“Auntie Doris” remembers when her mother was barred from even voting. Tuesday she led young students on a civics lesson at the polls to watch her not only cast her ballot—but do so for the city’s first black female mayor.
Doris E. Blackmon led the lesson Tuesday, as voters elected Toni Harp as the first female, and first African-American female, mayor of New Haven.
For many African-American women like Blackmon, the day held particular poignancy. They saw their own dreams realized, saw another barrier broken in history’s uneven, gradual march of progress.
Blackmon, who’s 82, hails from Greenville, S.C. She moved to New Haven at age 16 and spent her life working in factories. Now she volunteers at the Harris and Tucker school, a pre-school and after-school program in Newhallville.
On Tuesday, Blackmon led nine kids on a walk from the school at Newhall and Goodrich Streets to her polling place at the Lincoln-Bassett School. She told kids how her mother was born into a world where blacks and whites were segregated and women couldn’t vote. Her mom was born in 1898, 22 years before women gained the right to vote.
Blackmon led the kids right into the voting booth, where she cast her vote for Toni Harp. Kids, aged 5 to 9, had the day off because of the election. They took part in a scavenger hunt of sorts, counting the number of booths and the number of poll workers.
Outside, school director Kim Harris grilled them on the mayoral candidates’ names.
“Toni Harp,” blurted out student Kim Gulley.
Kids had trouble with the second candidate’s name: “Eck ... Eck ... Eck-Obama!” (The correct answer: Justin Elicker, the petitioning candidate for mayor.)
“The world have changed quite a bit,” Blackmon said while standing outside the school. In 2008, voters showed up in droves to elect the nation’s first black president. She said electing a black woman to the city’s top position represents a new frontier in a historic quest for civil rights.
“It means everything to me,” she said.
The potential to make history was top in the minds of African-American women at the Elks Club Tuesday, which Harp’s campaign converted into a neighborhood headquarters.
Gwen Newton (pictured) joined about 40 campaign workers trying to boost voter turnout by making calls for Harp. Newton is a trailblazer herself: In 1969, she became the city’s second African-American female alderman. She joined the board as part of the “Magnificent 7” of independent-minded candidates on the board. Newton said she has known Harp for 40 years, ever since Harp came to New Haven four decades ago to attend graduate school at Yale.
Newton said that as a woman, Harp will bring a more “compassionate” style of leadership to City Hall.
“She is the epitome of all of the things that we want to accomplish,” said Jan Parker (pictured), a longtime Democratic activist. Her husband, Hank Parker, once sought to become New Haven’s first black mayor. He did serve as state treasurer.
Two decades ago, Harp became the state’s second African-American female state senator.
Parker said Harp’s career calls to mind pioneering politicians like Shirley Chisholm, the first African-American woman elected to U.S. Congress, and Barbara Jordan, the first southern black woman elected to Congress.
“Toni is the Sojourner Truth of the women’s movement,” she said.
When Harp walked into the room at 2:40 p.m., fellow campaign volunteer Naomi Campbell pulled out her Galaxy 4S and snapped a photo of the candidate hugging state Department on Aging chief Edith Prague.
Campbell, who’s 61, took the day off from her job as a surgical technician at Yale-New Haven Hospital Tuesday to work for Harp’s campaign. She said she supports Harp because “I believe that Toni can get the job done.”
“This will be the first time in history that we will have a woman” leading the city, she added.
That’s a good thing, she said: “We women want to be heard. We want a voice. We want a voice!”
Campbell said that as a woman, Harp will be a “better listener.”
“Sometimes men hear us, but they don’t hear us,” she explained.
Campbell said as she said her morning prayers Tuesday, she added a plea for Harp to win. “I’m glad that I was able to be part of this, to be able to be part of history.”
Harp then stopped to receive a handmade scarf from Vivian Fripp-Elbert, who runs sewing classes with women in recovery at Church of the Rock. Fripp-Elbert said Harp has been a customer over the years of her scarves. On Election Day, she made the candidate a red, white and blue scarf.
Fripp-Elbert, who’s 65, said she has gained inspiration from Harp, who’s just a year older. Seeing that a woman her age can run for mayor has inspired Fripp-Elbert to go back to college at age 65 to earn her bachelor’s degree in social work, she said.
“If she’s running for mayor, I can get up and get my degree!” Fripp-Elbert said. “She’s making a way for other women to reach their goals.”
Harp said that has been one effect she did not think of when she launched her mayoral bid. She said she notices it most when she’s around little girls. “They get so excited when they see me. They know it opens the door for them.” She said she’s proving not only that a woman can be mayor, but that girls can “be anything they want to be.”
“It makes me realize that I’m not only doing this for specific goals,” such as safe streets and better schools. “I’m also doing it so that the perception of girls can be changed.”
In Newhallville, Auntie Doris said she didn’t know what kind of leadership a woman will bring because “we’ve never seen it.”
Harp named two qualities she shares with women: They “are more collaborative,” and “believe in building consensus.”
If a woman runs a household with a husband and kids, as Harp did, “your whole life is around building consensus and getting a group of people to move in a direction,” she said.
In Morris Cove, A Different View On History
Over in the Morris Cove, where Elicker crushed Harp Tuesday, voters weren’t sold on the historic opportunity presented by Harp’s candidacy.
In the neighborhood, which is mostly white, voters said they were looking for change. But they weren’t talking about electing the first ever Affrican-American female mayor.
“Elicker all the way,” said Beth Rockmill as she left Nathan Hale School, Ward 18’s polling place. She said she had just cast her vote for Elicker.
“I’d love to have a black woman mayor,” she said. But Elicker is “smart and good” and a “great guy.”
Kyle Craven, who’s 23, said he voted for Elicker. He was one of several East Shore voters who stumbled over the candidate’s name. He also didn’t realize that Elicker hadn’t grown up in New Haven.
“He knows the community,” Craven said of Elicker. Of Harp: “I don’t like her. She doesn’t see the whole picture.”
Craven predicted Harp would “get the popular vote by race,” that people would vote for her because she is black. Craven, who is white, said his vote for Elicker wasn’t based on race. “I saw what he can do for the community.”
Maurice Evans, who’s black, said his vote for Harp also wasn’t based on race. Her being the first black female mayor is “not really a big deal,” he said.
Evans, a 44-year-old employee of the state Department of Social Services, said he voted for Harp because of her experience at the state level. She understands the “inner workings” of the government.
Other Morris Cove voters spoke about their choice for mayor only on condition of anonymity. An anonymous couple said they voted for Elicker to “give him a chance.”
“He’s more informed about government,” the man said. “He’s been in Washington.”
He said Harp is “devious” and he doubts if she even lives in New Haven. “If someone is devious, why would you want them in government?”
As for Harp being the first black female mayor, the man said, “Does that still mean something today? When are they going to stop this nonsense?”
A candidate’s race and gender don’t matter “in this day and age,” said Chris Dowling a 42-year old Republican. Dowling said he voted for Elicker because there were no Republicans in the race.
Mark Cowell used the same phrase to dismiss the race question: “In this day and age, especially up in the Northeast, it’s really not that significant.”
Women have “come a long way,” and the country has a mixed-race president, Cowell said.
Thomas MacMillan contributed reporting.