Help us tell the story of African American Rosie the Riveters

Dear Mrs. Obama and the White House:

We are writing to you, our First Lady, to ask a personal favor.  We would like you to host a very special White House reception during Women’s History Month 2016. The occasion would recognize the 600,000 African American “Rosie the Riveters,” marginalized by history, who helped America win World War II.  Specifically, Betty Reid Soskin, 93, who is still working as a U.S. Park Ranger in California, and other Black Rosies alive today such as Bernice Bowman, Gwen Faison, Susan King, and Ruth Wilson.

During WWII, African American women fled oppressive and often demeaning jobs as domestics and sharecroppers to help build airplanes, tanks and ships to fuel America’s “arsenal of democracy.”  Thousands more, including my late mother, were clerks, pioneers who kept the federal government running.  Black Rosies patriotically served America, all the while battling Jim Crow, racism and gender discrimination.  Sadly, none of these ladies have ever received a “thank you” or any public acknowledgement for their wartime service to America.  

Most people don’t know that Maya Angelou (San Francisco Transit), Ruby Dee (Western Electric), and Dorothy I. Height (Phyllis Wheatley YMCA) were all “Rosies.”  They have left us great legacies, and all were shining examples of African American womanhood.  

Most of our mothers, grandmothers, and great-grandmothers have already transitioned from our lives; those who are still with us are now in their 80s and 90s.  They are courageous women who pushed open doors of opportunity for all workingwomen.  Mrs. Obama, our foremothers should not remain “invisible!” 

Our request is not without precedent.  During the war, First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt hosted a White House luncheon for her good friend Mary McLeod Bethune and dozens of Black women - Civil Rights activists fighting to end discrimination and segregation in Washington D.C. theaters and restaurants. 

By hosting a White House reception for African American “Rosies,” you send a powerful message that black women are legitimate members of the “greatest generation,” that their wartime contributions to America are worthy of recognition, and that they matter as human beings. These are compelling women of another era, women Malia and Sasha will never forget. 

On behalf of the 600,000 African-American women who patriotically served our nation during World War II, thank you for taking the time to read this letter and for considering our request.