967, when Claude R...
to May's extensive knowledge of state politics and politicians and her vast network of Florida Federation of Woman's Club members.
The couple moved to Tallahassee for four years in the Governor’s mansion in 1901. Following her husband’s term as Governor, the couple moved to Jacksonville, then Florida’s largest city, where he established a successful law practice. They divided their time between a home in Jacksonville and a farm and timber holdings in Clay County near Middleburg.
Civic work
Jennings was an organizer of the Duval County Federation of Women's clubs and was president of the Florida Federation of Women's ClubsGeneral Federation of Women's Clubs
The General Federation of Women's Clubs , founded in 1890, is an international women's organization dedicated to community improvement by enhancing the lives of others through volunteer service...
. She used that network of motivated women to fight for issues including environmental conservation
Conservation movement
The conservation movement, also known as nature conservation, is a political, environmental and a social movement that seeks to protect natural resources including animal, fungus and plant species as well as their habitat for the future....
, child welfare, Women's suffrage
Women's suffrage
Women's suffrage or woman suffrage is the right of women to vote and to run for office. The expression is also used for the economic and political reform movement aimed at extending these rights to women and without any restrictions or qualifications such as property ownership, payment of tax, or...
, the State Library of Florida in Tallahassee, reservations
Indian reservation
An American Indian reservation is an area of land managed by a Native American tribe under the United States Department of the Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs...
for the Seminole
Seminole
The Seminole are a Native American people originally of Florida, who now reside primarily in that state and Oklahoma. The Seminole nation emerged in a process of ethnogenesis out of groups of Native Americans, most significantly Creeks from what is now Georgia and Alabama, who settled in Florida in...
s, the establishment of compulsory education
Compulsory education
Compulsory education refers to a period of education that is required of all persons.-Antiquity to Medieval Era:Although Plato's The Republic is credited with having popularized the concept of compulsory education in Western intellectual thought, every parent in Judea since Moses's Covenant with...
, stock fence laws, and state parks
Florida State Parks
The Florida State Parks encompass the majority of the lands that fall under the authority of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. There are 160 such entities, including nature reserves, recreation areas, and historic sites, which can be found in every corner of the state...
. Club women across the state worked in campaign drives, lobbied legislators and appealed to other organizations for assistance.
After she was widowed in 1920, she was co-founder of the Florida chapter of the League of Women Voters
League of Women Voters
The League of Women Voters is an American political organization founded in 1920 by Carrie Chapman Catt during the last meeting of the National American Woman Suffrage Association approximately six months before the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution gave women the right to vote...
. She campaigned and spoke for prohibition
Prohibition
Prohibition of alcohol, often referred to simply as prohibition, is the practice of prohibiting the manufacture, transportation, import, export, sale, and consumption of alcohol and alcoholic beverages. The term can also apply to the periods in the histories of the countries during which the...
, better treatment of children
Children's rights
Children's rights are the human rights of children with particular attention to the rights of special protection and care afforded to the young, including their right to association with both biological parents, human identity as well as the basic needs for food, universal state-paid education,...
and prisoners
Prisoners' rights
The rights of civil and military prisoners are governed by both national and international law. International conventions include: the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; the United Nations' Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners and the European Committee for the...
, education reforms and funding, improvements in public welfare, historic preservation
Historic preservation
Historic preservation is an endeavor that seeks to preserve, conserve and protect buildings, objects, landscapes or other artifacts of historical significance...
and highway beautification
Highway beautification
Highway beautification is landscaping and control of the usage of the land by highways.In the United States, highway beautification is subject the Highway Beautification Act, Section 131 of Title 23, United States Code , commonly referred to as "Title I of the Highway Beautification Act of 1965, as...
.
She was known as the "Mother of Florida Forestry" for her part in promoting and securing the legislative act that created the Florida State Board of Forestry, known today as the Division of Forestry. According to Ruthanne Vogel of the University of Miami
University of Miami
The University of Miami is a private, non-sectarian university founded in 1925 with its main campus in Coral Gables, Florida, a medical campus in Miami city proper at Civic Center, and an oceanographic research facility on Virginia Key., the university currently enrolls 15,629 students in 12...
, "She was...instrumental in the development of Royal Palm State Park near Homestead," later donated to the National Park Service
National Park Service
The National Park Service is the U.S. federal agency that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations...
and incorporated into Everglades National Park
Everglades National Park
Everglades National Park is a national park in the U.S. state of Florida that protects the southern 25 percent of the original Everglades. It is the largest subtropical wilderness in the United States, and is visited on average by one million people each year. It is the third-largest...
.
Honors
- In 1929, Stetson UniversityStetson UniversityStetson University is a private university with four colleges and schools located across the I-4 corridor in Central Florida. The primary undergraduate campus is located in DeLand, Florida, USA. In the 2012 U.S...
awarded her an honoraryHonorary degreeAn honorary degree or a degree honoris causa is an academic degree for which a university has waived the usual requirements, such as matriculation, residence, study, and the passing of examinations...
Doctor of Laws for her tireless civic and political work for a dozen worthy causes. - Was named by the Lakeland LedgerThe LedgerThe Ledger is a daily newspaper serving Lakeland, Florida and the Polk County area. It is owned by The New York Times Company. Jerome Ferson became publisher of the newspaper on July 30, 2007....
as one of the most important Floridians of the 20th century. - May Mann Jennings was designated a Great FloridianGreat FloridiansGreat Floridian is a title bestowed upon citizens in the state of Florida by the Florida Department of State. There were actually two formal programs...
by the Florida Department of State in the Great Floridians 2000 Program. A plaque attesting to the honor is located at the Jennings House in Brooksville. In 2008, she was also honored as a Great Floridian in the revived program. - May Mann Jennings Park, a 33 acres (133,546.4 m²) City of Jacksonville-owned park located in the north part of the city, is named in her honor. It opened in 1940.