Understanding Victoria Earle Matthews:
African-American Civil Rights Activist and Settlement House Reformer A Conversation with Distinguished Teacher and History Department Chair Steve Kramer Reaching far beyond the walls of his classroom, Distinguished Teacher and History Department Chair Steve Kramer has organized a collection of primary sources about Victoria Earle Matthews, the renowned African American political activist, journalist, and social reformer who worked to improve the status of African American women in New York City and throughout the United States. This collection provides a unique perspective about women’s history which is accessible to teachers and students at universities, colleges, and schools around the world through the Women and Social Movements website, a subscription research service. Mr. Kramer is one of over 100 scholars who reviewed hundreds of documents about women and social movements in the United States, and his exploration of Ms. Matthews’ efforts and activities in support of African Americans from the mid-1880s through the early twentieth century underlines the indelible impact she made as the voice of this community, and how she was able to make a positive difference to benefit future generations of African American women. Now, through his unique lens, Mr. Kramer analyzes the documents about Ms. Matthews and her works. He wrote an introduction to the project as well as brief overviews of each document and a bibliography of some of the sources on Matthews’ life. The Center for the Historical Study of Women and Gender, Binghamton University, and Alexander Street Press copublished the project for the WASM website. Kramer shares his perspective with the Hockaday community through the following conversation.
46
H O C K A D AY M A G A Z I N E
H: How did you learn about this project and how long did it take you to interpret and analyze Ms. Matthews’ works? SK: Thomas Dublin and Kathryn Kish Sklar, the editors of the WASM site, contacted me and asked if I would do a documents project on Victoria Earle Matthews. I have been working on Ms. Matthews and her work since 1995. Over that time I have published an article on her White Rose Mission, a New York City settlement house for young African American women, and a brief biography of her for the American National Biography Online. The documents in the project are ones that I have found in my research since 1995. The project took over a year and a half to complete since it entailed selecting the most pertinent documents, composing the introductions for the documents, and writing the introduction to the project. Dublin and Sklar reviewed the documents and my introductions. I had to substantially rewrite the project introduction as my first draft did not meet their standards.