Guide to the The Childs Family Collection on Daisy Lampkin 1928-1997
- Repository
- Heinz History Center
- Title
- The Childs Family Collection on Daisy Lampkin
- Creator
- Childs Family.
- Collection Number
- MSS 0657
- Extent
- 3.50 linear feet (5 boxes)
- Date
- 1928-1997
- Abstract
- Daisy Lampkin was a charter member of the National Council of Negro Women, served as president of the Pittsburgh chapter of the Lucy Stone Civic League, and was the first female elected to the NAACP Board of Directors. She also served as vice-president of the Pittsburgh Courier for 35 years. The Childs Family Collection on Daisy Lampkin consists of awards, documents pertaining to the creation of her historical marker, 100th anniversary materials commemorating her birth, a number of newspaper clippings, and a variety of photographs.
- Language
- The material in this collection is in English.
- Sponsor
- This collection has been made accessible as part of an NHPRC-funded Basic Processing grant.
- Publisher
- Heinz History Center
- Address
- 1212 Smallman St.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15222
library@heinzhistorycenter.org
URL: https://www.heinzhistorycenter.org
History
Daisy Lampkin (Adams) was born in Washington, D.C., in 1883, but grew up and attended high school in Reading, Pa. She moved to Pittsburgh in 1909, where she met and married William Lampkin in 1912, a union which lasted for over 50 years.
Daisy Lampkin devoted her adult life to enhancing racial and gender equality throughout American society. As an activist within the women's suffrage movement, Lampkin helped to organize the Pittsburgh chapter of the Lucy Stone Civic League in 1915, a society of black women that supported the suffragettes (and later, gender equality), and served as its president for 40 years. She served on the board of the National Association of Colored Women, and assisted Mary McLeod-Bethune in founding the National Council of Negro Women in 1935. Daisy Lampkin also served as vice president of the Pittsburgh Courier, the most widely circulated African American newspaper of the twentieth century, from 1929 until her death.
She was instrumental in organizing the Pittsburgh branch of the NAACP in the 1920s. Lampkin helped to bring the NAACP national convention to Pittsburgh in 1931, and expanded involvement within the black community by holding successful membership campaigns. A 1929 drive which she organized increased local membership by roughly 2,000 individuals. As a result, Lampkin was asked to spearhead other membership drives throughout the region, and eventually the nation. She served as regional field secretary from 1930 through 1935, and worked as national field secretary from 1935 to 1947. Lampkin was elected to the NAACP board of directors in 1947, a position she held until 1964. The National Council of Negro Women recognized her for building the largest membership enrollment in NAACP history in a 1944 honor, and that same year the NAACP render="italic"">Bulletin noted that she had raised more money than anyone as the second longest tenured NAACP executive.
Among other initiatives, she strove for integration, supported anti-lynching legislation, and established a youth division within the NAACP. In 1956, Lampkin helped to organize the Pittsburgh chapter of Links, Inc., an African-American women's organization whose philanthropic activities benefit youth, the arts, and the NAACP. Lampkin was active in political circles, serving as vice-chair for both the Colored Voters Division of the Republican Party and the Negro Voters League of Pennsylvania. Additionally, she was the first black woman elected delegate-at-large from Pennsylvania to the Republican National Convention. She was an honorary member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, and in 1964 she received the first Eleanor Roosevelt-Mary McLeod-Bethune World Citizenship Award from the National Council of Negro Women.
Locally, Daisy Lampkin was an involved member of the Pittsburgh community. Among her other commitments, she was a member of the Pittsburgh Chapter of the American Red Cross, the Pittsburgh Urban League, the Council of Churches, and Hill City, a local youth initiative. She and her husband served as godparents to Romaine Childs, and adopted her after her mother died in 1924. Earl Douglas Childs, son of Romaine and Earl Childs, is Daisy Lampkin's only grandchild.
Daisy Lampkin suffered a stroke while conducting an NAACP membership drive in New Jersey in December of 1964. She died on March 10, 1965. She was honored in 1983 with the placement of a historical marker outside of her Webster Avenue home, the first African American women in Pennsylvania history to receive such an honor.
Scope and Content Notes
The Childs Family Collection on Daisy Lampkin consists of awards received by Daisy Lampkin, documents of the committee requesting an historical marker in her honor in 1983, 100th anniversary materials commemorating her birth in 1883, personal documents, a number of newspaper clippings, and a variety of photographs.
Series I: Daisy and William Lampkin's personal papers, Box 1 (1920s-1980s)
This series includes an invitation to the inauguration of President Roosevelt in 1945, letters to Lampkin from the Department of Commerce in 1931 and the Pennsylvania State legislature in 1924, and NAACP "Stop Lynching" pins. There is a 1957 Links, Inc., handbook annotated by Lampkin, a Delta Sigma Theta songbook, and a testimonial dinner program and guestbook from Lampkin's testimonial dinner held at the Hotel Webster Hall in Pittsburgh in 1957.
Series II: Awards, Box 2 (1928-1997)
This series includes awards, and records documenting some of those awards, received by Lampkin during her life, as well as several awarded posthumously. An oversized certificate recognizes her Eleanor Roosevelt-Mary McLeod-Bethune World Citizenship award from 1964. She also received an honorary Allegheny County Republican Party Distinguished Achievement Award in 1997 recognizing her political endeavors throughout her life. The Allegheny County Commissioner's named September 18-24th, 1983, Daisy Lampkin week, reflected in correspondence. There are also several honorary certificates from 1953.
Series III: Commemorative Materials, Boxes 3-4 (1930s-1990s)
A large portion of the collection consists of records of the Friends of Daisy Lampkin Committee, directed by her heir Romaine Childs, a friend's daughter the Lampkins helped to raise. These papers include correspondence, receipts, commitment letters, and membership lists. These materials are focused on the committee's efforts, lead by Childs, to earn Daisy Lampkin an honorary historical marker to commemorate her life. There is a copy of the December 1980, 70th anniversary edition of The Crisis, with a commemorative article about Daisy Lampkin, as well as centennial anniversary materials marking her birth, including a copy of the Pennsylvania Heritage with a piece titled "Daisy Lampkin: A Life of Love and Service." The papers also contain several Pittsburgh Courier editions from 1983, numerous newspaper clippings from publications around the country dating from the late 1930s and early 1940s, and two Pittsburgh Press editions from March 11th and 12th, 1965. There is also a program from the 88th National N.A.A.C.P Convention held in Pittsburgh in 1997.
Series IV: Photographs, Box 5 (1920s-1990s)
The photographs contained in the collection document Lampkin's involvement within the black community, interaction with family members, and the 1983 historical maker dedication. There are also several photographs of Lampkin with Walter White and Thurgood Marshall. Several rolled photographs include images of the executive board of the National Association of Colored Women in Chicago in 1928; the second conference on the problems of the Negro and Negro youth in 1939; and an N.A.A.C.P. tribute dinner to Roy Wilkins from 1962.
Oversized materials consist of Pittsburgh Courier pages containing a Robert L. Vann memoriam from 1940, Lampkin's Eleanor Roosevelt-Mary McLeod-Bethune World Citizenship award from 1964, and a 1983 Pittsburgh Courier article titled "Daisy Lampkin Commemorated by State."
Arrangement
The Childs Family Collection on Daisy Lampkin is housed in 5 boxes arranged into four series:
- Box 1: Series I. Daisy and William Lampkin's personal papers (1920s-1980s)
- Box 2: Series II. Awards (1928-1997)
- Boxes 3 and 4: Series III. Commemorative Materials (1930s-1990s)
- Box 5: Series IV. Photographs (1920s-1990s)
Conditions Governing Access
None.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift from Earl Douglas Childs in 2010.
Archives accession # 2010.0119
Preferred Citation
The Childs Family Collection on Daisy Lampkin, 1928-1997, MSS 0657 , Thomas and Katherine Detre Library and Archives, Senator John Heinz History Center
Processing Information
Preliminary processing by Alex J. Toner on 11/15/11. none.
Conditions Governing Use
Property rights reside with the Senator John Heinz History Center. Literary rights are retained by the creators of the records and their heirs. For permission to reproduce or publish, please contact the Thomas and Katherine Detre Library and Archives of the Senator John Heinz History Center.
Related Materials
Records of Links, Inc., MSS 0228, Library and Archives Division, Senator John Heinz History Center
Separated Materials
Oversized materials consisting of newspaper pages and an award certificate.
Subjects
- National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
- National Council of Negro Women.
- Pittsburgh Courier
- Pittsburgh (Pa.)
- Hill District (Pittsburgh, Pa.)
- African Americans -- Pennsylvania