Crystal Dreda Bird Fauset
Crystal Dreda Bird Fauset was a race relations specialist and the first Black woman state legislator. She served in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and became a friend of Eleanor Roosevelt and a political advisor on the subject of race relations to Franklin Roosevelt. Not only was she Pennsylvania’s first Black female legislator but the first in the nation. After graduating from Boston Normal School in 1914, she became a school teacher. Her work with youth led her to become the first secretary for Black girls with the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA) National Board in New York.
In 1918, she traveled the country as field secretary for the YWCA. During 1927 and 1928, while attending Columbia University in New York, she Lectured on Black culture for the American Friends Service Committee. In November 1936, Fauset strode resolutely into the political arena. She was appointed director of women’s activities for the National Democratic Committee and assistant personnel director of the WPA’s Philadelphia office. As a member of the Federal Housing Advisory Board in 1935, she had advocated better urban housing.
Because of Mrs. Fauset’s public speaking expertise and her knowledge of political affairs, the Philadelphia Democratic party leader urged her to run for the state legislature. She represented Philadelphia’s Eighteenth District, a district that was two-thirds White. On November 8, 1938, after a bitter primary, she was elected to the state legislature, winning by 7,000 votes. She was the first Black American woman ever elected to a state legislature. After her victory she said, “My interest is no way limited to my race, but is universal.“
During her term in the House of Representatives, Fauset introduced nine bills and three amendments on issues involving public health, housing, public relief, and working women. She sponsored an amendment to the Pennsylvania Female Labor Law of 1913 which protected women in the workplace. Fauset urged her colleagues to extend this protection to domestics, many of whom were African American. Fauset went on to join President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s “Black Cabinet”. She became friends with First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and they both collaborated politically.
She helped Fauset get the position of assistant director and race relations director of the Office of Civil Defense. In 1944, disappointed by the Democratic Party’s failure to advance civil rights, Fauset switched to the Republican Party and later became a member of the Republican National Committee’s division on Negro Affairs. Her interest in the United Nations brought her into contact with Ralph Bunche, the Black diplomat who won the 1950 Nobel Peace Prize. Bunche’s support helped Fauset achieve her goals with the United Nations Council of Philadelphia, and to make a special tour of the Middle East.