Episode 27: Jane Edna Hunter
Jane Edna Hunter was born on December 13, 1882, at Woodburn Farm, South Carolina. When she was 14 she went to school and she graduated in 1900 with an 8th-grade education. She then attended nursing schools and at 23 years old she moved to Cleveland, Ohio. There she found nowhere to live or work as a nurse. She dreamed of starting a shelter for single black ladies like herself. Then through a church connection, she met the office secretary of John D. Rockefeller’s doctor. That led her to nursing jobs and social connections that helped her out of poverty and start investing in her dream community center. In 1911, she founded the Working Girls Association, a boarding home for 10 black women like herself. That same year she bought a two-story building and changed the name to the Phillis Wheatley Home. Just a few short years later the association got a three-story building to house 75 people. Then in 1919, they purchased the building next door and turned it into a school of music and a space for social and educational activities. She wrote her autobiography A Nickel and Prayer in 1940 and retired 7 years later. By that time there were Phillis Wheatley Houses in Ohio, Connecticut, Illinois, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Minnesota. After retirement, she started the Phillis Wheatley Foundation, a scholarship fund for African American high school graduates. And later, the foundation started the Jane Edna Hunter Scholarship Fund. Before she died she left instructions in her will to leave a majority of her estate to the PWF scholarship fund. She passed away in Cleveland, Ohio on January 19, 1971.
Caryatid: Women Leading the Fight for Housing in Brazil
Brazil has dozens of groups fighting for government-supported housing, such as Front for Housing Struggles, Homeless Workers Movement, and the National Housing Struggle Movement to name a few and the leaders of most of these groups are women. Their mission is to help the working class through housing policies of social interest with urban reform. They also advocate for access to services and education. The organizations work to secure permission and funding to repurpose these abandoned spaces into affordable housing. They focus on finding vacant buildings in downtown areas of large cities because there, people have access to services, schools, jobs, hospitals, and work.
References
“Jane Edna Hunter (U.S. National Park Service).” National Park Service, National Park Service, www.nps.gov/people/jane-edna-hunter.htm#:%7E:text=At%2017%2C%20she%20married%2057,hoped%20would%20support%20the%20family. Accessed 1 May 2021.
Kaplan, Jenny. “Local Legends: Jane Edna Hunter” Encyclopedia Wommanica from Wonder Media Network. 16 Dec 2020. https://wondermedianetwork.com/encyclopedia-womannica
Kyriacopoulos, K. (2009, January 02). Jane Edna Hunter (1882-1971). BlackPast.org. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/hunter-jane-edna-1882-1971/
Osava, Mario. “Women Lead the Fight for Housing in Brazil.” Inter Press Service, 8 Mar. 2018, www.ipsnews.net/2018/03/women-lead-fight-housing-brazil.
Robertson, David. “What Does the Brazilian Constitution Say About Housing Rights?” RioOnWatch, 18 May 2018, www.rioonwatch.org/?p=25334#:%7E:text=Article%20422%20provides%20a%20confirmation,%2C%20health%2C%20education%20and%20energy.
Tabler, Dave. “New Documentary Film: The Jane Edna Harris Hunter Story.” Appalachian History.Net, 4 Nov. 2014, www.appalachianhistory.net/2014/11/new-documentary-film-jane-edna-harris-hunter-story.html.
Trickey, Erick. “Lost to History.” Cleveland Magazine, 22 July 2010, clevelandmagazine.com/in-the-cle/politics/articles/lost-to-history.
Wikipedia contributors. “Jane Edna Hunter.” Wikipedia, 26 Jan. 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jane_Edna_Hunter.
Women in History. Jane Edna Hunter biography. Last Updated: 2/20/2013. Women In History Ohio.
<http://www.womeninhistoryohio.com/jane-edna-hunter.html>
---. “Woodburn (Pendleton, South Carolina).” Wikipedia, 26 Apr. 2021, en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodburn_(Pendleton,_South_Carolina)#cite_note-Null-13.
---. “Woodburn (Pendleton, South Carolina).” Wikipedia, 26 Apr. 2021, en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodburn_(Pendleton,_South_Carolina)#cite_note-Null-13.
Images
Starzky, Edith. “Jane Edna Hunter”. Cleaveland.com 12 Jan 2019. https://www.cleveland.com/pdextra/2012/01/jane_edna_hunter_founded_wheat.html
Tabler, Dave. “Jane Edna Hunter” Appalachian History.Net, 4 Nov. 2014, https://www.appalachianhistory.net/2014/11/new-documentary-film-jane-edna-harris-hunter-story.html
Wikipedia contributors. “Phyllis Wheatley Club” Wikipedia, 26 Apr. 2021, Wikipedia, 26 Jan. 2021, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phillis_Wheatley_Club
Phillis Wheatley Association. Cleveland Historical, accessed Apr 30, 2021, https://clevelandhistorical.org/items/show/19.
