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User:LEvalyn at work/sandbox/Boston Black Women Lead Redlist

About this list

This is a list of honorees recognized by the [https://blackwomenleadproject.org/ Boston Black Women Lead] project, available as a "redlist" (inspired by the Women in Red WikiProject) for possible creation of new articles.

= How to use this list =

Here's an overview of the steps you'll want to take. More detailed instructions about each step are also provided below.

  1. Start by looking for additional sources of information about these subjects. Whenever you find something, add it as a link or a citation next to the person's name in the list.
  2. Once someone has several sources, start a draft article. Make sure at least one of the sources is published, independent, and in-depth. Use our provided article template and fill in details from the sources, making sure to cite your work.
  3. Submit your draft for review. An experienced Wikipedian will evaluate it, and either publish it or provide feedback. This will likely take several weeks, so in the mean time, consider working on the next biography!

== Looking for sources ==

When your draft article is being reviewed, reviewers will be checking the sources you are drawing on more than they will be checking the specific words you write. The reviewer's primary question will be, "Has there been enough reliable, independent, secondary coverage of this person that a tertiary encyclopedia article can be written about them?"

Some appropriate sources of information for creating articles on Wikipedia are:

  • The Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America at Harvard Radcliffe Center has [https://guides.library.harvard.edu/schlesinger_african_american_women useful archival collections].
  • You can access the 1973-2013 run of the Boston Phoenix, an alternative weekly newspaper, at [https://archive.org/details/pub_boston-phoenix?&sort=date the Internet Archive].
  • The Onyx Informer, a student-run Northeastern University newspaper, is available at the [https://archive.org/search?query=%28%22onyx%22%20OR%20%22dark%20tower%22%20OR%20%22black%20expressions%22%29%20AND%20creator%3A%28Northeastern%20University%29 Internet Archive].
  • [https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/ Chronicling America] at the Library of Congress and [https://ark.digitalcommonwealth.org/ark:/50959/gb19gx14v The Liberator] (a 19th century Boston newspaper that highlights abolition) on Digital Commonwealth is a digital archive of America's historic newspaper pages from 1756-1963.
  • Robert C. Hayden's book, African Americans in Boston: more than 350 years, has multiple entries on Black Boston.
  • Ed Gaskin's book, [https://www.greatergrovehall.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/BWL-book_020425-6x9-current-allPages-EditsApplied.pdf Black Women Lead: Boston's Most Admired, Beloved, and Iconic Leaders, 1700 - Present], is based on the 2023 honoree cohort and has entries on each honoree.
  • [https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/ Digital Commonwealth], operated by Boston Public Library, offers free online access to cultural heritage materials from Massachusetts institutions.
  • The [https://www.nps.gov/index.htm National Park Service] preserves historical sites and produces articles on various topics.
  • Documentation related to designated historical places

Some common sources of information that should be avoided on Wikipedia are:

  • "Find a Grave" and similar online memorials with "user-generated content" (obituaries published in newspapers are OK)
  • Social media posts, including YouTube (also "user-generated")
  • The personal website, LinkedIn, blog, etc, of the honoree (these are not "independent")

Some primary sources of information that are OK for supplementary information once the article is approved, but won't show the reviewer that the subject is "ready" for an article: census records, birth/death/marriage certificates.

== Starting a draft ==

  1. Click on a name in red and follow the prompts to start new draft article.
  2. Copy-paste the contents of Draft:BWL Template into the draft, including the big box at the top that says "Draft article not currently submitted for review." (Leave that box alone the whole time you work.)
  3. Save your work any time you want by clicking "publish changes". (This won't add it as an official Wikipedia article, so it's safe to "publish" unfinished work.)
  4. At the end of every sentence, include at least one citation showing where someone can check that information. Follow these instructions for adding the citations. (Or, if you're using the "source code" editor, these instructions.)

Don't worry about trying to write something that's super long, or makes the person sound as incredible as possible. Encyclopedias are concise and a little dry; you're just trying to get the facts across and let them speak for themselves. One good paragraph is enough for the article to be submitted for review. You can find a lot more writing advice in the "Your first article" guide.

== Finishing and submitting a draft ==

Some things to check when you're deciding if something is ready to review:

  • Is there at least one source cited that is published, independent, and focused primarily on this person rather than Black Women Lead as a project?
  • Is the writing concise, factual, and "encyclopedic" in tone? (Rather than sounding like a news story or blurb?)
  • Have all the placeholders been filled in or removed?

When you're happy with it, you can stop ignoring the big gray box at the top of the article. Within the box at the bottom is a blue button, "Submit the draft for review!" Click it and follow the prompts, and an experienced Wikipedian will take a look and publish it if it's ready.

The reviewer may decide that the article is not ready to be published -- most of the time, the solution is to add citations to new sources (rather than trying to write a longer or more glowing article). It's possible that more sources won't exist yet, due to systemic bias that under-represents Black women. In these cases, Wikipedia has to "lag behind" the rest of society, and the Black Women Lead project will aim to fill the gaps more directly by supporting the publication of biographical information elsewhere.

Honorees without articles

= 2023 Honorees =

  • Elva Lee C. Abdal-Khallaq. For many years, A Nubian Notion Inc. was the only store in Boston selling African and African American products. Elva Lee C. Abdal-Khallaq made and sold dashikis and ran the store after the death of her husband. [https://www.baystatebanner.com/2010/11/23/matriach-of-a-nubian-notion-inc-family-dies-at-96/]
  • Zakiya Alake.
  • Mukiya Baker-Gomez. Mukiya Baker-Gomez was born at Boston City Hospital in 1948. She graduated from Jamaica Plain High School and attended Lesley University. Throughout her life, Baker-Gomez worked in the state government and community organizations. In the 1970s, she volunteered with the Black United Front, a grassroots organization that worked in the Black community in Boston. From 1985 to 1991, she headed State Office of Minority and Women Business Assistance (SOMWBA), the Contractors Association of Boston representing Black construction firms, and the Opportunities Industrialization Center, a program training community residents to work in high-tech careers. She also worked on the electoral campaigns of political leaders like Mel King, Ayanna Pressley and Dianne Wilkerson among others. Until her death in 2023, she continued to support her community. [https://www.baystatebanner.com/2023/06/14/mukiya-baker-gomez-community-leader-74/]
  • Jeannette Banks, DDM.
  • Barbara Gomes Beach. Barbara Gomez-Beach was born in the late 1930s. With a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Massachusetts Boston and a Masters degree in City Planning from MIT, Gomes-Beach raised her four children using her wages as a city planner. She was outspoken about the continuing AIDS epidemic both at home and abroad. Her activism and advocacy for individuals with HIV and AIDS, including her work as the executive director of the Multicultural AIDS Coalition, which started in 1989 and is still working to provide equity and equality to AIDS treatments in minority communities. She passed in 2017. [https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/bostonglobe/name/barbara-gomes-beach-obituary?id=6712250]
  • Maria Bell.
  • Adrienne R. Benton. [https://www.boston.com/news/boston-marathon/2022/04/15/adrienne-benton-boston-athletic-association-board/]
  • Elizabeth Blakeley. [https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/elizabeth-blakeley-s-escape-to-freedom.htm]
  • Doris Bland. [https://masscommons.wordpress.com/2022/05/04/a-peoples-history-of-the-new-boston-mothers-for-adequate-welfare/]
  • Frances J. Bonner. [http://history.massgeneral.org/catalog/Detail.aspx?itemId=1456&searchFor=bonner]
  • Andrea Bradford. [https://www.thehistorymakers.org/biography/andrea-bradford]
  • Edna V. Bynoe. [https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/bostonherald/name/edna-bynoe-obituary?id=23410460]
  • Letitia Campfield. Letitia Campfield was one of the first Black people to be admitted to Boston city hospital school of nursing, and one of first two Black people to train for nursing at Boston City Hospital. [https://www.blackfacts.com/fact/first-nurses-at-city-hospital]
  • Shirley Carrington.
  • Charlene Carroll. [https://www.theroot.com/gifted-black-hairstylist-created-the-doobie-wrap-1850337893]
  • Marilyn Anderson Chase. Marilyn Anderson Chase is a former Massachusetts Health and Human Services Assistant Secretary; Sr. VP United Way of Mass Bay. [https://www.wgbh.org/news/2017/09/08/how-we-live/detroit-boston-and-searing-memories-summer-1967]
  • Lula "Mama Lulu" Christopher. Lula Christopher pioneered alternative medicine, healing and self-empowerment groups in Boston. Christopher focused on providing opportunities for Black communities to explore ancestry and spirituality. She is also an advocate for her community. f[https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/02/07/metro/black-history-i-carry-with-me-marlene-boyette/]
  • Rebecca Parker Clarke. Rebecca Parker Clarke co-founded the home for aged colored women on Beacon Hill in Boston, Massachusetts. [https://www.nps.gov/places/home-for-aged-colored-women.htm]
  • Anna Mae Cole. [https://tcbinc.org/news/construction-starts-at-mildred-c-hailey-apartments-in-boston/]
  • Louise Wells Corbin. [https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/201835394/louise-corbin]
  • Kem Danner. [https://www.maconferenceforwomen.org/speakers/kem-danner/]
  • Shaumba-Yandje Dibinga. Shaumba-Yandje Dibinga is the Founding Artistic & Executive Director, OrigiNation. OrigiNation is a performing arts organization based in Roxbury that has been serving youth since 1994. Dibinga has extensive training, teaching, and performance experience in all areas of dance and theater and has been writing poetry and producing plays for twenty years. [https://www.barrfoundation.org/bios/shaumba-yandje-dibinga]
  • Tommie Joe "Ma" Dixon. Tommie Joe "Ma" Dixon (1918-1978), was born in Waycross, Georgia, and came to Boston in 1937. She established Ma Dixon's Diner in 1942, located on Hammond Street in Roxbury, then moved to a larger space on Shawmut Avenue, and finally to Grove Hall in 1969. Ma Dixon's Diner was among the first soul food restaurants in Boston's South End neighborhood. A year after her death in 1979, the City of Boston renamed the corner of Washington Street and Blue Hill Avenue, Ma Dixon Square, in her honor. [https://bwht.org/women-feeding-boston-tour/]
  • Carmen Fields. [https://www.bu.edu/com/articles/carmen-fields-tells-her-story/]
  • Estelle Ancrum Forster. [https://blackfacts.com/fact/ancrum-school-of-music]
  • Lilla G. Frederick. Mrs. Lilla G. Frederick was a positive influence in Boston and Massachusetts for many years. Frederick helped found and then served as the President and Chair of Project RIGHT, Inc. (Rebuild and Improve Grove Hall Together). In addition, Frederick was the Chair of the Boston Caribbean Foundation, Inc.; Secretary of Grove Hall Elder Housing Advocacy Group (GHEHAG); member of ABCD Family Service Center (Roxbury); member of the Blue Hill Avenue Initiative Task Force; and a volunteer at the New Boston Pilot Middle School. She was also instrumental in the designing of the Middle School.
  • Cleora Francis O'Conner. [https://kripalu.org/presenters-programs/presenters/cleora-francis-oconnor]
  • Carol Fulp.
  • Berthé M. Gaines. [https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/obituaries/2015/07/04/berthe-gaines-boston-first-african-american-woman-serve-boston-public-library-board/F4XYyuAUCHhYYYlgkTlDnJ/story.html]
  • Elta Garrett.
  • Florence Hagins. [https://www.wbur.org/the-remembrance-project/2015/05/27/the-remembrance-project-florence-hagins]
  • Ruth Esther Hamilton. [https://www.hamiltongarrett.org/copy-of-ruth-hamilton]
  • Anna Bobbitt Gardner.[https://necmusic.edu/news/archives-celebration-necs-african-american-legacy-part-i]
  • Mildred C. Hailey. Known as one of the Bromley Heath Matriarchs, Mildred C. Hailey was a community activist and leader for whom the Bromley Heath BHA Housing Development was renamed in her honor: The Mildred C. Hailey Apartments. [https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2015/11/19/mildred-hailey-tenant-activism-transformed-boston-public-housing/uMvf9iF3ozuC8lLlVOKiCN/story.html]
  • Alfreda Harris. Alfreda Harris is the founder and former Administrative Coordinator of the Shelburne Recreation Center, and the former women's basketball coach at the University of Massachusetts Boston, Roxbury Community College, and Emerson College. Harris was also the longest serving member on the Boston School Committee. [https://roxbury.library.northeastern.edu/harris/]
  • Sister Nellie S. Harris.
  • Frances Carolyn Harris. [https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/bostonglobe/name/frances-harris-obituary?id=16922765]
  • Dorothy E. Harrison Det. [https://100clubmass.org/massachusetts-female-police-officers-a-138-year-history/]
  • Dorothy Haskins. [https://economichardship.org/2019/11/peoples-history-episode-2-grove-hall/]
  • Sandra B. Henriquez.
  • Beulah Hester. [https://repository.library.northeastern.edu/downloads/neu:m044zp376?datastream_id=content]
  • Jacqui J. Hoard.
  • Gladys Holmes.
  • Maude Hurd.
  • Deborah C. Jackson, EdD.
  • Beverley Johnson.
  • Madam Mary L. Johnson.
  • Audrea F. Jones Dunham PhD.
  • Myechia Minter Jordan, MD.
  • Crystal Kornegay.
  • Ché Madyun. [https://www.nps.gov/mabi/learn/historyculture/che-madyun.htm]
  • Andrea Herbert Major. [https://www.wcvb.com/article/andrea-herbert-majors-work-mentoring-city-kids-has-inspired-them-to-dream-big/22680172]
  • Mallika Marshall, MD. [https://hms.harvard.edu/faculty-staff/mallika-marshall]
  • Isaura Mendes. [https://www.dotnews.com/2019/promoting-hope-after-trauma-isaura-mendes-marks-20-years-pushing-peace]
  • Carolyn Wilkins. [https://college.berklee.edu/people/carolyn-wilkins]
  • Elizabeth "Beth" Williams. Elizabeth (also known as "Beth") Williams was the President and CEO of Roxbury Technology Corporation LLC. [https://www.mssconnect.com/about-keynote-speaker-beth-williams.html]
  • Teri Williams.
  • Betty Jane (Lesueur) Wornum. [https://www.davisofboston.com/obituary/Betty-Wornum]
  • Nadine Fortune Wright. Civil rights activist. [https://mountauburn.org/nadine-fortune-wright-1893-1994/] [http://cambridgeblackhistoryproject.org/in-the-news/]
  • Mary Crutchfield Wright Thompson. Mary Crutchfield Thompson was one of the first Black women to graduate from Tufts University Dental School, and the first to practice dentistry in the Boston area. She was also only woman to pass the Massachusetts Civil Service examination for dentists in the state institutions in 1932. [https://cambridgeblackhistoryproject.org/project/mary-thompson/]
  • Laura Younger. [https://binjonline.com/2018/11/21/less-building-moratorium/]
  • Edna C. Robinson Brown, DDS. Edna C. Robinson Brown was the first African American woman to practice Dentistry in Massachusetts (1916). When she opened her practice she was the only African American woman practicing in the New England states. She is a graduate of Columbia University and Howard University Dental School. She operated a private practice in Cambridge, Massachusetts. [https://www.akaboston.org/chapter-history]
  • Valerie Shelley. [https://www.bostonhousing.org/en/News/BHA-Statement-on-the-Passing-of-Valerie-Shelley.aspx]
  • Gail Snowden. Gail Snowden was the former Vice President for Finance and Operation at the Boston Foundation. Also the former CEO of the Freedom House a non-profit organization in Boston, Massachusetts. Gail Snowden is the daughter of Otto P. Snowden and Muriel S. Snowden. [https://www.bridgespan.org/getmedia/c517d062-2342-4cf1-ad17-2bea767222f7/PractitionerSnowden.pdf]
  • Angela Paige Cook, PhD.
  • Madam L. C. Parrish.
  • Colette Phillips.
  • Benaree P. Wiley. [https://www.thehistorymakers.org/biography/benaree-p-wiley-40]
  • Cora Reid McKerrow.
  • Karen Miller.
  • Gladys A. Moore Perdue. [https://bwht.org/south-end-tour/]
  • Margaret Moseley. [https://hollisarchives.lib.harvard.edu/repositories/8/resources/5527]
  • Valerie Mosley.
  • Miriam Manning.
  • Savina J. Martin.
  • Sarah Seller Martin.
  • Charlotte Matthews-Nelson.
  • Vivian Male.
  • Juanita Brooks Wade. Juanita Wade served as a member of the Boston School Committee in 1986 and as the Chief of Human Services at the City of Boston. Following her work in public affairs, Juanita worked as the outreach manager of multiple fundraising campaigns in Washington D.C. [https://radar.auctr.edu/islandora/object/auc.092%3A0027]
  • Edna J. Swan. [https://bpdnews.com/news/2023/2/22/lwwczsocux2dykgza091hn0ynnfik9]
  • Carole Copeland Thomas.
  • Rachel M. Washington. Rachel M. Washington was likely the first African American to graduate from New England Conservatory of Music. She majored in voice. [https://www.musicbywomen.org/theorist/rachel-m-washington/]
  • Mattie Lee Washington. [https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/bostonherald/name/mattie-washington-obituary?id=22189415]
  • Eva Mitchell.
  • Tulaine Marshal Montgomery.
  • Sister Virginia Morrison.
  • Mattie B. Powell.
  • Glendora McIlwain Putnam, JD.
  • Leah Randolph.
  • Patricia Ann Raynor.
  • Shirley Shillingford.
  • Lisa Simmons.
  • Gloria Smith.
  • Maude Trotter Steward.
  • Karen Holmes Ward.

Honorees with articles

= 2023 Honorees =

References

{{Reflist}}