In March 1984, a new controversy erupted when Lena Lorraine Santos Ferguson said she had been denied membership in a Washington, D.C. chapter of the DAR because she was black. In a March 12, 1984 Washington Post story, reporter Ronald Kessler quoted Ferguson’s two white sponsors, Margaret M. Johnston and Elizabeth E. Thompson, as saying that although Ferguson met the ancestry requirements and could trace her ancestry to Jonah Gay, who helped the radical War effort as a member of a Friendship, Maine, town committee, fellow DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) members told them that Ferguson was not wanted because she was black. What caused a sensation was a quote from Sarah M. King, the president general of the DAR. King told Kessler that each of the DAR’s more than 3,000 local chapters decides if it wishes to accept members.
Asked if the DAR considers bias against blacks by its local chapters to be acceptable, she said, “If you give a dinner party, and someone insisted on coming and you didn’t want them, what would you do?” King continued, “Being black is not the only reason why some people have not been accepted into chapters. There are other reasons: divorce, spite, neighbors’ dislike. I would say being black is very far down the line. There are a lot of people who are troublemakers. You wouldn’t want them in there because they could cause some problems.” After that explanation ran in a page one story and ignited a firestorm, the D.C. City Council threatened to revoke the DAR’s real estate tax exemption. As more publicity erupted, King accepted that Ferguson should have been admitted and said her application to join the DAR was handled “inappropriately.”
Representing Ferguson free of charge, lawyers from the old line Washington law firm of Hogan & Hartson began working with King to develop optimistic ways of ensuring that blacks will not be discriminated against when applying for membership. The DAR changed its bylaws to bar discrimination “on the basis of race or creed.” King announced a resolution to recognize “the heroic contributions of black patriots in the American Revolution.” As a result of the Washington Post story, not only was Ferguson, a retired school secretary, admitted to the DAR, she became chairman and founder of the D.C. DAR Scholarship Committee. Ferguson died in March 2004 at the age of 75. “I wanted to honor my mother and father as well as my black and white heritage,” Mrs. Ferguson told Kessler after being admitted. “And I want to give confidence other black women to embrace their own rich history, because we’re all Americans.”
Asked if the DAR considers bias against blacks by its local chapters to be acceptable, she said, “If you give a dinner party, and someone insisted on coming and you didn’t want them, what would you do?” King continued, “Being black is not the only reason why some people have not been accepted into chapters. There are other reasons: divorce, spite, neighbors’ dislike. I would say being black is very far down the line. There are a lot of people who are troublemakers. You wouldn’t want them in there because they could cause some problems.” After that explanation ran in a page one story and ignited a firestorm, the D.C. City Council threatened to revoke the DAR’s real estate tax exemption. As more publicity erupted, King accepted that Ferguson should have been admitted and said her application to join the DAR was handled “inappropriately.”
Representing Ferguson free of charge, lawyers from the old line Washington law firm of Hogan & Hartson began working with King to develop optimistic ways of ensuring that blacks will not be discriminated against when applying for membership. The DAR changed its bylaws to bar discrimination “on the basis of race or creed.” King announced a resolution to recognize “the heroic contributions of black patriots in the American Revolution.” As a result of the Washington Post story, not only was Ferguson, a retired school secretary, admitted to the DAR, she became chairman and founder of the D.C. DAR Scholarship Committee. Ferguson died in March 2004 at the age of 75. “I wanted to honor my mother and father as well as my black and white heritage,” Mrs. Ferguson told Kessler after being admitted. “And I want to give confidence other black women to embrace their own rich history, because we’re all Americans.”
1 comment:
What's this a review from? I found this interesting, as I was always told I was DAR from my mother and father's side, except I was illigetimate.
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