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Speaking of inspiration, March is Women's History Month with the theme this year of Moving Forward Together: Women Educating & Inspiring Generations. At our next branch meeting on Monday, March 17, Dr. Joni K. Roberts, an Assistant Professor in Cal Poly's Kinesiology and Public Health Department, will be the main presenter. She will talk about her career path as a health educator and researcher. At the start of the meeting, we will also hear from Lynn S. Janeway Memorial Scholarship recipient and Cal Poly student Karina Saldivar. Both Joni and Karina have a DEI focus to their career interests, which is so important in these challenging times. Please come out and support them!
I am happy to report that due to the efforts of Gail Wakefield we are planning a new interest group: Women's Movie Night. The first Movie Night is planned for Friday, May 16 at 6:30 pm at DD Patrick's house, so mark your calendars now! The Six Triple Eight is the movie selection. It tells the true story of the all-Black 6888 Central Post Battalion of the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps. This group of 800+ army personnel and officers was assigned to Europe in 1945 and tasked with sorting and delivering the huge, three-year backlog of mail to soldiers that had accumulated.
In particular, and in honor of Women's History Month and its theme, I want to highlight two women depicted in the film. First, the commanding officer, Capt. Charity Adams (1918-2002). After her service, "[s]he devoted the rest of her life to education and activism, serving as a dean at Tennessee Agricultural & Industrial State College (now Tennessee State University) and Georgia State College (now Savannah State University)." On April 27, 2023, Fort Lee, Virginia was officially renamed Fort Gregg-Adams in honor of African American army officers Lt. Gen. Arthur Gregg and Lt. Col. Charity Adams.
And second, the educator and first Black woman founder and president of a college (Bethune-Cookman University), Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune (1875-1955). "[H]er most notable contribution occurred in 1935 when President Franklin D. Roosevelt called her to Washington. He had asked Bethune to serve as a Special Advisor to the National Youth Administration. He was so impressed with her work that the following year, he created her own department within the agency and appointed the sixty-one year old Bethune its Director of the Division of Negro Affairs, at which time she became the first African American woman to head a federal agency."
As you read more about them, I hope you are inspired by their stories. In closing, let me leave you with a very simple quote by Mary McLeod Bethune that nicely ties into the Women's History Month's theme, while also highlighting why our own involvement with AAUW is meaningful and what we seek to instill in the students we support.
Enter to learn; depart to serve.
Debra Valencia-Laver
President
