Flaxie Madison Pinkett | |
|---|---|
 Flaxie M. Pinkett, from a 1964 publication of the US State Department | |
| Born | Saint Louis, Missouri |
| Died | 1995 |
| Occupation(s) | Realtor, corporate executive, college founder |
Flaxie Madison Pinkett (died May 1995) was an African American philanthropist and businesswoman based in the United States. [1] She received a Candace Award in 1982 from the National Coalition of 100 Black Women.
Pinkett was born in St. Louis, to John Pinkett Jr. and Flaxie Holcombe Pinkett, but grew up in Atlanta and Washington, D.C., with her five siblings John, Margot, Frances, Charlotte & Charles. [2] She died in 1995 at the age of 77.
Pinkett went to Dunbar High School. [3] She was admitted to Howard University at the age of 14.
While in school at Howard University, Pinkett began working at her father's real estate and insurance firm, John R. Pinkett Inc. [3] 25 years later, she became president and board chairman of the organization from 1958 until her retirement in 1985. Her father founded it in 1932. [1] She was the first African American woman, and one of the first African Americans, to be admitted into the Washington Board of Realtors. The organization had previously denied her father because he was African American. She went on to serve on the organization's board of directors. [1] In 1972, she was appointed the civilian aide to Army Secretary Clifford Alexander. [4] In 1983, she became the elected president of the Greater Washington Board of Trade, but retired before she assumed the presidency. [1] [5] Over the course of her career, she served on many boards of directors, including Potomac Electric Power Co., Columbia First Savings and Loan, First American Bank, and the D.C. Chamber of Commerce. [1]
Pinkett worked in over 25 civic organizations. She was chairman of the board of the D.C. Board of Higher Education. She was also one of the three founders of Federal City College, which was eventually incorporated into the University of the District of Columbia. She was a trustee of George Washington University. She was also the president and founder of the D.C. Citizens for Better Education. Additionally, she was vice president of the Washington Urban League. [3] [1]
In 1968, Pinkett was national committeewoman for Robert F. Kennedy's presidential campaign. She also campaigned actively against the Vietnam War. She also advocated for nationwide progress in African American civil rights. [3] SHe was active as a Democratic national committeewoman for the District of Columbia. She was also a member of D.C.'s Democratic Central Committee. In 1974, she was secretary to Walter E. Washington's campaign for D.C.'s first elected mayor. [1] She was an active fundraiser and political advisor for political candidates. She also served on the United States Commission on Civil Rights. [1]
In 1975, Pinkett was named the Realtor of the Year by the Washington Board of Realtors. [1] Also that same year, she was named Washingtonian of the Year by the Washingtonian. [6] In 1981, she was the first African American woman, as well as the first African American, to be the Greater Washington Board of Trade's "Man of the Year." [1] In 1982, she received the Candace Award. She received the National Brotherhood Citation from the National Conference of Christians and Jews. She was honored by Washington, D.C., with a Distinguished Public Service Award. She also received the Whitney M. Young Jr. Memorial Award for Outstanding Services to Minority Community Life. Additionally, she received the Outstanding Achievement in Business and Community Affairs Award from Howard University. [1]
Flaxie Madison Pinkett's page on the D.C. Community Heritage Project
Marian Wright Edelman is an American activist for civil rights and children's rights. She is the founder and president emerita of the Children's Defense Fund. She influenced leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr.
Patricia Roberts Harris was an American politician, diplomat and legal scholar. She served as the 6th United States secretary of housing and urban development from 1977 to 1979 and as the 13th United States secretary of health and human services from 1979 to 1981 under President Jimmy Carter. She previously served as the United States ambassador to Luxembourg from 1965 to 1967 under President Lyndon B. Johnson. Throughout her public career, Harris was a trailblazer for women and people of color to hold a number of positions, including the first African-American woman and woman of color ever to serve in a presidential cabinet and the first woman and person of color appointed to two different presidential cabinet positions. She was the first African-American HHS secretary and just the second black HUD secretary, as well as the second woman to lead either of those executive departments. Furthermore, she was the first black woman U.S. ambassador, the dean of a U.S. law school, and a member of a Fortune 500 company's board of directors. A member of the Democratic Party, she ran for mayor of the District of Columbia in the 1982 mayoral election but was defeated during the primaries, ultimately finishing second to incumbent mayor Marion Barry.
Dorothy Irene Height was an African American civil rights and women's rights activist. She focused on the issues of African American women, including unemployment, illiteracy, and voter awareness. Height is credited as the first leader in the civil rights movement to recognize inequality for women and African Americans as problems that should be considered as a whole. She was the president of the National Council of Negro Women for 40 years. Height's role in the "Big Six" civil rights movement was frequently ignored by the press due to sexism. In 1974, she was named to the National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavioral Research, which published the Belmont Report, a bioethics report in response to the infamous "Tuskegee Syphilis Study.
Constance Baker Motley was an American jurist and politician, who served as a Judge of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Anna Julia Haywood Cooper was an American author, educator, sociologist, speaker, Black liberation activist, and one of the most prominent African-American scholars in United States history.
Johnnetta Betsch Cole is an American anthropologist, educator, museum director, and college president. Cole was the first female African-American president of Spelman College, a historically black college, serving from 1987 to 1997. She was president of Bennett College from 2002 to 2007. During 2009–2017 she was Director of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of African Art.
Linda Washington Cropp is an American politician from Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. She was a Democratic member of the Council of the District of Columbia, where she was the first woman to serve as the elected Council Chairman. On September 12, 2006, she lost the Democratic Primary for Mayor to Adrian Fenty. This loss came in spite of the fact that Cropp had been endorsed by outgoing mayor Anthony A. Williams. She was succeeded as Council Chairman by Vincent C. Gray.
Muriel A. Howard is the former president of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) in Washington, D.C., and served as the seventh president of Buffalo State College in the State University of New York (SUNY) system from 1996 to 2009. Prior to her presidency at Buffalo State College, she was the vice president for public service and urban affairs at the SUNY educational institution, the University at Buffalo, where she worked for 23 years. Howard was educated at public universities in New York State, as well as at Harvard University, where she graduated from the University's Institute of Management. Howard has been a leader and member of many corporate boards of directors; and councils and committees in higher education and city government. Further, she has been the recipient of many awards and honors throughout her career.
Paul Laurence Dunbar High School is a historically black public secondary school located in Washington, D.C. The school was America's first public high school for black students.
Joyce Ann Ladner is an American civil rights activist, author, civil servant, and sociologist.
Nellie May Quander was an incorporator and the first international president of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated. As president for several years, she helped expand the sorority and further its support of African-American women at colleges and in communities. The sorority established a scholarship endowment in her name. The legacy of the sorority has continued to generate social capital for over 112 years.
Dovey Mae Johnson Roundtree was an African-American civil rights activist, ordained minister, and attorney. Her 1955 victory before the Interstate Commerce Commission in the first bus desegregation case to be brought before the ICC resulted in the only explicit repudiation of the "separate but equal" doctrine in the field of interstate bus transportation by a court or federal administrative body. That case, Sarah Keys v. Carolina Coach Company, which Dovey Roundtree brought before the ICC with her law partner and mentor Julius Winfield Robertson, was invoked by Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy during the 1961 Freedom Riders' campaign in his successful battle to compel the Interstate Commerce Commission to enforce its rulings and end Jim Crow laws in public transportation.
Alexandra (Alex) Armstrong is the chairwoman and founder of Armstrong, Fleming, & Moore. Armstrong was the first person to earn the Certified Financial Planner certification in Washington, D.C.
LaSalle Doheny Leffall Jr. was an American surgeon, oncologist, and medical educator. Recognized as very committed to those he served and his profession, he served as the Charles R. Drew Professor of Surgery at Howard University College of Medicine and in leadership positions for several healthcare organizations. He served as president of the American Cancer Society and the American College of Surgeons.
Harrison J. Pinkett was a journalist and civil rights activist in Washington DC and then a lawyer in Omaha, Nebraska. As a journalist, he was the head of the so-called "Press Bureau" and often used the bureau's collective pen name, "P.S. Twister". In 1907, at the recommendation of friends in the NAACP, he moved to Omaha where he frequently worked in civil rights. He served as a first lieutenant in the 92nd Infantry Division in World War I and frequently defended the rights of black soldiers.
The Candace Award is an award that was given from 1982 to 1992 by the National Coalition of 100 Black Women (NCBW) to "Black role models of uncommon distinction who have set a standard of excellence for young people of all races". Candace was the ancient Ethiopian title for queen or empress. "Candace, queen of the Ethiopians" is mentioned in the Bible: Philip meets "a eunuch of great authority" under her reign and converts him to Christianity. The awards ceremony was held each year at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
J. C. Hayward, also known as Jacqueline Hayward Wilson, is an American news anchor who worked for WUSA9 in Washington, D.C. She is best known for being the first female news anchor in Washington, D.C., and the first African American female news presenter.
Kathy J. Warden is an American business executive who serves as chief executive officer and president of Northrop Grumman, as of 2019.
Anise Jenkins is an American activist in the Statehood movement in the District of Columbia and serves as the Executive Director of Stand Up! for Democracy in DC.
On November 8, 2022, a general election was held for the Council of the District of Columbia. Elections were held in four ward districts as well as for Chairperson of the council and two at-large seats.