Pamela Rouse Wright | |
---|---|
46th President General of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution | |
Assumed office July 3, 2022 | |
Preceded by | Denise Doring VanBuren |
Personal details | |
Born | Pamela Hilda Edwards Rouse Georgia,U.S. |
Spouse | John Griffin Wright |
Children | 2 |
Education | Ouachita Baptist University University of Arkansas Gemological Institute of America |
Occupation | philanthropist,businesswoman,jewelry designer,clubwoman |
Awards | Yellow Rose of Texas Award |
Website | pamelawright.com |
Pamela Hilda Edwards Rouse Wright is an American philanthropist,clubwoman,businesswoman,and jewelry designer. Since 2022,she has served as the President General of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution. She is the second Texan to serve as the national society's president general.
Under Wright's presidency,the Daughters of the American Revolution passed an amendment to their bylaws in June 2023 that protects transgender women from being denied membership in the organization based on their biological sex,so long as their birth certificates have been updated to match their gender identity. At the 2023 DAR Continental Congress,Wright stated that denying membership to applicants based on biological sex,when an individual's birth certificate has been changed to reflect their gender identity,is discrimination and against the organization's bylaws.
In 2022,Wright was presented with the Yellow Rose of Texas Award by Governor Greg Abbott for charitable contributions and volunteerism in Texas.
Wright was born and raised in Georgia. [1] She is the daughter of Charles Benjamin Rouse Sr. and Wauneithe Mitchell Rouse. [2] Her father,a Korean War veteran,was a recipient of the Good Conduct Medal,the China Service Medal,the Navy Occupation Service Medal,the United Nations Service Medal Korea,and the Korean Service Medal with six stars. [2]
Wright's great-grandfather,Carlo Bucci,immigrated to the United States in the 1870s from the Campobasso Province in Italy and Anglicanized his name to Charles Walter Smith. [3] She is a descendant of Pvt. Reuben Roberts,Sr.,who served under the command of George Washington during the American Revolutionary War. [1] She also descends from thirteen other American colonists who served or provided aid for American independence. [4]
She graduated magna cum laude from Ouachita Baptist University and attended graduate school at the University of Arkansas. [4] She received certifications through the Gemological Institute of America and the International Society of Appraisers. [4]
Wright is the founder and owner of a jewelry and luxury goods company based in Houston. [4] She is the co-founder of Wright Pawn &Jewelry. [5] [6] As a jewelry designer,her clients have included First Ladies of Texas and of the United States,as well as other wives of prominent American politicians. [4] She designed the Texas Front Porch pin,which was selected by Texas First Lady Anita Thigpen Perry as a sale item to benefit the Texas Governor's Mansion Restoration Fund. [4] Wright transitioned the Daughters of the American Revolution Insignia Store from an outside commercial vendor to an in-house operation. [4]
Wright was the third generation of her family to join the Daughters of the American Revolution,as her mother and grandmother were also members. She joined the national society as a member of the Lady Washington Chapter in Houston,Texas. [1] She participated in her first Texas State Conference of the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1988. [1]
In 1999,she became the Centennial Regent of the Lady Washington Chapter. [1] In 2012,she was appointed as the State Regent of Texas. [7] Under her leadership as State Regent,the organization's membership in Texas increased to more than 18,000. [4] She was elected to national office in 2016 as the Chaplain General. [1] In 2018,Wright was elected to serve as First Vice President General and,on July 3,2022,she was elected and installed as the 46th President General of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution. [8] [9] She is the second woman from Texas to serve as President General. [10]
In January 2023,Wright personally invited Serena Ferguson,the daughter of Lena Lorraine Santos Ferguson,who was denied membership to the organization in the 1980s because of their racist policies at the time,to join the Daughters of the American Revolution and created the Lena Ferguson Scholarship to benefit students at the University of the District of Columbia. [11] Wright commissioned a memorial plaque,in honor of Lena Ferguson,that was placed in the memorial garden at DAR Constitution Hall. [11]
In March 2023,Wright unveiled a new plaque at The Old Burial Ground in Sturbridge,Massachusetts that honors sixty-four Revolutionary War patriots who are buried there. [12]
In April 2023,in her capacity as President General,Wright presented state awards to students who partook in a historical essay contest hosted by the Colonel David Hall Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution in Delaware. [13]
Under Wright's administration,the Daughters of the American Revolution passed an amendment to the society's bylaws in June 2023 that states the organization cannot discriminate on the basis of gender,religion,or sexual orientation. The amendment was voted on at the 2023 DAR Continental Congress,which was held in Washington,D.C.. [14] [15] At the congress,Jennifer Mease,a DAR delegate from the Liberty Bell Chapter in Pennsylvania,inquired whether chapters could vote against admitting a new member on the basis of their sex if the applicant was born male and they had changed their birth certificates to indicate they were female. [16]
Wright responded to Mease's inquiry by stating "if a person’s certified birth certificate states ‘female,’they are eligible for membership,and your chapter cannot change that.. if their birth certificate says they are a female,and you vote against them based on their protected class,it's discrimination." [16] [17] In a newsletter released after the congress,Wright wrote,"some have asked if this means a transgender woman can join DAR or if this means that DAR chapters have previously welcomed transgender women. The answer to both questions is,yes." [18]
Wright is the recipient of the Houston Treasure Award and ABC13's Woman of Distinction Award. [4] She was also listed as a STEM Role Model,listed as one of the 50 Most Influential Woman in Houston,listed as one of the 25 Most Beautiful Houstonians,and inducted into the Citizens for Animal Protection's Hall of Fame. [4] [6] She was commissioned a Yellow Rose of Texas Award in 2022 by the Governor Greg Abbott for charitable contributions and volunteerism. [4]
Wright is a Southern Baptist and attends Second Baptist Church Houston. [19]
She is married to John Griffin "Jack" Wright,whom she met in college,and has two children and eight grandchildren,who are all members of the Children of the American Revolution. [4] [2]
The National Society Daughters of the American Revolution,DAR or NSDAR,is a lineage-based membership service organization for women who are directly descended from a person involved in supporting the American Revolution. A non-profit group,the organization promotes education and patriotism. Its membership is limited to direct lineal descendants of soldiers or others of the American Revolution era who aided the revolution and its subsequent war. Applicants must be at least 18 years of age and have a birth certificate indicating that their gender is female. DAR has over 190,000 current members in the United States and other countries. The organization's motto is "God,Home,and Country".
William Pettus Hobby was known as the publisher/owner of the Beaumont Enterprise when he entered politics and the Democratic Party. Elected in 1914 as Lieutenant Governor of Texas,in 1917 he succeeded to become 27th Governor of the U.S. state of Texas,after James Edward "Pa" Ferguson was impeached and forced to resign. In 1918,Hobby won the office in his own right,serving a full term.
The Sons of the American Revolution (SAR),formally the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution (NSSAR),is a federally chartered patriotic organization. The National Society,a nonprofit corporation headquartered in Louisville,Kentucky,was formed on April 30,1889,in New York City. Its objectives are to maintain and extend "the institutions of American freedom,an appreciation for true patriotism,a respect for our national symbols,the value of American citizenship,[and] the unifying force of 'e pluribus unum' that has created,from the people of many nations,one nation and one people."
Katharine Lorenz Pratt Horton was the President of the City Federation of Women's Clubs in Buffalo,New York,and regent of the Buffalo,New York,chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution from 1901 to 1930.
Cornelia "Nellie" Cole Fairbanks was the wife of Charles W. Fairbanks,the 26th vice president of the United States. During her husband's tenure she held the unofficial position of the second lady of the United States from 1905 to 1909. She was at the forefront of the women's suffrage movement and considered a pathfinder to politics for American women in the 20th and 21st centuries.
Helena Rebecca Hellwig Pouch was an American female tennis player and served as the 18th President General of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
Phyllis Randolph Frye is an associate judge for the municipal courts in Houston,Texas. Frye is the first openly transgender judge appointed in the United States.
Emily May Gibson Braerton was an American activist who was an early advocate of historic preservation in the western United States. She was the Vice President General for the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) from 1950–1953 and remained an Honorary Vice President General until her death in Santa Ana,California in 1966. She was a member of the DAR's Peace Pipe Chapter and served as Colorado State Regent from 1950–1953.
Mary Eleanor Brackenridge was one of three women on the first board of regents at Texas Woman's University,the first women in the state of Texas to sit on a governing board of any university. She was active in women's clubs and was a co-founder of the Woman's Club of San Antonio. Brackenridge was a leader in Texas suffrage organizations and helped get the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution passed. She was the first woman in San Antonio to register to vote. Although it's the Brackenridge name in Texas that is associated with wealth,philanthropy and achievement,Brackenridge qualified as a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution through her mother's lineage. Miss Brackenridge was a founding member and the first Regent of the oldest DAR chapter in San Antonio,the San Antonio de Bexar Chapter,established on December 11,1902.
Eugenia Scholay Washington was an American historian,civil servant,and a founder of the lineage societies,Daughters of the American Revolution and Daughters of the Founders and Patriots of America.
Catharine H. T. Avery was an American author,editor,and educator of the long nineteenth century. Of Revolutionary ancestry and hailing from Michigan,she was founder and regent of the Western Reserve Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR),of Cleveland,Ohio;Vice-president General of its National Society;and editor of the National Society's official organ,the American Monthly. She also served two years as a member of the Cleveland School Board,being the first woman in Ohio chosen to an elective office.
Denise Doring VanBuren is an American civil leader and clubwoman. She was the 45th President General of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution from 2019 to 2022.
Florence Anderson Clark was an American author,newspaper editor,librarian,and university administrator. She served for 14 years as assistant librarian at the University of Texas (UT),and in honor for her service to the university,she was first woman to have her portrait hung in the university's Main Tower. Clark was affiliated with several organizations,including the Daughters of the American Revolution (D.A.R),Colonial Dames of America,and United Daughters of the Confederacy.
Mary Parke Foster was the 3rd President General of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution and wife of John W. Foster,U.S. Secretary of State under President Benjamin Harrison.
Lynn Forney Young is an American civil leader and clubwoman. She was the 43rd President General of the Daughters of the American Revolution,serving from 2013 to 2016. As the organization's president general,she oversaw a $4 million restoration of DAR Constitution Hall,led the organization in setting a Guinness World Record for "most letters to military personnel collected in one month" with 100,904 letters to members of the United States Armed Forces,and met with Elizabeth II during an event to launch a project to digitilize the Royal Archives of George III.
Ann Turner Dillon is an American clubwoman who served as the 44th President General of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
Sarah Emily Corbin Robert served as the 17th President General of the Daughters of the American Revolution and was a noted authority on parliamentary procedure.
Elizabeth Newkirk Seimes served as the 27th President General of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
Anne Rogers Minor was an American clubwoman,innkeeper,and landscape painter. She was national president of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) from 1920 to 1923,and the first New England woman to hold that position.
Lena Lorraine Santos Ferguson was an American secretary and Civil Rights advocate. Ferguson was denied membership to a local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1980 due to her race,after applying multiple times. She was admitted to the organization as an at-large member in 1983,becoming the second African-American member. Ferguson pushed for the Daughters of the American Revolution to revise their national bylaws,leading to the organization banning discrimination based on race. She later founded,and served as chair,of the D.C. DAR Scholarship Committee. Ferguson was honored with a memorial plaque in the garden at DAR Constitution Hall.