Mary Frances
Born: in Butler, Pennsylvania
Connection to Illinois: Frances has lived in Springfield since 1988. Biography: Mary Frances grew up in western Pennsylvania, attended high school in Carlinville, received a BA in cultural anthropology from the University of Iowa, and returned to Springfield in 1988. Her MA and PhD work were at the University of Illinois Springfield and Urbana-Champaign. During the pandemic she decided to pursue her interest in history, culminating in a documentary film, print and online publications, a book, and public speaking. As an Illinois Humanities Road Scholar she travels throughout Illinois presenting photographs from her book African Americans in Springfield. In 2024 she created a nonprofit, Untold Histories, focusing on local African American stories. Grants are used to make her research public through memorials such as gravestones, interpretive signs, historical markers, and Findagrave biographies.
Awards:
Web: https://maryfrancesartist7.wixsite.com/maryfrancesartist/publications
Selected Titles
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African Americans in Springfield (Images of America) ISBN: 1467108219 OCLC: 1336941690 Arcadia Publishing 2022 Springfield became the capital of Illinois due in large part to Abraham Lincoln―lawyer, politician, and president. Lincoln lived in Springfield from 1837 to 1861, and during the decade after his departure, the African American population in the city quadrupled. Although Springfield was dominated by railroads, coal mines, and government, African Americans also worked as doctors, dentists, lawyers, professors, politicians, public school teachers, firemen, insurance agents, entrepreneurs, soldiers, military officers, police officers, state troopers, artists, inventors, secretaries, cooks, laborers, car salesmen, and church leaders. After the Springfield Race Riot of 1908, the city became less welcoming for African Americans. Shortly after, however, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the National Urban League were formed. Further gains under Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s leadership were made during the civil rights movement. |