Josephine Butler (activist)

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Josephine Butler
Josephine Butler (activist).jpg
Born(1920-01-24)January 24, 1920
Brandywine, Maryland, U.S.
DiedMarch 29, 1997(1997-03-29) (aged 77)
Washington, D.C., U.S.
EducationStrayer University
OccupationActivist
Spouse(s)Jack Brown

Josephine Dorothy Butler (January 24, 1920 ― March 29, 1997) was an American activist.[1] She co-founded and was chairman of the D.C. Statehood Party.[2]

Early life[]

Butler was born in Brandywine, Maryland on January 24, 1920, one of nine children of African-American tobacco sharecroppers Joseph and Helen Arabelle Jenifer.[1][3] In 1934, Frederick Douglass High School was established in Upper Marlboro, Maryland. However, until the school building was constructed, Butler and other students attended school in shanties in the woods. Local whites were violently opposed to black education, stoning school buses and threatening parents. Butler recalled, "They saw that if we got more education we would go to the city and get better jobs and then white farm owners would have no one to work in their fields." As a result of Butler's school attendance, her father lost work, forcing her mother to work in Washington, DC as a live-in domestic servant.[3] She also attended Strayer University.[1]

Activism and career[]

In 1934, at the age of 14, she moved to Washington, DC, lying about her age to secure work as a laundress.[1] Her husband was a hob carrier. Both began organizing laborers in their respective industries and she organized the first union of black women laundry workers.[3][2][4][5] Late in the 1930s, she heard Paul Robeson and Henry A. Wallace speak. She described it as "like an awakening of something that was dormant."[3]

In the 1940s, she worked in government cafeterias and organized cafeteria workers. She then became a clerk in the United States Veterans Administration. However, she was summarily dismissed in 1949 in a "loyalty" purge. She separated from her husband and moved to Bethesda, Maryland. She later discovered she was blacklisted from further government employment.[3][4]

Butler spent several years in the late 1950s and early 1960s incapacitated with tuberculosis of the kidney. Following her recovery, she volunteered with the District of Columbia Lung Association, who later hired her to design educational programs for school children. In 1967 she organized her co-workers and formed Local 2 of the Office and Professional Employees International Union, making her workplace the first unionized lung association. She retired around 1980.[3][4]

She became an active volunteer with the local Democratic Party, serving as chair of District 15. However, she was disenchanted with the police violence at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago and decided "there was something better I could be doing with my time politically". That was the D. C. Statehood Party, which she co-founded in 1971. She ran for the DC City Council as a party candidate in 1974 and 1976.[4]

She was co-chairman of Friends of Meridian Hill, a group dedicated to rehabilitating Meridian Hill Park in northwest DC. In 1994 she introduced President Bill Clinton at an Earth Day speech in the park. Clinton later awarded Butler the . The next year she organized an Earth Day parade of 4,000 people to the United States Capitol, where she addressed a crowd of 250,000.[4]

Personal[]

She married Jack Brown. They divorced, and she took up the last name Butler.[4]

Death[]

Butler died at in Washington, D.C. on March 29, 1997.[4]

Legacy[]

Josephine Butler Parks Center was named in honor of her life and legacy.[6][7]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c d Swift, Jaimee A. (January 13, 2018). "Josephine Butler and Environmental Activism in Washington, DC". AAIHS. Retrieved May 15, 2021.
  2. ^ a b "Women in History DowntownDC Callbox Tour: Josephine Butler - Union Organizer and Community Activist, 1920-1997". DC Historic Sites. Retrieved May 15, 2021.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Hanrahan, John (May 3, 1979). "A Tribute to Josephine Butler, Activist". Rock Creek Monitor.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Smith, J. Y. (March 30, 1997). "JOSEPHINE BUTLER DIES". Washington Post.
  5. ^ Comstock-Gay, Stu (October 1984). "Reflections from 1984: Interview with Josphine Butler". washingtonsocialist.mdcdsa.org. Retrieved May 15, 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  6. ^ "Josephine Butler". A ROCK, A RIVER, A TREE …….. A PARK FOR ALL PEOPLE!. July 29, 2015. Retrieved May 15, 2021.
  7. ^ "Josephine Butler, 1920-1997". WWP. Retrieved May 15, 2021.
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