ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — During Women’s History Month we’re introducing the stories of women in the Tampa Bay area who have broken barriers and glass ceilings in ways that impact countless people.
What You Need To Know
Dr. Mary McColud Bethune founded the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) in 1935. In 1946, Fannye Ayer Ponder charted the St. Petersburg Metropolitan Section
The National Council of Negro Women house in St. Pete was meant to uplift women when it opened nearly 90 years ago, and the legacy continues
March is Women’s History Month
In one St. Petersburg community, there is a building where women’s history is in the walls, the furniture and foundation of a place that celebrates Women’s History Month every month.
It was a place necessary to help uplift a group of women when it opened almost 90 years ago. And it’s still a place the women there say is needed now.
Inside of this historic house in South St. Pete is where history makers have sat for generations.
Clarice Pennington has been here to witness it all.
“I was a little girl with Mrs. Ponder and I just stayed with the organization as it grew and participated,” she said.
Dr. Mary McCloud Bethune founded the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) in 1935. In 1946, Fannye Ayer Ponder charted the St. Petersburg Metropolitan Section.
“Pat Ponder. Little Pat. She was all about business but yet she knew how to gather us together and teach us,” Pennington said. “Teaching, she was a little teacher and the example of how a young lady should be.”
Pennington’s lifelong membership to this organization is an example of what National Council of Negro Women represents. The 89-year-old is now Bishop Pennington. She said It was a very different time for Black women when she worked as teacher, counselor and principal before going into ministry. She never left her post as a member at NCNW.
“It was sticktoitiveness,” she said. “Black women in the organization, sticking together, working together. Being exposed to different things in the community that would benefit us as Black women and not backing down.”
As a history maker in her own right in the technology community for being the first in her roles with development and programming, this was a place Lynn Harrell Johnson knew she had to be part of when she joined seven years ago. Now she’s the president of the chapter.
“Our organization, our mission is to advocate, lead and support African American women and their families. But throughout the community we have a relationship with everyone because once we go into the community, we are in service to everyone,” said Harrell Johnson.
For Harrell Johnson and other members, NCNW is a community service organization.
They not only host the city’s largest Martin Luther King breakfast celebration, but they also offer meals, health screenings for women and educational programs for children. All while serving as a space for Black women and members like Dorothy Milton, who are dedicated to helping the next generation.
“Just to get our local girls, the Black pearls to understand the history and know those people and what they did and how we got here and the accomplishments that it took to get the house the way it is and to nurture it and keep it going,” Milton said.
It’s the best way to honor this organization, the house and the women like Pennington, recognizing their house and this month is her story, their history.