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Uncrowned
Queens Project
Directed
By
Barbara
A. Seals Nevergold
and Peggy Brooks-Bertram
ABOUT THE UNCROWNED QUEENS PROJECT
At
the end of the 19th century, the City of Buffalo
began making plans to host a major world’s fair.
After years of preparation, the Pan American Exposition
opened in May 1901 and immediately made Buffalo, New York, the
destination for more than 8 million visitors.
The Pan American Exposition was one of the most historic
events to occur in this region during the last century.
Thus given the significance of the Exposition, several
groups in the City of Buffalo and the Western New York Region
proposed a yearlong series of events to observe and celebrate
the centenary of the Pan Am.
One of these groups, the Women’s Pavilion Pan Am 2001,
Inc. was organized to develop and implement projects that
highlighted the role of women in the original Pan American
Exposition and in the commemoration activities of 2001.
Conceived,
in 1999, by co-founders, Barbara Seals Nevergold, Ph.D., and
Peggy Brooks-Bertram, Dr. P.H., Ph.D., the Uncrowned Queens
Project was initially a focus group of the Women’s Pavilion
Pan Am 2001, Inc. The
group’s name, Uncrowned Queens, was derived from a poem
of the same name by Drusilla Dunjee Houston.
Written in 1917 to honor African American Women this poem
conveys the essence of the UQ Project:
acknowledging the contributions and accomplishments of
hundreds of unsung heroines.
The
Project has a dual purpose, however, as it also provides an
extensive examination of the role that the African American
community played in the Pan American Exposition of 1901.
The Uncrowned Queens website provides an historical
overview and photos of the exhibits that purported to represent
Africans and African-Americans at the 1901 Exposition, and of
the activities of Buffalo’s African American community in
response to the Fair. The
site details the nature of these activities as well as the
individuals and specific groups who were participants in these
momentous events. As
such, the Uncrowned Queens Project has compiled a chapter of the
local history of Buffalo’s African American community that has
only received scant attention, to date.
In
their roles as co-chairs of the Uncrowned Queens focus group,
Drs. Brooks-Bertram and Nevergold envisioned the project as a
vehicle to honor the Black women of Western New York who had
lived or live in the era from the Pan American Exposition to the
present. What has
evolved in the weeks and months since the February 2001 official
launch of the Uncrowned Queens website is a dynamic program that
has engaged an entire community and traversed the world via the
World Wide Web.
This
innovative and exciting project utilizes the technology of the
Internet and website development as a principle medium for:
-
A repository and tool for the collection, dissemination
and preservation of the history of individual Black women
and Black women’s organizations, as well as the history of
the Black community of Western New York, in particular that
associated with the Pan American Exposition of 1901,
-
A mechanism to recognize and honor these women for their
accomplishments and contributions to community building,
-
An educational resource for the enhancement of local
history and sociology
-
A community resource that encourages, enhances and helps
to formulate partnerships and collaborations between diverse
sets of organizations, e.g. community based organizations,
civic groups, private and public sector businesses,
educational institutions, faith-based institutions, and
media groups.
This
project has far exceeded the expectations of its founders and
others who expected it would sunset with the Women’s Pavilion
in 2002. However,
the project has received tremendous, documented support.
It is no exaggeration to say that individuals from
Australia to Zimbabwe visit the site regularly.
The site is receiving more than 20,000 hits a month and
the total hits are increasing steadily each month.
Personal anecdotes of the impact of having a biography on
the site are frequently communicated to us.
The site has received four website awards to date for its
“ease of navigation, interesting and well-written content,
professional design and layout, and innovative management.”
Further, the Project and its co- founders, Drs. Nevergold
and Brooks-Bertram have also been the recipients of numerous
community service and recognition awards from various community
organizations.
In
addition to the website, the Uncrowned Queens Project has
stimulated community educational workshops in community based
organizations, universities, colleges, schools and churches.
The first annual Uncrowned Queens sponsored conference, Lifting
as they climbed: one hundred years of community building 1901-2001 was
held November 9, 10 and 11, 2001.
A second conference is planned for November 2002.
A monthly e-mail newsletter provides readers with
up-to-date information on the activities of our
“community-builders” and innovative additions to our
programs.
The
Uncrowned Queens’ co-founders have appeared on countless radio
and television programs and have been interviewed for numerous
newspaper and magazine articles.
Drs. Brooks-Bertram and Nevergold have each authored
papers on the Pan American 1901 experience and will co-author
two planned books: Africans,
Darkies and Negroes: Black
Faces at the Pan American Exposition, Buffalo, New York 1901
and
Uncrowned Queens: African
American Community Builders.
Both publications are due out in 2002.
Future
plans for the Uncrowned Queens Project include incorporation of
the project as an organization that will perpetuate the work
initiated under the original mission and vision.
The Uncrowned Queens Institute for Research and
Education on Women, Inc. is envisioned as an
organization that will conduct research, compile and disseminate
information and provide educational enrichment on issues
concerning and affecting women of color.
In
many respects, the Website speaks for itself.
As a dynamic entity, the website changes continuously as
updates and additional information are added frequently.
Therefore, readers of this short background statement are
encouraged to spend time “surfing” the Uncrowned Queens site
at http://wings.buffalo.edu/uncrownedqueens. |
