W. Gertrude Brown set to be honored

Ms. W Gertrude Brown Day will be celebrated at the Hosmer Community Library July 14, 2003. Ms. Brown, social activist, is remembered for her work with the Phyllis Wheatley Settlement House and the impact she had on many lives in Minneapolis from 1924 to 1937.

Arriving in Minneapolis in 1924, she came to head the Phyllis Wheatley Settlement House to work with the approximately 4,000 African Americans who lived in the city. Her purpose was to provide a recreational and temporary housing facility when blacks were not allowed to stay in Minneapolis hotels, boarding houses, or University of Minnesota dormitory housing.

Through the work of middle-class black women and Miss Brown, the Phyllis Wheatley House built an unlikely alliance with benevolent middle-class white women who were of some financial means or social influence. This unlikely alliance assisted young black men and women through the doors of education and professions previously closed to them. It also provided the black community a safe public space for their own social, educational and entertainment activities and gave them some reprieve from the harsh realities of segregation. As a "hotel" for out-of-town visitors due to lack of accommodations for blacks, artists performing at the University such as Langston Hughes, Marian Anderson, Duke Ellington and Roland Hayes would stay at Phyllis Wheatley. Many civil rights organizations held meetings and many activists gave speeches at the house as well.

Many local and national black leaders were influenced by Miss Brown, Mr. Harry Davis, Mr. Larry Brown and Miss Barbara Cyrus recalled her as a strict but affectionate disciplinarian. Proper dress was always required for appropriate occasions. She was also a recreation advocate and, as Mr. Davis recalled, the Phyllis Wheatley Settlement House produced statewide amateur championships in men's and women's baseball, basketball, and men's boxing programs.

For these reasons we honor Miss W. Gertrude Brown at the Hosmer Community Library on July 14, 2003 and proclaim that day as "Miss W. Gertrude Brown Day."