City of Philadelphia - File #: 170342

• File #: 170342
• Version: 0
• Type: Resolution
• Status: ADOPTED
• File created: 4/6/2017
• In control: CITY COUNCIL
• Final action: 4/20/2017
• Title: Also naming the 5400 block of Vine Street as "Crystal Bird Fauset Way" in honor of former State Representative Crystal Bird Fauset, the first African American woman to be elected as a state legislator in 1939 to the 18th District of Philadelphia County.
• Sponsors: Councilmember Jones, Councilmember Jones, Councilmember Blackwell, Councilmember Blackwell, Councilmember Green, Councilmember Green, Councilmember Greenlee, Councilmember Greenlee, Councilmember Domb, Councilmember Domb

Date	Ver.	Action By	Action	Result	Tally
4/20/2017	0	CITY COUNCIL	ADOPTED
4/20/2017	0	CITY COUNCIL	ADOPTED
4/6/2017	0	CITY COUNCIL	Introduced and Ordered Placed On Next Week's Final Passage Calendar	Pass
4/6/2017	0	CITY COUNCIL	Introduced and Ordered Placed On Next Week's Final Passage Calendar	Pass

Title
Also naming the 5400 block of Vine Street as "Crystal Bird Fauset Way" in honor of former State Representative Crystal Bird Fauset, the first African American woman to be elected as a state legislator in 1939 to the 18th District of Philadelphia County.

Body
WHEREAS, Crystal Bird Fauset was born on June 11, 1893 in Princess Anne, MD and was the second youngest of nine children of Portia E. (Lovett) and Benjamin Oliver Bird, founders of the Princess Anne Academy, which later became University of Maryland Eastern Shore; and

WHEREAS, Fauset relocated to Boston, Massachusetts in 1899 after the death of her mother to live with her aunt. She attended integrated schools in Boston and graduated from Boston Normal School in 1914 and in 1931 she received a Bachelors of Science degree from the Teachers College, Columbia University and later her Master's in Education from Columbia University; and

WHEREAS, Fauset taught for three years in Boston and New York City after which she served as the field secretary for the National Board of the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) from 1918 to 1926. In 1927 she joined the Interracial Section of the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) and conceived the Race Relations Institute at Swathmore College in 1933; and

WHEREAS, In 1931, Fauset married educator and civil rights activist Arthur Huff Fauset. They resided at 5403 Vine Street in West Philadelphia; and

WHEREAS, Fauset was elected as a Democrat to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives - 18th District (Philadelphia) for the 1939 term. She resigned from the Pennsylvania House of Representatives on January 8, 1940 to take the position of Assistant State Director of the Education and Recreation Programs of the Works Progress Administration (WPA); and

WHEREAS, Fauset served as a member of many federal and local committees and organizations, including serving as a board member of the Federal Housing Committee, President of the Philadelphia ...