July 2022 Influential Americans
A diverse range of cultures within our workplace allows for Erie 1 BOCES to create and cultivate an environment that celebrates and capitalizes on our differences. On a larger scale, a country with a diverse range of cultures allows for a society that celebrates and capitalizes on our differences as a people.
This month we are highlighting a few of the countless Americans whose actions, accomplishments, and/or opinions have had a profoundly positive impact on our country, and are part of our American history.
Venette Askounes Ashford (1906 – 1994): “THE JANE ADDAMS OF THE GREEKS”
Venette Askounes Ashford immigrated to Chicago from Filiatra, Greece in 1914. She worked at her brothers’ restaurant across the street from Hull House. After graduating from DePaul University, she volunteered at Hull House, where she became a protégée of Jane Addams. After Venette attended graduate school at the School of Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago, she took a job at the Immigrants Protective League. She devoted herself to helping immigrants for thirty years, while still having time to nurture her three sons and adopted daughter. “The Jane Addams of the Greeks,” as she was known, facilitated the immigration of over 5,000 Greek immigrants, and she and her husband Theodore personally sponsored hundreds of newcomers. Together with a network of volunteers and community members, she helped them find employment and housing, and obtain their citizenship. In 1959, she received a letter of recognition from Mayor Richard Daley for her years of service, beginning in 1932.
“The labor of love for those who come to a strange land can only be provided by a woman like Mrs. Askounes, who understands the need for friendship and help for newcomers to our community. The citizens of our community are grateful to her.”
Source: https://windycitygreekarchive.wordpress.com/2017/03/08/womens-history-greek-american-women/
https://www.fwd.us/news/immigration-facts-the-positive-economic-impact-of-immigration
Octavius V. Catto | Civil Rights Activist | 1839-1871
Known as one of the most influential civil rights activists in Philadelphia during the 19th century, Catto fought for the abolition of slavery and the implementation of civil rights for all. He was prominent in the actions that successfully desegregated Philadelphia's public trolleys and played a major role in the ratification of the Fifteenth Amendment, baring voter discrimination on the basis of race. Catto was only 32 when he was shot and killed outside of his home on South Street in 1871, the first Election Day that African Americans were allowed to vote. In 2017, a monument to Catto was unveiled at Philadelphia's City Hall.
Cecilia Chung, Hong Kong American Civil Rights Activist
Cecilia Chung is an internationally recognized civil rights leader and social justice advocate. Born in Hong Kong in 1965, Chung immigrated to San Francisco in her late teens. Chung, a transgender woman living openly with HIV, currently serves as Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives and Evaluation of Transgender Law Center. Chung was the first transgender woman and first Asian to be elected to lead the Board of Directors of the San Francisco Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Pride Celebration. Through her advocacy and philanthropic work, Chung has established herself as one of the country’s most important voices in anti-discrimination, transgender rights, and HIV/AIDS education and awareness.
Claudette Colvin | Civil Rights Pioneer | 1939-present
Colvin was arrested at the age of 15 for refusing to give up her seat to a white woman, nine months before Rosa Parks' more famous protest. Because of her age, the NAACP chose not to use her case to challenge segregation laws. Despite a number of personal challenges, Colvin became one of the four plaintiffs in the Browder v. Gayle case. The decision in the 1956 case ruled that Montgomery, Alabama's segregated bus system was unconstitutional.
Sharice Davids
A member of the Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin, U.S. Rep. Sharice Davids was a professional athlete, business owner, lawyer, and nonprofit executive before she was elected to Congress in January 2019. As one of the two Indigenous American women serving in Congress, Davids is dedicated to reducing poverty, creating safe working conditions and closing the pay gap for Indigenous women.
Aaron James Fotheringham
Aaron James "Wheelz" Fotheringham was born in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, on November 8, 1991 with a condition known as spina bifida. This debilitating birth defect affects the development of the spine and spinal cord and, as in Aaron’s case, typically results in a loss of mobility.
Although he was unable to walk, Aaron was an active toddler and soon mastered the use of his baby walker and, later, crutches. An adoptee – one of six children – Aaron grew up watching his older brother Brian tearing up the local skatepark on his BMX bike. Not content to merely watch from the sidelines, Aaron finally plucked up enough courage to have a go in his wheelchair. Despite a heavy fall, Aaron dusted himself off and tried again. He was hooked!
Aaron earned his first Guinness World Records certificate in 2008 for landing the first wheelchair backflip, which he did at Doc Romeo skatepark in his home city of Las Vegas. Wheelz continues to wow audiences with his incredible skills in his chair, now traveling the world with fellow extreme sports stars in Nitro Circus. He also engages with his audiences and speaks regularly as a champion of disability sports. “A wheelchair may seem like a barrier for some people. To me, it means freedom!”
Allan Houser
Indigenous sculptor Allan Houser is considered to be among the most influential artists of the 20th century. His parents, members of the Chiricahua Apache tribe, were held as war prisoners for 20 years, and his family tree includes legendary Apache leader Geronimo, who was a first cousin to Houser's father. Houser's career began in 1939, when he was commissioned by the U.S. government to paint murals. He was one of the first Indigenous artists to receive the National Medal of Arts in 1992, and his statue, “Swift Messenger,” sits in President Biden’s Oval Office today.
Jovita Idár
As the proverb goes, when you educate a woman, you educate a family. Jovita Idár believed that wholeheartedly. While working at her father’s newspaper, La Crónica, she used the platform to speak out against racism and in support of women’s and Mexican-Americans’ rights. After writing an article condemning Woodrow Wilson’s decision to send U.S. troops to the border, the Texas Rangers showed up at her door to shut down the paper. But she refused to let them in, literally putting her body between them and the door, and they left. Although the Rangers eventually succeeded in shutting down the paper, Idár continued to stand up for women and Mexican-Americans her entire life. Idár died in San Antonio in 1946, but she lives on in spirit as one of the powerful and influential Latinas throughout history who have changed the world.
Frank Kameny
Frank Kameny is often called the father of the gay rights movement. Fired as part of the “Lavender Scare” in 1958, he picketed the White House in protest of the firing of employees because of their sexuality. He also worked to overturn sodomy laws decades before they entered the public spotlight. He was the first openly gay candidate to run for U.S. Congress and advocated for homosexuality to be removed from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
Gini Laurie (1913-1989)
Virginia Grace Wilson Laurie, or “Gini,” has been called, along with Mary Switzer, one of the “grandmothers” of the independent living movement. Laurie was the editor and guiding force behind the Rehabilitation Gazette: International Journal of Independent Living by and for Persons with a Disability.Laurie was born on 10 June 1913 in St. Louis, Missouri. A year before her birth, an epidemic of poliomyelitis caused the deaths of two of her sisters (for whom she was named) and left an older brother severely disabled.
Under Laurie’s direction, the Gazette published articles on legislation, activism, and what would come to be called the independent living philosophy. She was a leader in calling for greater research into “post-polio syndrome” – a variety of health problems endemic to polio survivors as they age. In 1983, Laurie founded the Gazette International Networking Institute (G.I.N.I.) as an umbrella organization for the variety of networks and publications she had established.
In her later years, Laurie became what Nora Groce called “an elder statesperson” for the disability rights movement.
Sources:
https://post-polio.org/networking/advocacy/independent-living-the-role-of-gini-laurie/ability
Ang Lee, Taiwanese American Filmmaker
Taiwanese American filmmaker Ang Lee has the unique distinction of being the first non-white director to win an Oscar for directing as well as producing and directing Academy Award-winning films performed in Chinese and English. Having been nominated for a total of nine Academy Awards, Lee has won three: Best Foreign Language Film for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) as well as Best Director for Brokeback Mountain (2005) and Life of Pi (2012). Born in Chaozhou, Taiwan, in 1954, Lee came to the U.S. to study film, and he received an MFA from New York University’s Tisch School, where he was a classmate of filmmaker Spike Lee. Ang Lee is considered by many to be among the most accomplished and influential filmmakers of his generation.
Mildred Loving
Many Americans will have heard of Mildred Loving, as she and her husband (and co-plaintiff) Richard battled the ban against interracial marriage in the super-charged case of Loving v. Virginia. What many Americans may not know is that Mildred Loving was of Black and Indigenous descent. The Lovings took their case to the Supreme Court in 1967 and won, legalizing interracial marriage across the nation. In order to exclusively focus on the white–Black binary that was dominating American discourse around race, coverage of the Loving v. Virginia case—as well as the 2016 film “Loving”—left out Mildred Loving’s multiracial heritage.
Charlie Parker
One of the most prolific jazz musicians of our time, Charlie “Yardbird” Parker was a renowned saxophonist whose bebop style left a lasting effect on American culture. Born to a Black father and an Indigenous mother, the Kansas City native would go on to collaborate with the likes of Miles Davis and Dizzy Gillespie. The Grammy-award winner's influence on the jazz art form was undeniable, and in 2021, the American Jazz Museum committed to celebrating his legacy by raising funds for youth activities and enhanced programming. Parker's iconic works of art will be digitized and preserved by the museum for future generations.
Susan La Flesche Picotte
Born on Nebraska’s Omaha reservation in 1865, Susan La Flesche Picotte was young when she first saw a sick Indigenous community member suffer and die while waiting for a white doctor. By pursuing a Euro-American education while honoring the customs of her people, La Flesche Picotte battled backlash and became the first Indigenous person to earn a medical degree. She defied the odds again in 1913 when she opened the Omaha reservation's first hospital. La Flesche Picotte died in 1915, and she was commemorated on her deathbed for bridging the gap between her Indigenous roots and her Euro-American medical education.
Phillis Wheatley
Phillis Wheatley was a revolutionary intellectual who waged a war for freedom with her words. Captured as a child in West Africa, then taken to North America and enslaved, Wheatley had an unusual experience in bondage: Her owners educated her and supported her literary pursuits. In 1773, at around age 20, Wheatley became the first African American and third woman to publish a book of poetry in the young nation. Shortly after, her owners freed her.
Influential colonists read Wheatley’s poems and lauded her talent. Her work, which reflected her close knowledge of the ancient classics as well as Biblical theology, carried strong messages against slavery and became a rallying cry for Abolitionists: “Remember, Christians, Negroes, black as Cain, /May be refin’d and join th’ angelic train.” She also advocated for independence, artfully expressing support for George Washington’s Revolutionary War in her poem, “To His Excellency, General Washington.” Washington, who himself had been forced to end his formal education at age 11, appreciated Wheatley’s support and extolled her talent. The commander even invited her to meet, explaining he would “be happy to see a person so favored by the Muses.”
Dr. Chien-Shiung Wu, Chinese American Nuclear Physicist
Known as the “Chinese Marie Curie” and the “Queen of Nuclear Research,” Dr. Wu was born in Jiangsu Province, China, in 1912, and moved to the U.S. in 1939 to pursue her Ph.D. at the University of California, Berkeley. As an experimental physicist, Dr. Wu made significant contributions to the study of nuclear physics, and as a member of the research staff at Columbia University, she played a critical role in the Manhattan Project, the research and development consortium led by the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom that created the first nuclear weapons. Dr. Wu was the recipient of the inaugural Wolf Prize in Physics and was the first woman to serve as president of the American Physical Society.
Hubert (Hubie) Jones
Art and community go hand in hand. Hubert Jones saw this at the age of 69 when he founded the Boston Children’s Chorus in 2003. The nonprofit organization includes young people of different ages, races, ethnicities, and socioeconomic backgrounds and combines artistic achievement with social change.
The group has performed around the world and continues to harness the power of music to connect individuals in communities.
Back to Search