Helen Natalie Jackson Wilkins Claytor was the first African American nation President of the YWCA serving between 1967-1973. She was born in Minneapolis in 1907 and attended the University of Minnesota. In 1928, she is included in the university yearbook belonging to Alpha Kappa Alpha, the Bi-Racial Commission and serving in the Large Cabinet of the Y.W.C.A.
She later married Earl Wilkins and was enumerated with him and their 8-year-old son Roger in the 1940 census in Kansas City, Missouri. Earl is working as an advertising manager for a newspaper and Helen is listed as the Secretary for the local Y.W.C.A.
Deanna Ruth Olney Espina was born in San Francisco and was one of the first Native American women elected to the National Board of the YWCA. An enrolled citizen of the Yakima Nation, her obituary points out, through a speech from former Congressman Pete Stark:
“Deanna's career at the San Lorenzo School District began in 1974, the first year of the Title IV Indian Education Program. More than 35,000 students attended Deanna's presentations at the Native American Museum during her three decades of managing the program.”
Deanna’s connections to her nation and their traditions can be seen in an article from the Oakland Tribune published on Wednesday, April 9, 1975. The feature on Native American foodways shares her recipe for fry bread and along with her knowledge of the types of foods that have been traditionally used.
Dr. Dorothy Irene Height was born in Richmond, Virginia, graduated from high school two years early, and obtained degrees from New York University and Columbia University. She began her early career working as a counselor at YWCA of New York and later became a prominent voice in women’s and civil rights in the United States. Dr. Height also served 40 years as the president of the National Council of Negro Women and was an integral part of the March on Washington in 1963.
The Pittsburgh Courier published a brief on Saturday, July 17, 1932 that detailed Dr. Height’s visit to England in 1932 where she served as a ‘delegate of the New York religious groups at the World Conference of Life and Work.” She was the only Black member of the delegate team.
The 1932 trip was not the only visit that Dr. Height made it to the United Kingdom. UK and Ireland, Outward Passenger Lists, 1890-1960 documents that Dr. Height departed from the Port of Southampton bound for New York on August 14, 1937 aboard the ship Berengaria. Her occupation is noted as being a teacher.
Lillian Kimura worked for the YWCA of Chicago and later rose to the national level to become the associate executive director of the YWCA of the USA in New York City.
(From her obituary):
“During World War II, at age thirteen, her family was forced to leave their home and incarcerated in a remote area of California at the Manzanar War Relocation Center. There, her life was influenced by the work of the YWCA which served to educate Japanese American women and girls interned at the camp and help prepare them for resettlement after the war ended.”
“In keeping with the YWCA's mission of "eliminating racism, empowering women and promoting peace, justice, freedom and dignity for all people," she dedicated her career to civil rights advocacy especially for Asian Americans and women. She was an active leader in the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) eventually becoming the first woman elected as JACL national president in1992. She was also actively involved in JACL's campaign directed to the Redress Movement which provided reparations for Japanese Americans interned during WW II and helped bring congressional attention to the issue to acknowledge the violation of rights of Japanese Americans as US citizens. The movement influenced President Jimmy Carter to sign an act in 1980 to establish the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians (CWRIC).”
Part of Lillian’s harrowing experience is documented in this Final Accountability Roster of Evacuees at Relocation Centers record on Ancestry. Lillian Chieko is listed with her family as a resident of Manzanar. Her date of final departure from the camps was 28 Aug 1945, over three years after her original date of imprisonment.
Following the war, Lillian moved with her family to Chicago and graduated from the University of Illinois with a Master's in Social Work. Her photo is in the 1951 University of Illinois yearbook and listed her major as Psychology as well as the extra-curricular clubs and volunteer activities she was involved in.