Willie Mae Allen was successful in her bid to take over the seat vacated by Soror Owen-Hicks. She has been an elected member of the Democratic State Committee (20 years), Massachusetts Electoral College and Massachusetts Women Legislative Caucus Executive Board. She is the author of the Willie Allen Amendment, referred to as the Delegate add-on amendment which ensures minority representation at the Massachusetts Democratic State Convention. She is proud of her 1st cousin, James Clyburn, US Majority Whip, of their birth state, South Carolina.

 

The Honorable Denise Jefferson Casper took the oath of office as the newest United States District Court Judge for the District of Massachusetts on February 18, 2011. Judge Casper graduated from Wesleyan University in 1990 and is also a graduate of Harvard Law School in 1994. Nominated by President Barack Obama on April 28, 2010, Judge Casper was confirmed by the United States Senate on December 17, 2010. Notably, Judge Casper is the first black woman to sit on the federal bench in the District of Massachusetts. Prior to her appointment, Judge Casper served for four years as the Deputy District Attorney for Middlesex County, the largest county in New England, where she had the responsibilities of overseeing a staff of 100 prosecutors. Judge Casper also spent six years as an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, including as the Deputy Chief of the United States Attorney’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force. Prior to becoming a prosecutor, Judge Casper was a litigator at what is now Bingham McCutchen LLP and a law clerk to two members of the Massachusetts Appeals Court. She also worked in a law firm that services  payment processing industry.

 

Helen Young Davis in widowhood, made her husband’s prosperous funeral business even more successful for over 60 years. She was an extremely prominent businesswoman and community leader serving on numerous boards in Metropolitan Boston. She served as a trustee to her beloved alma mater, Fisk University along with her classmate and confidant, John Hope Franklin, until her passing in 2008 at the age of 96.

 

State Representative, Shirley Owens Hicks served her constituency for 20 years before retiring in 2006. She first served on the Boston School Committee for 4 years before moving to the Massachusetts House of Representatives. During her tenure at the State House, Soror Owens-Hicks was the first black woman to chair that body’s committee on Education, Arts, and Humanities. She was the first Chairwoman to serve on the newly created Committee on Children and Families.

 

Glendora McIIwain Putnam has received recognition as a Living Legend from the Museum of African American History. Ms. Putnam has served as Massachusetts Asst. Attorney General for civil rights; Chair, Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination; National President of the YWCA, Chair of the Board of Trustees at Bennett College. She has countless honors, but is mainly recognized as a top civil rights lawyer.

 

July 1, 2004, Jackie Jenkins Scott became the 13th President of Wheelock College. Before ascending to the presidency, Ms. Jenkins-Scott served for over 20 years as the President and CEO of Dimock Community Health Center in Roxbury- making it a renewed and successfully viable organization. Her commitment to community shows in her membership on the boards of The Boston Foundation, the John F. Kennedy Library, the Boston Plan for Excellence and WGBH public radio, among others.