Alfreda Duster

Alfreda Duster
Portrait of Alfreda Duster
Born
Alfreda Barnett

(1904-09-03)September 3, 1904
Chicago, Illinois
DiedApril 2, 1983(1983-04-02) (aged 78)
Billings Hospital, Chicago
Notable workCrusade for Justice: The Autobiography of Ida B. Wells (1970)
SpouseBenjamin C. Duster Jr.
Children5, including Troy Duster
Parent(s)Ida B. Wells (mother)
Ferdinand L. Barnett (father)

Alfreda M. Duster[1] (née Barnett; September 3, 1904  – April 2, 1983) was an American social worker and civic leader in Chicago.[2][3] She is best known as the youngest daughter of civil rights activist Ida B. Wells and as the editor of her mother's posthumously published autobiography, Crusade for Justice: The Autobiography of Ida B. Wells (1970).

Biography

Alfreda Barnett was born in 1904, the youngest daughter[4] of civil rights activists Ida B. Wells and Ferdinand L. Barnett.[2][3][5] She graduated from the University of Chicago in 1924 with a bachelor of philosophy degree.[2][3][5] She married Benjamin C. Duster Jr., who was a clerk in her father's law firm, and worked as a homemaker and mother to her five children until she was widowed at the age of 40 and went back to school for social work.[2][3]

Duster served as a juvenile delinquency prevention coordinator for the state of Illinois and the administrator of the girls' program for underprivileged city children at Camp Illini.[2][3] She was also secretary to Democrat Charles Jenkins, a black member of the Illinois legislature.[3] She was awarded "Mother of the Year" in 1950 and 1970; the Bootstrap Award from the Opportunity Centers of Chicago; Citation for Public Service from the University of Chicago Alumni Association; and honorary doctorate of humane letters from Chicago State University.[2][3][5]

Duster edited and in 1970 published Ida B. Wells' autobiography, Crusade for Justice: The Autobiography of Ida B. Wells, which she worked on for 25 years after her mother's death.[2][4][6][7] For this book, Duster won the National Council of Negro Women Award for Literary Excellence and Outstanding Humanitarian Contributions.[3]

The Alfreda Barnett Duster Apartments, public housing in Chicago, Illinois, are named after Duster.[4]

Alfreda Duster died from a brain hemorrhage at the age of 78, on April 2, 1983.[3]

Further reading

Schultz, Rima Lunin and Adele Hast, "Women Building Chicago 1790-1990: A Biographical Dictionary", Indiana University Press, 2001.

References

  1. ^ "Alfreda M. Duster". press.uchicago.edu. Retrieved 2021-03-08.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g "Black Women Oral History Project Interviews, 1976–1981: Biographies". Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America Research Guides. Retrieved May 7, 2020.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Derr, Mary Krane. "Duster, Alfreda Barnett". African American National Biography. Oxford University Press. Retrieved May 12, 2020.
  4. ^ a b c "Alfreda Barnett Duster Apartments". Chicago Housing Authority. Retrieved May 12, 2020.
  5. ^ a b c "Obituaries: Rites for civic leader Alfreda Duster, 78". Chicago Tribune. April 4, 1984. Retrieved May 12, 2020.
  6. ^ Black, Patti Carr (February 2001). "Ida B. Wells: A Courageous Voice for Civil Rights". Mississippi History Now. Retrieved May 12, 2020.
  7. ^ "Alfreda Wells discusses her mother, Ida B. Wells-Barnett and her book 'Crusade for Justice'". The WFMT Studs Terkel Radio Archive. Retrieved May 12, 2020.