Sue Bailey Thurman (1903-1996) was an author, historian and civil rights activist, who made it her mission in life to preserve Black heritage through her writing.
Sue Bailey Thurman (1903-1996) was an author, historian and civil rights activist, who made it her mission in life to preserve Black heritage through her writing.
Food has been a unifier for millennia, not just gathering people together to share a meal, but acting as a warm introduction to new histories and traditions. This February on Womanica, we’re celebrating Tastemakers - the Black chefs, cooks, and food historians who created new foodways and preserved important culinary stories of the past. The impact of chefs like Pig Foot Mary, Mama Dip, and Georgia Gilmore stretch far beyond the culinary scene - uplifting their local communities and inspiring those who came after them.
History classes can get a bad rap, and sometimes for good reason. When we were students, we couldn’t help wondering... where were all the ladies at? Why were so many incredible stories missing from the typical curriculum? Enter, Womanica. On this Wonder Media Network podcast we explore the lives of inspiring women in history you may not know about, but definitely should.
Every weekday, listeners explore the trials, tragedies, and triumphs of groundbreaking women throughout history who have dramatically shaped the world around us. In each 5 minute episode, we’ll dive into the story behind one woman listeners may or may not know–but definitely should. These diverse women from across space and time are grouped into easily accessible and engaging monthly themes like Educators, Villains, Indigenous Storytellers, Activists, and many more. Womanica is hosted by WMN co-founder and award-winning journalist Jenny Kaplan. The bite-sized episodes pack painstakingly researched content into fun, entertaining, and addictive daily adventures.
Womanica was created by Liz Kaplan and Jenny Kaplan, executive produced by Jenny Kaplan, and produced by Liz Smith, Grace Lynch, Maddy Foley, Brittany Martinez, Edie Allard, Lindsey Kratochwill, Adesuwa Agbonile, Carmen Borca-Carrillo, Taylor Williamson, Ale Tejeda, Sara Schleede, Abbey Delk, and Alex Jhamb Burns. Special thanks to Shira Atkins.
Original theme music composed by Miles Moran.
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Hello, I'm Chef Kia Damon. I'm a Florida born chef, writer, host and recipe developer. I served as an executive Chef of New York City restaurant Lalito at the age of 24 and became Cherry Bombe magazine's first Culinary Director at 25. Since leaving I've founded Kia Feeds The People, a budding mutual aid effort. I’ll be your guest host for this month of Womanica.
This month, we're talking about Tastemakers. We're celebrating the Black chefs, cooks, and food historians who created new foodways and preserved important culinary stories of the past.
Today, we’re talking about an author, historian and civil rights activist, who made it her mission in life to preserve Black heritage through her writing.
Please welcome Sue Bailey Thurman.
Sue Bailey was born on August 26th, 1903, in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. She was the youngest of ten children born to Reverend Issac George and Susie Bailey. She studied at Spelman Seminary, in Atlanta, before heading to Oberlin College in Ohio. At Oberlin, she became the first Black student to earn a degree in music.
After graduating, Sue became a national secretary of the Young Women's Christian Association. She gave lectures around Europe on interracial and international relations. These talks inspired her to establish the first World Fellowship Committee of the YWCA.
In 1932, Sue married theologian and scholar Dr. Howard Thurman. After getting married, Sue began working with renowned Black educator and civil rights activist Mary McLeod Bethune, and her National Council of Negro Women. While working with the NCNW, Sue began publishing the organization's Aframerican Woman's Journal.She continued writing on African American history, and started giving lectures at Howard University.
Through her lectures, Sue continued to stress international friendship and peace. In October 1935, Sue and her husband Howard chaired the first Negro Delegation of Friendship to the East and went on an eight-month trip to South Asia, making a stop India. There they met with leader Mahatma Gandhi, becoming the first African Americans to meet with him. Gandhi provided the couple with a wealth of knowledge on his philosophy and tactics of nonviolence. Though India and the United States lay on opposite sides of the world, the struggles for freedom in South Asia were similar to what African Americans endured in America felt similar.
When the Thurmans returned from India, they began sharing Gandhi's message of nonviolence with everyone they could, including their friends Martin Luther King Sr. and Alberta Williams King. The Thurmans’ call for African American nonviolence planted a seed in a young Martin Luther King Jr. that would be seen decades later.
In 1958, Sue published “The Historical Cookbook of the American Negro.” The cookbook was a blend of Black history and Black heritage. Sue paired recipes with stories of Black professionals to dispel the myth that all Black women were maids and domestics. Tributes to Harriet Tubman and Booker T. Washington could be found next to recipes for "okra gumbo" and "pistachio parfaits."
The cookbook also featured lesser-known figures in Black history, like Mary Jane Patterson, the first African American woman to receive a college degree, and members of the National Council of Negro Women. In the preface of her book, Sue calls the cookbook a “unique and ‘palatable’ approach to history.”
During the 1960s, Sue and Howard continued to travel the world. In San Francisco, t hey founded The Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples, the nation’s first interracial non-denominational church.. In Boston, Sue founded the Museum of African American History. She also created a map of important African American historical sites around Boston that she called the "Negro Freedom Trails of Boston." The Black Heritage Trail was adopted from Sue’s original idea.
In 1965, Howard retired from Boston University and moved back to San Francisco with Sue. But retired life did not quell Sue’s love of preserving history. She created resources for Black history in the American West for the San Francisco Public Library. She also served as the director of San Francisco’s African American Historical and Cultural Society.
In 1996, Sue died in her sleep on Christmas day. She was 93 years old. After her death, artifacts belonging to her and Howard were donated to several universities including Boston University, Oberlin and Emory University, continuing the legacy of preserving Black history.
All month, we’re talking about tastemakers. For more information, find us on Facebook and Instagram @womanicapodcast.
Special thanks to co-creators Jenny and Liz Kaplan, for having me as a guest host.
Talk to you tomorrow!