There has always been a pioneering spirit among Black women in Los Angeles and throughout the nation. That courage and character—not often recognized by contemporaries—may be traced as far back as businesswoman Biddy Mason who did everything from manning a stage coach to founding the city’s African Methodist Episcopal Church, to journalists Charlotta Bass and Ruth Washington who elevated women into Los Angeles publishing; political pioneers Shirley Chisholm, Barbara Jordan and Yvonne Brathwaite-Burke, to present-day “sheroes” some of whom may travel in famous circles, and others who often toil in obscurity to brighten the future for the next generation of Black girls.
March is Women’s History Month, a celebration of the accomplishments that women have made throughout the nation’s history from colonial poet Phillis Wheatley to first lady Michelle Obama, the latter joining her husband, President Barack Obama, this spring to spotlight the many achievements women are credited for since our nation’s founding.
“As part of a centuries-old and ever-evolving movement, countless women have put their shoulder to the wheel of progress—activists who gathered at Seneca Falls and gave expression to a righteous cause, trailblazers who defied convention and shattered glass ceilings; millions who claimed control of their own bodies, voices and lives. Together, they have pushed our nation toward equality, liberation and acceptance of women’s rights—not only to choose their own destinies—but also to shape the futures of peoples and nations,” President Obama said March 1.
Los Angeles certainly has its share of present-day women trailblazers. This past Sunday, millions around the world watched the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) honor the best and brightest in the film industry and at the helm of the festivities was Cheryl Boone Isaacs. Isaacs has served with AMPAS for 21 years and last summer became the organization’s first African American president and only the third woman to hold the post, following Bettie Davis in 1941 and Fay Kanin in 1979.
Audiences this past year have applauded a new look to Hollywood both in front and behind the camera over the past year with the critically-acclaimed films “Lee Daniels’ The Butler,” “Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom” and “12 Years A Slave.” When Issacs was named to the post, she commented: “There are a lot of new voices…a lot of new talent. We are committed to showcasing that talent.” Before her latest position, Issacs was Paramount Pictures’ executive vice president of worldwide publicity, orchestrating the marketing campaigns for Best Picture winners Forrest Gump (1994) and Braveheart (1995). Issacs once served as president of CBI enterprises Inc. where she consulted on the films “The King’s Speech” (2010) and “The Artist” (2011) each receiving the Academy Award for “Best Picture.”
Isaacs and practically every Black woman who has dared to step into a “White man’s world” has followed time-honored traditions of character, confidence and poise in applying herself to new responsibilities that, one generation ago, would not have been conceived of. “It’s different being a minority in a majority space,” Isaacs told the Huffington Post last week. “My parent’s favorite phrase was ‘just get above it’ and I must say that I have to put that into practice here…but it doesn’t stop your personal self doubts.”
Because AMPAS has been overseen primarily by White men since its inception 87 years ago, Isaacs has brought about more diversity within the organization and has strived to recognize the film industry contributions of different ethnic groups from around the world. “It’s not like people are walking around going, ‘I don’t want, I don’t want, I don’t want.’ There’s kind of an impression of that and that’s not true. By lifting up and looking around and seeing a lot of new talent and diverse voices in storytelling, by encouraging our members to pay attention to the changing landscape, we’re going to have more and more representation.”
Isaacs wants to increase participation in the academy’s mentoring program, as well its student academy awards and the scientific and technical council, all with an eye on educating and including more minorities. “There are things you can and can’t do,” she said. “You can’t get angry because then you are just an angry Black woman. As women we do have that and then being a minority…there is this extra layer.”
In between handing out Oscars each March, Isaacs is part of a team at AMPAS overseeing construction of the academy’s new $300 million museum project at the old May Co. store at Wilshire Boulevard and Fairfax Avenue, now partially occupied by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Opening day is scheduled for the end of 2017.
• From journalist, to sportswoman and now to public service, Paula Madison is a renaissance woman. The former executive with NBC Universal and, until January, chairperson of the Los Angeles Sparks of the WNBA, is now vice president of the Los Angeles Police Commission. As chairperson and CEO of Williams Group Holdings LLC, a Chicago-based investment company owned by her family, she also heads Madison Media Management LLC of Los Angeles which invests primarily in emerging media, entertainment and communications businesses.
That’s a lot of hats. But not for Madison and a new breed of 21st century Black women who daily brave the challenges of corporate America with confidence and high professional standards. And she’s eager to prepare budding Black professionals for the positions they can compete for…but only with first-class preparation. Two years ago Madison chatted with journalism students at Grambling University in Louisiana and pulled no punches when it came to instilling within them a professional attitude that usually carries over from final examinations and term papers, to a resume and cover letter and, ultimately, the first job interview.
“Before getting any job, it is essential to submit resumes and cover letters without any mistakes,” she stressed. “Accidentally mailing something to ‘Paul Madison’ rather than ‘Paula Madison’ can be the quickest way to find your documents in the trash. If you make that mistake, you’ll make more mistakes.” In terms of original work by the reporter? “If you come to work and don’t have your own story, I will fire you.”
Madison occupied a number of leadership roles with NBC Universal, including president and general manager of NBC4 locally, Los Angeles regional general manager for Telemundo TV stations and was vice president and news director of NBC4 New York. In 2007, she was appointed to head and improve diversity for NBC Universal and it was the first time that a company officer assumed a full-time responsibility as the business-lead for diversity. That year, Madison became a company officer for General Electric, at the time the parent company of NBC.
A recipient of a 1996 Peabody Award for NBC4 New York’s investigation, “A License to Kill,” Madison helped the network’s Los Angeles affiliate earn numerous Emmy, Golden Mike and regional Edward R. Murrow awards. Madison has been honored for corporate leadership and community outreach, and in 2005 was listed among the “75 Most Powerful African Americans in Corporate America” by Black Enterprise magazine.
Madison opted to sell her interest in the Sparks because the league had been financially troubled for several years, but seemed to be on the rebound in 2013. “Our team [had] a tough time from year to year, and we went into this not because we wanted to own a franchise, but because we wanted to support women’s basketball,” she told ESPN in January. Magic Johnson and Los Angeles Dodgers chairman Mark Walter partnered to buy the Los Angeles Sparks, saving the struggling franchise from relocation or contraction.
• Patricia Bath., an ophthalmologist, in 1988 became the first African American woman to receive a patent for a medical purpose. Bath, a native of Harlem, N.Y. who briefly taught at UCLA and at the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in Watts, holds four patents in the United States. In 1981 she invented the Laserphaco Probe, a medical device that improves on the use of lasers to remove cataracts. Three of her four patents are related to the Laserphaco Probe; in 2000, she was granted a patent for a method she devised for using ultrasound technology to treat cataracts. She also holds international patents in Japan, Canada and several European nations where the Laserphaco Probe has been in use for 14 years.
Bath co-founded in 1976 the American Institute for the Prevention of Blindness, an organization created to “…protect, preserve and restore the gift of sight” for all persons, regardless of race, gender, age or income level. Bath has established a number of “firsts” for women and African Americans, having served on the staff of the Jules Stein Eye Institute at UCLA, has chaired the school’s post-graduate training program in ophthalmology and, after her retirement from teaching, was elected to the honorary staff of the UCLA Medical Center. Before Bath, no African American had served as a resident in opthamology at New York University, and no Black woman had ever served on the staff as a surgeon at UCLA Medical Center.
During a fellowship in ophthalmology at Columbia University, Bath said she began to notice differences among the patient population in the hospitals she had worked in. For instance, at Harlem Hospital there were many Black patients of whom almost half were blind or visually impaired. That compared to Columbia Eye Clinic across town where the blindness rate was much lower. She conducted a study documenting her observation that blindness among Blacks was nearly double the rate of blindness among Whites, and concluded that the lack of proper eye care—particularly opthamolic—was the reason why so many Black persons she observed had lost their sight or were in danger of going blind.
In 1983, Bath was named chair of the Opthamology residency Training Program at UCLA/Drew—America’s first woman to hold such a position—and in 1988 was elected to New York’s Hunter College Hall of Fame. Bath became a “Howard University Pioneer in Academic Medicine” in 1993.
• Karen Bass, now representing California’s 37th congressional district (West Adams, Leimert Park, Baldwin Hills), five years ago became the first Black woman elected as Speaker of the California State Assembly. The Los Angeles native is a veteran of state politics who once served as chair of the Legislative Black Caucus and, earlier in the decade, commissioned a report to research the demographic profile of Black Californians including the basic social and economic conditions. Her “State of Black California” report included a statewide organizing effort to involve African Americans in identifying their concerns and making legislative recommendations.
While serving in the state assembly, Bass was tapped to head California African Americans for Obama, served on the president’s African American Leadership Council and, in 2008, was California co-chair of the Obama presidential campaign. Bass, somewhat like previous assembly member and local congressman the late Mervyn Dymally, is known to “shoot from the hip” when it comes to political measures that would benefit African Americans. A few years ago drew national criticism when she told Los Angeles Times columnist Pat Morrison: “The Republicans were essentially threatened and terrorized against voting for revenue. Now [some] are facing recalls. They operate under a terrorist threat: ‘You vote for revenue and your career is over.’ I don’t know why we allow that kind of terrorism to exist. I guess it’s about free speech, but it’s extremely unfair.”
A member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Bass attributes significant importance to diplomacy in “working with our NATO allies and within the United Nations.” Domestically, Bass has supported keeping taxes low for the middle class and encourages “tax credits for small businesses to hire new employees.” She once said the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans should expire because: “…the wealthy don’t need those breaks.” In 2010 while campaigning for Congress, Bass supported the Expanded Firearm Registration Bill that, with other regulations, would have made all gun dealers report their sales to the Department of Justice.
The Obama Administration has been a staunch advocate of women’s rights. One of the first bills signed in 2009 was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act which made it easier for women to challenge pay discrimination. The Affordable Care Act banned insurance companies from charging women more because of their gender and, last year, the armed forces opened ground combat units to women.
“As we honor the many women who have shaped our history, let us also celebrate those who make progress in our time,” Obama said last weekend. “Let us remember that when women succeed, America succeeds. And from Wall Street to Main Street, in the White House and on Capitol Hill—let us put our nation on the path to success.”
