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Posts tagged as “National Park Service”

Historic Shelley House in St. Louis Gets Official Recognition on New U.S. Civil Rights Trail

By goodblacknews on May 25, 2019
When J.D. Shelley and Ethel Shelley attempted to buy this house at 4600 Labadie Avenue in St. Louis in 1948, they were told it could not be sold to blacks. Their fight went to the U.S. Supreme Court, resulting in a ruling that struck down racial covenants in housing. (Photo: FrancisNancy via commons.wikipedia.org)

The historic “Shelley House” at 4600 Labadie Avenue in St. Louis was dedicated yesterday by the National Park Service as Missouri’s first official site on the new U.S. Civil Rights Trail. U.S. Rep. William Lacy Clay and Aurelia Skipwith, deputy assistant Secretary of Interior, headlined the event.

The U.S. Civil Rights Trail, created by legislation written by Clay, aims to preserve significant places that had critical roles in the civil rights movement in the United States.

The Shelley House was at the center of the U.S. Supreme Court decision (Shelley v. Kraemer) which struck down restrictive racial covenants in housing in 1948. The nationally impactful decision pitted J.D. and Ethel Shelley, a black couple who wanted to buy the house, against Louis and Fern Kraemer, white neighbors who tried to keep them out.

Other notables in attendance were St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson, St. Louis NAACP President Adolphus Pruitt, and members of the Shelley family.

Source: https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/columns/joe-holleman/historic-civil-rights-house-in-st-louis-gets-official-u/article_2c7013a7-11db-511e-8955-80d61b1e85cf.html

Harriet Tubman National Historical Park Becomes Reality

By goodblacknews on February 2, 2017

This photo provided by the U.S. Department of Interior shows Harriet Tubman’s home, now officially recognized as a national park. U.S. Department of Interior (photo via nbcnews.com)

article by Associated Press via nbcnews.com
Federal parks officials have formally established the Harriet Tubman National Historical Park in upstate New York. Members of the state’s congressional delegation joined U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell in Washington, D.C., for the official signing ceremony last month that makes the park part of the National Park Service system. It encompasses the site of Tubman’s old home on the outskirts of Auburn, about 25 miles west of Syracuse, and a nearby church where she worshipped.
Harriet Tubman (photo via nbcnews.com)

The New York park will focus on Tubman’s work later on in her life when she was an active proponent of women’s suffrage and other causes. It will be a sister park to the Harriet Tubman Underground Railroad National Historical Park in Maryland.
“These two parks preserve and showcase a more complete history of one of America’s pivotal humanitarians who, at great personal risk, did so much to secure the freedom of hundreds of formerly enslaved people,” Secretary Jewell said. “Her selfless commitment to a more perfect union is testament that one determined person, no matter her station in life or the odds against her, can make a tremendous difference.”
To read full article: Harriet Tubman National Historical Park Becomes Reality – NBC News

America's Oldest Park Ranger, 93 Year-Old Betty Reid Soskin, Hopes to Inspire Women of Color

By goodblacknews on May 20, 2015
America's Oldest Park Ranger Hopes To Inspire Women of Color Everywhere With Unique Career
America’s Oldest Park Ranger Betty Reid Soskin (photo via bet.com)
If your first thought regarding park rangers resembles something close to a pesky bear and picnic baskets, you clearly haven’t met Betty Reid Soskin, 93, America’s oldest living park ranger.
The nonagenarian, who’s been a member of the National Park Service since she was 85, says she’s not sure that she ever really wanted to be a park ranger, but there’s no way she’s stopping now.
“I still love this uniform. Partly because there’s a silent message to every little girl of color that I pass on the street or in an elevator or on an escalator…that there’s a career choice she may have never thought of,” Soskin said in a recent interview on The Today Show.
Starting her historic career as a file clerk for a segregated union auxiliary in 1942, Soskin then moved to a white neighborhood after World War II, where she received death threats for attempting to build a home there.
Eventually, she found her home among the tons of visitors at Riveter WWII Home Front National Historical Park in Richmond, Calif., where she’s been since 2003.
A walking time capsule, Soskin has made a great joy out of recalling her life to anyone who is interested as she serves as tour guide for the park exhibit “Untold Stories and Lost Conversations,” about the history of wartime women laborers.
She also shares her personal stories as both a political activist and a Black woman in the workforce.
‘Since I’m working from memory, my work tends to be ‘in the moment’ and depends upon my ability to respond to questions out of a well that seems bottomless at times,” she said.
And she’s not planning on retiring any time soon. She clocks in five days a week and says, “And as long as that’s true, and as long as I’m developing new questions, then I’m going to go on living it.”
article by George Chapman Jr. via bet.com

Carnival Corporation Names Julia M. Brown to Newly-Formed Position of Chief Procurement Officer

By goodblacknews on March 25, 2015
Julia M. Brown
Julia M. Brown

Carnival Corporation, the world’s largest travel and leisure company, today named Julia M. Brown to the newly created role of Chief Procurement Officer (CPO) overseeing strategic sourcing and supplier relationship management.

As part of this new role, Brown will work closely with the company’s nine brands and their support groups  to strategically procure goods and services to further strengthen the company’s supplier relationships and leverage its global scale. 

“We are excited to have Julia join us as part of our global management team and take on this new role that will be critical in helping us further leverage our scale, accelerating our drive to double-digit returns on invested capital,” said Arnold Donald, president & CEO for Carnival Corporation. “I’ve had the opportunity to get to know Julia through our mutual association with the Executive Leadership Council, and she not only has an exceptional track record of leading procurement at companies with massive global operations, but also has a highly strategic and collaborative approach that will help us partner more closely with our suppliers to exceed guest expectations and drive value for the business.” 

RELATED: Arnold Donald, Carnival Corporation’s 1st Black CEO, Navigates Cruise Lines to $1.5 Billion in Profit

Brown most recently served as CPO on the global management team at Mondelēz International, which split from Kraft Foods in 2012.  Prior to the split, Brown served as CPO and SVP of global procurement at Kraft Foods, responsible for the company’s $30 billion strategic sourcing function. Prior to Kraft, she served as CPO and VP of corporate procurement and contract manufacturing at Clorox. Brown began her career at Procter & Gamble and also served in strategic roles at Diageo and Gillette.  

Brown is on the board for the Executive Leadership Foundation and also serves as a trustee for the African American Experience Fund, which is part of The National Park Service. She also serves as a board member for the Primo Center in Chicago.

Brown has been named as one of the top 100 most “Influential Blacks in Corporate America” by Savoy Magazine, the top 100 Women to Watch by Today’s Chicago Woman and listed in Black Enterprise’s Top 75 Most Powerful Women in Business.  

She received a Bachelor of Commerce from McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada. 

article by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (follow @lakinhutcherson)