"Virginia Estelle Randolph"{May 8,1874-March 16,1958}

She was the daughter of former slaves Sarah Elizabeth Carter & Edward Nelson Randolph.The former owner of her mama (professor at Old Richmond College) witnessed the marriage of her parents and was responsible for naming her and her three brothers & sisters.Virginia grew up during Reconstruction,was a teacher by the time she was 16,had became an internationally known authority on vocational for African American students.Virginia first taught in goodland in 1892,and she taught at the one-room Mountain in Henrico County,in Virginia.Besides academics Virginia taught her students such skills as gardening,woodworking,and sewing.Her teaching methods at times brought opposition from parents who wanted their children to learn from books,the county superintendent stood behind her.In 1908,Virginia was appointed the first Jennes Supervisor Industrial Teacher,providing the first formal in-service teacher training fr rural African American teachers anywhere in Virginia.She improved industrial skills and education in general in every one of the county's rural school for African Americans.With the freedom to design her own agenda,she shaped industrial work and community self help programs to meet specific needs of schools.To reach the 23 schools she supervised,
outings that took up to three hours one way on often-rough county roads,Virginia had to hire a buggy & driver,an expense that consumed much of her salary,later she bought her own horse.She recorded
the improvements made at each school under her program,the "Henrico Plan," that was sent to county superintendents throughout the
South.Virginia's teaching techniques and philosophy were later
adopted in Britain's African colonies.In 1915,the Virginia Randolph Training School was built.
Students enrolled from throughout the county.Since transportation was not provided Virginia often kept children in Richmond home so they could attend.Some 59 children boarded with her over the years.She built separate dormitories for girls & boys,and students came to her school as far away as New York.In 1929,fire destroyed the wooden Virginia Randolph Training School.A bigger brick school was built later that year and named the Virginia Randolph High School.

"Susie King Taylor"[Augusta 4,1848-October 6,1912]

Was an African American army nurse;she worked with African American Union Troops
during the Civil War.As the author of Reminiscences of My Life in Camp with the 33rd
United States Colored Troops,Late 1st S.C. Volunteers,she was the only African

American woman to publish a memoir of her wartime experiences.She was also the first African American to teach openly in a school for former slaves in Georgia.She was born enslaved on a plantation in Liberty County,Georgia as Susan Ann Baker.When she was about seven,her owner allowed her to go to Savannah to live with her grand mama.Despite's Georgia's harsh laws against the formal education of African Americans,she attended two secret schools taught by African American women.From them Susie gained the rudiments of literacy,then extended her education with the help of two white youths,both of whom knowingly,violated law and custom.In April 1862,Susie and many other African Americans fled to St.Simons Islands,occupied at the time by Union forces.Within days her educational advantages came to the attention of army officers,who offered to obtain books for her if she would organize a school.She thereby became the first African American teacher for freed African American students to work in a freely operating freedmen's school in Georgia.She taught forty children in day school and " a number of adults who came to her at nights,all of them so eager to learn to read,to read above
anything else."Susie taught there until October 1862,when the islands was evacuated.
While at the school on St.Simons Island,Susie married Edward King,an African American officer in the 33rd United States Colored Infantry Regiment.For three years she moved with her husband's and brother's regiment,serving as nurse and laundress,and teaching many of the African American soldiers to read and write during their off-duty hours.In 1866 she and Edward returned to Savannah,where she established another school. In 1868 she again relocated to Savannah,where she continued teaching freedmen for another year and support herself through small tuition charges,never receiving aid from the northern freedmen's aid organizations.
In the 1870s Susie traveled to Boston as a domestic servant of a wealthy white family.While there she met Russell L.Taylor,also a native of Georgia.She returned home to Liberty County to marry Russell on April 20,1879.Susie remained in Boston for the rest of her life,returning to the South only occasionally.After a trip to Louisiana in the 1890s to care for a dying son,she wrote her Reminiscences which was privately published in 1902.She died ten years later.Susie is buried next to her second husband at Mount Hope Cemetery in Roslindale,Massachusetts.

Majorie Joyner (October 24 1896-December 27 1994)

Born in Monterrey in Virgina's Blue Ridge Mountains, she moved to Chicago as a child,studying cosmetology as a teenager.Marjorie became associated with the famous beauty expert Madam C.J. Walker who had been who had been made famous by Josephine Baker's adoption of her products.Majorie had a strong message that she carried throughout her life:Be proud of who you are and treat yourself as if you care.From this strong belief,she became an avid supporter of young man and women throughout her life.She became an inventor and an educator in African-American beauty culture.While a cosmetologist,she was frustrated that the day after having their hair done,most women looked like "an accident going someplace to happen." She invented a permanent wave machine that would allow a hairddo to stay set for days,if not more.According Anne Mcdonald."This a dome shaped device that applied electrical current to pressed and clamped one-inch sections of hair,creating a hairdo that would last a considerable time."In 1926,she became the first African-American woman to receive a patient for an invention but she did move in the business world of beauty.Majorie became the director of C.J. Walker's nationwide chain of beauty schools.She was also co-founded,with Mary Bethume Mcleod,the United Beauty School Owners and Teachers Association in 1945.She was always committed to helping people.During the Depression she worked for several of the New Deal Programs to find housing and work for Young African-Americans.She consistently worked to instill pride in the young people she worked with.In pursuit of this goal she worked for years to raise money for black colleges and chaired the Bud Billiken Parade,the largest African-American parade in the United States,for over fifty years.She is often called "Grand Dame of "Black Beauty Culture."She died in Chicago.

"Eliza Simmons Bryant"(1827-May 13,1907)

Was an American humanitarian.She was the daughter of a freed slave and helped former slaves as a benefactor after American Civil war.She was born in North Carolina to Polly Simmons,a

slave,and her master.Eliza was raised on a plantation in Wayne County.In 1848,Polly Simmons was freed,and moved with her family to Cleveland,Ohio,where she purchased a home,with funds from her master.The Bryant family engaged in humanitarian work and provided shelter,food and water to black families.This occurred both prior to the Civil War as well as after the war.When she grew up,Eliza became a pioneer in the movement to assist African-Americans in the Cleveland area,especially those who had moved from the southern states during the Great Migration after Emancipation Proclamation.She became particularly concerned for elderly African-Americans,who were tremendously suffering from the poor living conditions in Cleveland.The majority of these were freed slaves,with nothing given to them except their freedom.Because of racial segregation,the homeless shelters did not admit them,and as a result,left these elderly black families with nowhere to turn.In 1893,she began the work of establishing a home for the aged blacks,with help from Sarah Green and Lethia Fleming.She sought help for her cause through churches,community groups,business community,friends and family.She recruited volunteers who went door to door to raise money,food and clothing.Because of her dedication,John D.Rockefeller made a financial contribution,which helped to enable the purchase of the first home.In January, 1895 a board of trustees was named for the proposed home.By 1896,enough funds were raised and a house was purchased for $2,000 with barley any necessities.The Cleveland Home for Aged Colored People was incorporated on September 1,1896,and opened on August 11 1897.Eliza is buried at Woodland Cemetery in Cleveland.Over the years,the Cleveland Home received more funding and was able to supply the necessities to the home.In 1960 ,its name was changed to Eliza Bryant Home for the Aged,in honor of its founder.In 1999,the name was changed to Eliza Bryant Village (EBV).

"Clara Mcbride Hale"(April 1,1905-December 18,1992),

Also known as Mother Hale,was an African-American humanitarian founded the Hale House Center,a home for unwanted children and children who were born addicted to drugs.Misses Hale married shortly after high school and had two children,Nathan and Lorraine.In 1933,her husband died from cancer,and she struggled to support her children through the Great Depression.In an attempt to stay home with her children and be a big part of their lives as possible.She opened her own home daycare.The Children that she cared for found her home to be such a caring and loving environment they did not want to go home at the end of the day,most began to stay full time only seeing their mothers on the weekends.She used her home as a day care for other struggling parents which later led her to become a foster parent.Although Misses Hale originally opened her house as a way of making a living,it eventually led her to find her life calling.Misses Hale became known for the work she did and became known as mother to those who did not have one.At the age of 65 is when She began to take children in who were born addicted to their mother's drug habits during pregnancy.This started in 1969 When her biological daughter,Lorraine,brought a mother and child who were addicted to drugs to Hale's House.A few years later Misses Hale purchased a larger building and in 1975 She was able to attain a license in child-care.It was officially known as Hale House.After that time,Misses Hale devoted her life to caring for needy children.She took in children, free of charge,who were addicted to drugs and helped helped them through their addictive periods.She would raise the children as is they were her own and once they were healthy she would help to find families interested in adoption.She took it upon herself to make sure the families were a correct fit and even in some cases turned families down if she through they could not provide a good enough home for the child.She eventually helped over 1,000 drug addicted babies and young children who were born addicted to drugs,children born with HIV,and children whose parents had died of AIDS.After her death in in 1992,Hale's work was continued by her daughter.Although the younger Hale left Hale House in 2001,the house continues to operate.Misses Hale father dies when she was still just a baby.This left her mother alone to raised misses Hale and her 4 siblings.Her mother had a very high importance placed on parenting and being available to her children during their development.She supported her children through cooking for others and also allowing borders to stay in in their home.It seems misses that misses Hale gained this same love and appreciation for parenting.Misses Hale claimed that everything she was able to accomplish was due to her mother and the parenting that she witnessed as a child.Misses Hale put a great deal of value into her religious upbringing.She was raised as part of a Baptist Church.It can also be suggested that her faith in god and strong moral upbringing had a lot to do with her behavior that she displayed throughout her life.It was stated by misses Hale herself that through her childhood she faced many hard times bit it was due to her Christian upbringing that she was able to succeed.One major accomplishment in misses Hale life was being the first in her family to graduate from high school.This was not seem to be a regular occurrence during her time period but due to the morals and ethics that she learned throughout her time in the the church this was something she expected of herself.This advanced education may have also had part to do with the lifestyle that she would come to choose.It gave her an appreciation and social class differences.Recognized by Ronald Reagon in his 1985 State of the Union Address,Honorary member of  Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc Member of the American Commission on Drug Free Schools.Mother Hale received an NAACP image  Award in the 1980s.