June 2024

LWCS delivered the keynote address at the South End Historical Society’s Annual Meeting June 26, sharing the history of our organization and current activities. We also provided a detailed update on the restoration of our headquarters at 558 Massachusetts Avenue. When the South End Historical Society was first established in 1966, many of its early meetings were held at our headquarters under the leadership of then LWCS President Dorthy Clarke. We are grateful that our relationship with SEHS has persisted!

June 2024

LWCS hosted its annual meeting June 15 to share with the community highlights and achievements of the year, an update on the restoration project of 558 Massachusetts Ave, and recognize outstanding volunteers. LWCS also announced the renaming of the Maria L. Baldwin Schools to include the name of Sarah Ann Shaw, pioneering journalist, civil rights activities and former past president of LWCS.

May 2024

LWCS received a $711,00 from City of Boston Community Preservation Act (CPA) – the largest grant in the organization’s history. These funds will be directed towards restoring the building’s rear façade and bow area, including the brickwork, window frames, and installation of restored windows. This development builds on the ongoing Phase 1, led by Spencer Preservation Group. Phase 1 focuses on revitalizing the front entry, facade, roof, and historic windows.

May 2024

As part of our ongoing commitment to education, LWCS awarded two deserving college-bound female high school seniors with the Maria L. Baldwin Scholarship on May 18. This year’s scholarship winners were Shaumba-Subira Dbinga-Robinson of Boston Arts Academy and  Sybille Delice of Prospect Hill Academy Charter School. Both will be attending Howard University next fall.

May 2024

LWCS co-hosted an evening reception at the historic Boston Athenaeum on May 22 featuring a viewing of the powerful exhibit: "Framing Freedom: The Harriet Hayden Albums." This exhibit explores a unique perspective on the fight for abolition through the lens of Harriet Hayden, a dedicated abolitionist and documentarian in Boston.

April 2024

LWCS hosted a two-woman running team for the 128th Boston Marathon April 17, 2024, to raise funds for the League. LWCS President Kalimah Redd Knight was one of the runners. The effort raised approximately $14,000 (not including fees) in operating funds.

Photos by Craig Bailey

March 2024

LWCS hosted a women’s history month celebration called “From Suffrage to Selma: Celebrating Black Women’s Fight for Equality” March 17 at Simmons University. The dynamic program featured Castle of our Skins (COOS), a Black arts institution that fosters cultural curiosity and celebrates Black artistry through music. The program also featured re-enactors from the Boston Women’s Heritage Trail and the research of Simmons University Professor Johnnie Hamilton-Mason, PhD., M.S.W., and the Inaugural Visiting Scholar at Embrace Boston. The event spotlighted three generations of Black women – Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin, civil rights leader, suffragist, and journalist; Florida Ruffin Ridley, civil rights leader, journalist and educator; and Coretta Scott King: civil right’s leader and vocalist – all of whom were connected to LWCS.

November 2023

LWCS provided Thanksgiving Day food baskets to families in need affiliated with Sportsmen’s Tennis and Enrichment Center in Dorchester in November 2023.

November 2023

LWCS participated in the Schlesinger Library’s exhibition called “In Their Own Voices: Black Women’s Lives in the Archives,”which ran from November 2023 through March 2024. The exhibit celebrates the power of defining oneself while highlighting the lifework and legacies of Black women whose papers are held in the Schlesinger Library. Schlesinger Library holds  a small collection of the League’s materials, which represent the Library’s first Black women’s group collection.

October 2023

LWCS received a $25,000 grant from the Wege Foundation  in support of much needed operating costs and fundraising efforts.

October 2023

LWCS hosted a kick-off gathering to celebrate the start of restoration of 558 Massachusetts Ave. October 22, 2023. The event featured comments by Byron Rushing who represented the Ninth Suffolk district in the Massachusetts House of Representatives, which includes the South End where LWCS resides, from 1983 to 2019. The gathering also included  Architect Lynne Spencer of Spencer Preservation Group and Scott Calhess of Calhess Restoration & Waterproofing, the contractor.

October 2023

LWCS collaborated with New England Conservatory of School of Music (NEC) for a program called “Embracing Coretta'' at First Parish Church October 28, 2023, to commemorate the 70th anniversary of Coretta Scott King's graduation from NEC. The event raised approximately $1,140 for LWCS.

September 2023

LWCS received an approximately $40,100 Massachusetts Humanities staffing recovery grant to hire a consultant to develop a strategy for fundraising and long-term staffing growth.

September 2023

LWCS participated in the Chester Square Neighborhood Association Community Festival September 18, 2023. LWCS board members staffed a table at the event sharing a pictorial display of the South End from photographers in LWCS’s archival collection.

August 2023

Historic New England Magazine profiled LWCS in its 2023 summer edition. The story focused on LWCS’s remarkable first president Maria L. Baldwin, and its efforts to preserve its headquarters and preserve its collection.

July 2023

The LWCS is the recipient of a Staffing Recovery Grant from Mass Humanities. These grants deliver funding to non-profit organizations to sustain and expand the hours of current staff or to hire new staff to grow humanities programs. Click here to learn more. 

July 2023

Once again, the TrailblazHers Run Co., an all-female run crew in Boston geared toward creating space for women, especially BIPOC women of Boston, raised funds for LWCS through its annual Bra Run, July 16. Click here to learn more.

Photo credit: George Grullon Photography

June 2023

Castle of Our Skins (COOS), a Black arts institution that celebrates Black artistry through music, hosted a  “Harlem rent party” to benefit LWCS at the Nubian Gallery in Roxbury, June 30th, featuring multiple arts and musicians in celebration of the Black artistic and culture tradition. Click here to learn more about Castle of our Skins.

Photo credit: Lauren Miller Photography

On June 16

COOS collaborated with Boston Lyric Opera to host a fundraising event for LWCS, to celebrate Black folk songs, Black women in America, and the layered and multifaceted experience of people belonging to the Black diaspora. The event took place at Hibernian Hall in Nubian Square in Roxbury, and featured the Boston Lyric Opera commissioned work, "The Wanderer’s Tethering," alongside additional selections including Trevor Weston’s “Juba,” Jessie Montgomery’s “Source Code,” and Florence Price’s settings of familiar Negro folk songs for string quartet. ​Together, the collection of music provided a rich tapestry linking the voices of Black creators from the past with those of the present. Click here to learn more about the performance.

Photo credit: Images courtesy of LWCS

May 2023

As part of LWCS’s ongoing commitment to community and education, the League awarded a deserving college-bound female high school senior of African descent the  Maria L. Baldwin Scholarship on May 20. This year’s scholarship winner was Debora Milord of New Mission High School. Debora will attend Northeastern University in fall 2023.

Photo credit: Patrick Sylvain

April 2023

LWCS hosted a two-woman running team for the 127th Boston Marathon held on April 17, 2023, to raise funds for the LWCS.  Congratulations Natasha Richards-Kamara and LWCS President, Kalimah Redd Knight pictured above.

Photo credit: Images courtesy of Natasha Richards-Kamara and Chris Knight

March 2023

As part of Women’s History Month, LWCS shared the history of the League, its Massachusetts Avenue headquarters and extensive collection in a presentation  to Lifelong Learning at Regis College (LLARC) March 16, 2023.

Photo credit: Courtesy of Regis College

January 2023

The League's social justice work earned the organization the "Drum Major Award" presented at the 53rd MLK Memorial Breakfast Committee January 16, 2023. The ceremony featured Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, Massachusetts Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, and Massachusetts Senator Edward Markey. Pictured are LWCS board president Kalimah Redd Knight and LWCS board member Jalene Tamerat Sylvan, along with representatives from St. Cyprians and Union United churches, which have held the breakfast for 53 years, and Senator Markey.

January 2023

LWCS launched a collaboration with Harvard Radcliffe Institute’s Schlesinger Library on January 9, 2023, to preserve and digitize a marquee item in its collection. The commemorative “Personal War Sketches” book features members of the Robert A. Bell Post 134, Grand Army of the Republic, which was composed of the 54th and 55th and Massachusetts Regiments and the 5th Massachusetts Cavalry – military units exclusively of Black soldiers.

December 2022

During the fall of 2022, LWCS collaborated with a Northeastern University service-learning Black feminism course taught by Dr. Regine Jean-Charles, a professor and chair of the Africana Studies department, to create a digital project on the LWCS founders and its affiliates. The class researched, wrote mini biographies, and presented on five outstanding women associated with the League. Their important work will help educate the public about the lives and contributions of these historic women. The course ended December 7, 2023 with a capstone presentation on the students’ research.

Photo credit: Images courtesy of LWCS

December 2022

The League received Historic New England's 2022 Prize for Collecting Works on Paper this fall, and presented information about the League at HNE's award night ceremony December 6, 2022. The prize focused on LWCS’s historic holdings including a “Personal War Sketches” book, which documents first-hand accounts of Black veterans who served in the 54th, 55th and 5th Massachusetts Calvary during the civil war; and a rare copy of journalist Ida B. Wells’ first anti-lynching pamphlet, Southern Horrors: Lynch Law in All its Phases (1892), both considered works of major historical importance. Said Historic New England of the collection: "The committee was impressed by the extraordinary work that [the League] has been doing since 1919 and the great care that it has taken to ensure that the archives is properly cared for, cataloged, and accessible to the public at Simmons University."

Beginning in October, the League collaborated with the Boston City Archaeology team to conduct an archaeological dig at its headquarters at 558 Massachusetts Ave. in what will be the first archaeological dig in the South End neighborhood. The dig aims to find out more about the lives and activities of the two families who lived at the home and the early League History. The archaeologists will also be looking for any evidence in support of Underground Railroad history. Click here to learn more.

This summer, the League was the recipient of a fundraiser featuring more than 300 women who laced up their sneakers for the 5th annual Bra Run, sponsored by TrailblazHers Run Co., an all-female running club in Boston geared toward creating space for women, especially BIPOC women, of Boston and beyond. The run, which is designed to celebrate body positivity and fitness, raised more than $3,325 for the League, mostly through $25 donations. Click here to learn more.

This spring, the League was the subject of a pop-up exhibit and presentation by Simmons University Professor Johnnie Hamilton-Mason highlighting the League’s history, especially the women who boarded at 558 Massachusetts in the 1940s and 1950s. LWCS is collaborating with KingBoston and Simmons to conduct an ethnographic qualitative study on the organization. The project will highlight reasons why an autonomous Black women’s organization was both necessary and generative. It also will also provide crucial information about the limits of normative feminism during this era and how Black women framed their lives with an awareness of multiple oppressions and strategies for surviving and flourishing.

As part of the League’s ongoing commitment to community and education, three deserving college-bound female high school seniors of African descent were awarded with $500 Maria L. Baldwin Scholarships this spring. Among the young women who received scholarships were Sapientia Delius, a graduate of New Mission High School who will attend UMASS Boston; Mia Prince, a graduate of the John D. O’Bryant School of Math and Science who will attend the University of Kentucky; and Donajae Small, a graduate of English High School who will attend Clark Atlanta University. Congratulations ladies!