March 25, 2025 Linda Lockhart arrived with her family in Charlotte as the schools were desegregating in 1970. Her narrative this morning about her experiences as the first African-American woman hired into the Charlotte Fire Department is difficult to listen to. But overall it's compatible with ... Continue Reading →
Women’s health: Honoring trailblazers, lending encouragement
Jan. 25, 2022 Forum participants today listened to stories describing how meetings over the last year among women focused on women’s overall health have led to a multi-pronged effort, first to recognize leaders in women’s health, and second to provide women ways to find the support they need to ... Continue Reading →
“Legacies”: A new book about Charlotte’s African-American female pioneers
June 25, 2019 Dr. Debra C. Smith is Associate Professor of Africana Studies at UNCC. She detailed the meetings and interviews that produced "Legacies: African-American Female Pioneers" about Charlotte women who led, mostly behind the scenes, during the Civil Rights Movement. Smith said the book ... Continue Reading →
Nursing Amid Racism
Thereasea D. (TD) Elder was on the pilot program to integrate public health nurses in 1960s Charlotte. Her supervisors said that integration was going to happen, the black nurses would have to sell themselves to the public – and then assigned Elder to a neighborhood stronghold of the Ku Klux ... Continue Reading →