The Rainbow Minute

Josephine Baker Saves the Children

Details: Published: Monday, November 07 2016; Written by Diversity Richmond

Josephine Baker was born in New York in 1873. Tragically, her three siblings died during their childhood.

In 1898, she graduated from medical school. Determined to keep Victorian views of women from limiting her ambitions, she dressed in masculine suits.

She came to prominence with her historic breakthroughs in preventative medicine, while serving as the first director of New York City's Bureau of Child Hygiene. Her pilot programs on child hygiene, maternal education and midwife training helped drastically reduce the mortality rates of children under five.

In turn, fellow physicians petitioned the mayor, saying her work "ruined medical practice, by its results in keeping babies well." Josephine wrote she was profoundly grateful for the compliment.

She spent the rest of her life as an advocate for children, with support from her female partners and a legion of feminist friends.

This Rainbow Minute was read by Mary Gay Hutcherson.

“The Rainbow Minute” is produced by Judd Proctor and Brian Burns and can be heard every weekday at 7:59am, 12:29pm and 2:59pm on WRIR – 97.3fm in Richmond, Virginia, and webcast at wrir.org. It’s also heard internationally on over 200 stations.

Renowned Architect, Philip Johnson

Details: Published: Monday, October 17 2016; Written by Diversity Richmond

Philip Johnson was born in Cleveland in 1906, and at 35 entered architecture. His daring designs made him one of the most prominent architects of the past century, designing skyscrapers in every major city in America.

Johnson received the Gold Medal of the American Institute of Architects in 1978, and served as a role model to three generations of architects. He once said, "I like the thought that what we are to do on this earth is embellish it for its greater beauty, so that oncoming generations can look back to the shapes we leave here and get the same thrill that I got looking at theirs."

Johnson was known to be provocative, but didn't publicly come out until rather late in life. At his death in 2005, he was survived by David Whitney, his partner of 45 years.

This Rainbow Minute was read by Bill Lupoletti.

Alexander Hamilton, first Secretary of the Treasury

Details: Published: Monday, October 03 2016; Written by Diversity Richmond

Alexander Hamilton was a hero in the Revolutionary War and later the first Secretary of the Treasury under President George Washington.

He was born in 1757 in the West Indies. As a highly-intelligent youth, he came to America and began his education. He was soon sidetracked, joining the colonial army as an officer. Because of his evident abilities, General George Washington chose Hamilton as his advisor.

Hamilton had relationships with both women and men, his most intense bond with fellow advisor, John Laurens. When they were apart on military assignments, they exchanged affectionate letters.

Hamilton once wrote to Laurens saying, "I wish my dear Laurens, it might be in my power, by actions rather than words, to convince you that I love you." In 1782, Laurens was killed in a military skirmish, and Hamilton felt "the deepest affliction at the news."

This Rainbow Minute was read by Jay White.

Cesar Chavez, Latino Champion of Civil Rights

Details: Published: Monday, September 19 2016; Written by Diversity Richmond

Cesar Chevez was born in Arizona in 1927. At the age of 10, he became a migrant farm worker. He faced racial discrimination early in life. In 1946, he married a lady who shared his concerns about social justice.

Driven to fight for fairness and human dignity of farm workers, Chavez founded a union called the United Farm Workers.

His rally cry, "Si se puede," or "It can be done," helped mobilize non-violent boycotts, strikes, marches and fasts. In 1973, seventeen million Americans joined in the table grape boycott, forcing law that provided better working conditions.

Chavez championed equal rights for all, including gays. At the 1987 March on Washington, he said, "Our movement has been supporting lesbian and gay rights for over twenty years. We supported lesbian and gay rights when it was just 10 people."

(This Rainbow Minute was read by Bill Lupoletti.)

Deborah Sampson, the first woman to join the Army as a man

Details: Published: Monday, September 05 2016; Written by Diversity Richmond

Born into poverty in 1760, Deborah Sampson became an indentured servant at age ten.

At 21, she felt a call to military duty. She disguised herself as a man named Robert Shurtleff, bound her breasts, and fooled her way past an Army recruiter. Although teased by her military comrades for not having facial hair, she performed as well as the men did. During Revolutionary War skirmishes, Sampson received both sword and musket ball wounds, which she tended herself to keep her gender under wraps.

Later hospitalized with fever, the attending physician discovered her secret and made discreet arrangements for her honorable discharge in 1783.

In 1804, after Paul Revere addressed Congress on her behalf, Deborah Sampson started receiving a U.S. pension for her brave military service.

This Rainbow Minute was read by Jeff Schultez.

Margaret Mead, Prominent American Anthropologist

Details: Published: Monday, August 22 2016; Written by Diversity Richmond

Margaret Mead was born in Philadelphia in 1901. Entering adulthood, she felt urged to advance the understanding of human behavior.

Studying anthropology at Barnard College, she met her mentor, Ruth Benedict. Their relationship would become the most intimate of Mead's life, lasting throughout her three marriages.

Mead's field study in the South Pacific led to her best-seller, Coming of Age in Samoa. Her research of various cultures made her one of the first in the modern age to champion diversity.

In a 1975 article for Redbook magazine, she asserted it was time to recognize bisexuality as a normal form of sexual expression. She feared that revealing her own bisexuality would close doors in her career. But she said everyone should be able "to choose companionship with a member of their own or opposite sex," which certainly opened doors for the next generation.

This Rainbow Minute was read by Candace Gingrich.

Angel Action as Divine Protector

Details: Published: Monday, August 08 2016; Written by Diversity Richmond

In 1998, Matthew Shepard was brutally beaten and left to die outside Laramie, Wyoming, just because he was gay.

Matthew's close friend, Romaine Patterson, heard that a faith-based hate group planned to picket at the murder trial.

So, she went to work. She created white angel costumes with wings seven feet tall, and a span of ten feet.

During the trial, police restricted the picketers to a small area outside the courthouse. A dozen of Romaine's friends, dressed as angels, encircled them and spread their wings – blocking the picketers and their cruel messages from view.

Romaine's concept was a brilliant show of love and support for Matthew's family and friends. Later, she created a do-it-yourself kit for others in need of an angel in white.

This Rainbow Minute was read by Dustin Richardson.

Leonardo da Vinci - Renaissance Man

Details: Published: Monday, July 18 2016; Written by Diversity Richmond

Leonardo da Vinci was born in Italy in 1452. By age 14, his extraordinary talents as a painter were undeniable. He went on to become one of the greatest painters of the Italian Renaissance, with such masterpieces as the Madonna of the Rocks and the Last Supper fresco.

Over the course of his life, Leonardo was devoted to a number of attractive young men. His drawings of his pupil, Giacomo Caprotti, span twenty years. Later, he took an interest in a young aristocrat named Francesco Melzi, who remained by his side until Leonardo's death in 1519.

He left behind over eight thousand pages of mirror-scripted inventions, scientific sketches and architectural designs. Although some were impractical at the time, others were precursors to the modern day bicycle and helicopter.

His drawings revealed that not only was he the consummate Renaissance artist, but a prolific innovator and scientific genius.

This Rainbow Minute was read by Tom Miller.

Bayard Rustin, African-American Civil Rights Activist

Details: Published: Tuesday, July 05 2016; Written by Diversity Richmond

Bayard Rustin was born in Pennsylvania in 1910. As a bright young man, he felt compelled to fight injustice. In 1947, he organized the first active protest against segregation on buses in the south.

By the late 50s, his expertise as a protest tactician caught the attention of Martin Luther King, Jr. Together, they planned the 1963 March on Washington, a 250,000-people-strong demonstration for racial equality, during which King delivered his "I have a dream" speech. The event proved pivotal to the civil rights movement.

As a result of Rustin's active protests, he endured beatings and was frequently jailed. And because he'd made no secret of being gay, he was often denied due credit for his brilliant leadership.

Clearly, in fighting for his strong convictions about civil rights, Bayard Rustin freely accepted personal sacrifice.

This Rainbow Minute is read by Viola Baskerville.

Keith Haring, Artist and Activist

Details: Published: Monday, June 20 2016; Written by Diversity Richmond

Keith Haring was born in Pennsylvania in 1958. As a young man, he discovered both his art and his sexuality. He moved to New York City in 1980 for deeper self-expression.

From 1980 to 1985, inspired by Andy Warhol, he applied artistic concepts on vacant advertising panels in the New York Subway System. His simple, bold line-work illustrations became a sensation, appearing in hundreds of posters and books, and public artworks in cities worldwide for hospitals, children's day care centers and orphanages.

Haring died in 1990, among the first generation of gay men lost to the AIDS epidemic. Prior to his death, he was devoted to creating cultural awareness about the disease, and issues related to equal rights for the gay community.

The Keith Haring Foundation, which he created before his death, continues his legacy of giving to children's and AIDS organizations.

This Rainbow Minute is read by Dustin Richardson.

Jane Addams, Social Work Pioneer and Peace Activist

Details: Published: Thursday, June 02 2016; Written by Diversity Richmond

Jane Addams was born in Illinois in 1860. Although from an upper-class family, she became known for her compassionate service to the poor.

In the 1880s, she opened the Hull House in poverty-stricken Chicago, where Addams pioneered the concept of the independent woman, incorporating leadership training.

Addams believed the dominant male values of her time contributed to poverty, urban blight and war – and believed the duty of women was to propose different models for living. Her belief that war was the supreme social evil garnered her the Nobel Peace Prize in 1931.

Addams's closest companion was Mary Rozet Smith, who championed the work at the Hull House. Addams considered this 40-year relationship nothing short of a marriage.

This Rainbow Minute is read by Mary Gay Hutcherson.

Poet Katharine Lee Bates

Details: Published: Wednesday, May 11 2016; Written by Diversity Richmond

Katharine Lee Bates was born in Massachusetts in 1859.

She graduated from Wellesley College in 1885, and stayed on to teach English. There, she met history professor Katharine Coman, and the two became bound as one. Because female professors were poorly paid, both women also wrote books and articles.

During a summer teaching job in Colorado, Bates traveled to the top of Pike's Peak. Inspired by the majestic view, she wrote a poem titled "America the Beautiful." With the poem's popularity, it was set to music by Samuel Ward. This afforded the couple a steady income, and a custom-built house near Wellesley College.

In 1915, after Coman's death, Bates expressed her loss saying, "so much of me died with Katharine Coman that I'm not quite sure whether I'm alive or not." Bates herself died in 1929, having touched so many lives from sea to shining sea.

This Rainbow Minute is read by Dustin Richardson.

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