Anna Stonum
{{short description|American disability rights activist}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Anna Stonum
| image = AnnaStonum1975.png
| alt = A young white woman with long straight sandy-colored hair parted center
| caption = Anna Stonum, from the 1975 yearbook of North High School, Granite City
| other_names =
| birth_name = Anna Marie Stonum
| birth_date = October 14, 1958
| birth_place = Granite City, Illinois
| death_date = February 6, 1999 (age 40)
| death_place = Chicago, Illinois
| occupation = Artist, disability rights activist
| years_active =
| known_for =
| notable_works =
| spouse(s) =
| relatives =
}}
Anna Marie Stonum (October 14, 1958 – February 6, 1999) was an American artist and disability rights activist based in Chicago.
Early life and education
Stonum was from Granite City, Illinois, the daughter of Robert Stonum and Julia Sedej Stonum. Her father worked at a steel mill and was mayor of Glen Carbon, Illinois; her mother worked at a Granite City Army Depot.{{Cite news |date=21 December 1962 |title=Christmas Lights |pages=1 |work=The Edwardsville Intelligencer |location=Edwardsville, Illinois |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-edwardsville-intelligencer-christmas/125452563/ |url-status=live |access-date=28 May 2023 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20231110032444/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-edwardsville-intelligencer-christmas/125452563/ |archive-date=10 November 2023 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news |date=27 March 1967 |title=Obituaries: Stonum |pages=20 |work=Alton Evening Telegraph |location=Alton, Illinois |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/alton-evening-telegraph-stonum/125452735/ |url-status=live |access-date=28 May 2023 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20231110032838/https://www.newspapers.com/article/alton-evening-telegraph-stonum/125452735/ |archive-date=10 November 2023 |via=Newspapers.com}} Stonum was a Girl Scout, in her mother's Brownie troop.{{Cite news |date=13 October 1966 |title=Brownie Troop 444 |pages=6 |work=The Edwardsville Intelligencer |location=Edwardsville, Illinois |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-edwardsville-intelligencer-brownie-t/125450347/ |url-status=live |access-date=28 May 2023 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20231110033607/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-edwardsville-intelligencer-brownie-t/125450347/ |archive-date=10 November 2023 |via=Newspapers.com}} She attended Granite City's North High School,North High School, The Ingot (1975 yearbook): 149 ("Sophomores" section). via Ancestry and earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree (BFA) at Mundelein College in Chicago.{{Cite news |last=Breslin |first=Meg McSherry |date=13 February 1999 |title=Anna Stonum, 40, activist for disabled |pages=99 |work=Chicago Tribune |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/chicago-tribune-anna-stonum-40-activis/125396852/ |url-status=live |access-date=27 May 2023 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20231110033816/https://www.newspapers.com/article/chicago-tribune-anna-stonum-40-activis/125396852/ |archive-date=10 November 2023 |via=Newspapers.com}}
Career
Stonum was a founding member of the Chicago chapter of ADAPT, a disability rights organization then known as American Disabled for Accessible Public Transit. She was on the board of the Disability Arts and Culture Center at the University of Illinois, and served on the boards of several advocacy organizations. She helped to lead protests against the MDA Telethon hosted by Jerry Lewis.{{Cite web |last=Joravsky |first=Ben |date=2 November 2000 |title=Hell on Wheels |url=http://chicagoreader.com/columns-opinion/hell-on-wheels-3/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211127093909/http://chicagoreader.com/columns-opinion/hell-on-wheels-3/ |archive-date=27 November 2021 |access-date=27 May 2023 |website=Chicago Reader |language=en-US}} In 1988, she was part of a group of American disability activists who visited Cuba and met Fidel Castro.
In 1994, Stonum and two other activists sued the Chicago Cubs for the inaccessibility of the wheelchair seating area at Wrigley Field.{{Cite news |date=3 December 1994 |title=Wheelchair users sue Chicago Cubs |pages=6 |work=The Pantagraph |location=Bloomington, Illinois |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-pantagraph-wheelchair-users-sue-chic/125401978/ |url-status=live |access-date=27 May 2023 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20231110034623/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-pantagraph-wheelchair-users-sue-chic/125401978/ |archive-date=10 November 2023 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{Cite news |last=O'Connor |first=Matt |date=2 December 1994 |title=Handicapped fault Cubs in Suit |pages=61 |work=Chicago Tribune |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/chicago-tribune-handicapped-fault-cubs-i/125449806/ |url-status=live |access-date=28 May 2023 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20231110033832/https://www.newspapers.com/article/chicago-tribune-handicapped-fault-cubs-i/125449806/ |archive-date=10 November 2023 |via=Newspapers.com}} The suit was settled in 1996, with the Chicago Cubs agreeing to increase the number and accessibility of wheelchair seating spaces, parking, restrooms, and concessions at the ballpark.{{Cite news |last=O'Connor |first=Matt |date=4 January 1996 |title=Suit Settled on Wrigley Access |pages=226 |work=Chicago Tribune |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/chicago-tribune-suit-settled-on-wrigley/125449910/ |url-status=live |access-date=28 May 2023 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20231110033841/https://www.newspapers.com/article/chicago-tribune-suit-settled-on-wrigley/125449910/ |archive-date=10 November 2023 |via=Newspapers.com}}
Stonum owned and ran a graphic design company, Design for All. Her t-shirt design featuring an evolutionary diagram with the caption "Adapt or Perish" is part of the National Museum of American History's collections on the disability rights movement.{{Cite web |last=Stonum |first=Anna |title=Tshirt, Adapt or Perish |url=https://www.si.edu/object/nmah_1396528 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230603094904/https://www.si.edu/object/nmah_1396528 |archive-date=3 June 2023 |access-date=28 May 2023 |website=Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of American History |language=en |type=Photo of Tshirt}} The same graphic by Stonum was featured in the 2018 show "Chicago Disability Activism, Arts, and Design: 1970s to Today" at the University of Illinois Chicago.{{Cite web |last= |date=2018 |title=Chicago Disability Activism, Arts, and Design: 1970s to Today |url=https://gallery400.uic.edu/exhibition/chicago-disability-activism-arts-and-design-1970s-to-today/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706191044/https://gallery400.uic.edu/exhibition/chicago-disability-activism-arts-and-design-1970s-to-today/ |archive-date=6 July 2022 |access-date=28 May 2023 |website=Gallery 400 |language=en-US}}
Personal life
Stonum had Friedreich's ataxia, a degenerative neuromuscular condition, and used a wheelchair in adulthood. She married fellow activist Mike Ervin in 1987. Artist Riva Lehrer painted "Mike & Anna", a portrait of Ervin and Stonum, in 1998.{{Cite web |last=Lehrer |first=Riva |author-link=Riva Lehrer |date=1998 |title=Mike & Anna |url=https://www.rivalehrerart.com/mike-and-anna |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230530233037/https://www.rivalehrerart.com/mike-and-anna |archive-date=30 May 2023 |access-date=28 May 2023 |website=Circle Stories |language=en}} Stonum died in 1999, at the age of 40, in Chicago.
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [http://libblogs.luc.edu/wla/2015/02/20/a-story-in-a-box/ "A Story in a Box"] Women and Leadership Archives (February 20, 2015),; a blog post by a graduate student at Loyola University Chicago, about the papers of Anna Stonum
- [https://archives.newberry.org/repositories/2/resources/126 Mike Ervin Papers], The Newberry Library
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stonum, Anna}}
Category:American disability rights activists
Category:People from Granite City, Illinois
Category:American graphic designers
Category:American women graphic designers
Category:American wheelchair users