Women Leaders From Sumner
There were many women who graduated from Sumner and went on to do amazing things, and graduates from the late 1930s and early 1940s were no exception to this. Many women who graduated from Sumner went on to get college degrees from Lincoln University and elsewhere, and some went as far as getting their PhD. Women graduates of Sumner went on to be teachers, lawyers, entrepreneurs, writers, and political activists. Below are some profiles of a few of the noteworthy women who graduated from Sumner in or near our focused time period.
Margaret Bush Wilson
Margaret was born in 1919 and graduated from Sumner High School in 1935. Upon graduation, she attended Talladega College in Alabama, studied abroad in India, and earned her Bachelors in Economics in 1939. Then she returned to Missouri, where she became one of Lincoln University Law School’s first female graduates in 1943 and was the second woman of color to ever be admitted to practice law in the state of Missouri. She was an attorney for the United States Department of Agriculture's Rural Electrification Administration before marrying a law school classmate, Robert Wilson, and setting up a practice together in St. Louis. Margaret’s civil rights and activism work had a major impact on African American St. Louisans. During Lyndon B. Johnson’s presidency, she was the deputy director of the Model Cities program and was the first woman to head the board of the national NAACP.
Margaret Bush Wilson Runs for Congress
At just 29 years old, Margaret became the first black woman from St. Louis to run for Congress. In 1948, she was endorsed by the Progressive Party of Missouri at a district meeting.
Portrait of Margaret Bush Wilson
Margaret’s focus in her legal practice was real estate, and she was instrumental in the Shelley v. Kraemer case in 1948. This was a Supreme Court case that ended the use of restrictive covenants in St. Louis to prevent African Americans and Asian Americans from living and buying homes in certain neighborhoods.
Margaret Bush Wilson's Historical Marker
A historical marker rests on Martin Luther King Drive in Downtown West St. Louis. The marker recognizes many of Margaret’s achievements, including being the first African American on the Board of Monsanto Company and earning her position as the Assistant Attorney General of Missouri. The marker also pays homage to her work in the NAACP. After holding positions in the local and state chapters, she was the first woman to be elected Chair of the NAACP Board of Directors in 1974, and she remained in that position until 1985.
Hortense Garret-Brooks
Hortense graduated from Sumner High School in 1933 and went on to receive her college education at Stowe Teachers College, which was also located in The Ville. She also studied at the graduate level at Washington University. After graduating in 1937 from Stowe, she taught at local schools in the area until she retired in 1976. In addition to being an educator, Hortense was also an advocate. She was a life-long member of the NAACP and organized the local chapter of Jack and Jill of America, which is a family organization dedicated to promoting the interests and public awareness of African American children and families. She was also married to Dr. Aldrich Brooks, who was the head of the dentistry department at Homer G. Phillips Hospital in The Ville.
Delta Sigma Theta Alpha Omega Webpage
During her studies at Stowe Teachers College, Hortense co-founded the Alpha-Omega city-wide chapter of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority on campus in 1936. She was one of six charter members of the sorority. For more information on the sorority chapter, visit their website by clicking here.
Photograph of Hortense Garrett-Brooks
After graduating from Stowe Teachers College, Hortense stayed in the area and taught at local schools for 39 years. Included in these schools were Patrick Henry Elementary School and Riddick Elementary School, where she worked as a reading specialist.
Carmen C. Murphy
Carmen was born just outside Little Rock, Arkansas in 1915 and graduated from Sumner High School in 1935. Afterwards, she moved to Detroit with her husband, Scipio Murphy. There, she studied Home Economics and Business Administration at Wayne University. In 1946, she bought a dilapidated three-story mansion which she turned into a salon, named House of Beauty. In 1951, she launched Carmen Cosmetics, becoming the first African American woman to own and manufacture a signature line of cosmetics. Carmen was also involved in many organizations including the NAACP and the Red Cross.
Advertisement for Carmen Murphy Cosmetics
Carmen started her own line of cosmetics because she was frustrated by the lack of cosmetics available for African Americans. While there were other African American beauty pioneers who came before her (including St. Louis’ very own Madame C. J. Walker and Annie Turnbo Malone), Carmen was the first to offer a comprehensive range of cosmetics for Black people and distribute it through substantial business partnerships.
Early Motown: Herman Griffin "I Need You" 45 HOB 112 Dec 1958
Carmen found other ways to give back to the African American community as well. For example, she started H.O.B. Records to fund gospel recordings. She had a practice room set up in the basement of the salon, and she helped launch dozens of up and coming musicians into their careers.
Naomi (Cornelia) Long Madgett
Naomi was born in 1923 and graduated from Sumner High School in 1941. Though she was born in Norfolk, Virginia and grew up in New Jersey, she moved with her family to St. Louis in 1937 when her father became the pastor of the Central Baptist Church. Naomi is remembered for her beautiful talent in writing poetry, which she began crafting during her time in Sumner. She was the founder and senior editor of the Lotus Press, which published black poets’ works. In this capacity, she is credited for advancing the careers of many African American poets. In addition to writing poetry, she was also a teacher in multiple schools, including Northwestern High School, where she advocated for textbook reform so that more African American writers were represented in textbooks. She is also remembered for being a role model to her students and encouraged them to reach their full potential. Click here to read some of her early poetry from The Sumner Cub Journal.
"Songs To a Phantom Nightingale", Naomi Cornelia Long (1941)
Naomi’s interest in writing poetry began during her time at Sumner High School. She was encouraged by her teachers to write and read the works of famous poets. Her poetry was influenced by these poets and has been likened to the writings of Emily Dickinson, Langston Hughes, and Alfred Tennyson. Fortuny’s Publishing Company of New York published her first poetry book in 1941, days after her high school graduation. This work was titled, “Songs to a Phantom of Nightingale," and is held by the Library of Congress.
Font Cover of Naomi Long Madgett's "Pink Ladies in the Afternoon" (1990)
In 1968, Naomi became an associate professor at Eastern Michigan University, where she taught until she retired. After having difficulty getting her poetry collection Pink Ladies in the Afternoon published because publishers felt it didn’t fit with the times, she founded the Lotus Press. As reviewer and editor of the press, she created a platform for African American writers, and paid the cost of printing with her own money.