Uncrowned Community Builders

The mission of the National Women's Hall of Fame is: "To honor in perpetuity those women, citizens of the United States of America, whose contributions to the arts, athletics, business, education, government, the humanities, philanthropy and science, have been the greatest value..."

This year, 2005, is the Centennial of the Niagara Movement. As part of its year-long activities to celebrate this important event, the Uncrowned Queens Institute for Research and Education on Women, Inc. is partnering with the Mary B. Talbert Civic and Cultural Club to celebrate the life of Mary B. Talbert.  Thanks to the efforts of Madeline O. Scott, one of our Uncrowned Queens and a President of the Afro-American Historical Association of the Niagara Frontier, Inc., this Centennial year is all the more exciting because Mary B. Talbert will be inducted into the Women’s Hall of Fame on October 8 at Seneca Falls, New York.  Among many important contributions, Talbert was a key participant in the 1905 activities that marked the beginning of the pre-civil rights era leading to the formation of the NAACP.

African American women have always celebrated the lives of women who made contributions to the building of their communities.  In November, 1955, exactly fifty years ago this November, a group of delegates and members of the Buffalo Regional of the Empire State Federation of Women’s Clubs held a church service and made a pilgrimage to the grave of Mary B. Talbert where more than 100 women were in attendance to listen to tributes to this extraordinary woman. Our own Mary Lee Crosby Chappelle President of the Phyllis Wheatley Club at the time, paid a tribute.

As a prelude to the October induction in Seneca Falls, the November 1955 memorial tribute to Mary B. Talbert will be re-enacted on June 12, 2005,  at 1:30 p.m. at the Talbert gravesite in Forest Lawn Cemetery.  As at the earlier ceremony, members of some of the Empire State Federation of Women’s Clubs will also be in attendance and the public is invited.

At the end of the re-enactment, attendees are invited to Forest Lawn Cemetery Chapel for a brief reception and presentation on Mary B. Talbert and events surrounding the birth of the Niagara Movement. Tickets for the Seneca Falls trip will also be on sale. We encourage the community to show support for the induction of this extraordinary woman into the National Women’s Hall of fame.

An Ancestral Tour of Forest Lawn Cemetery will be held after the re-enactment at reception beginning at 3:00.  There is a fee of  $10 per person to participate in the 3:00 Ancestral Tour. 

We encourage you to purchase your tickets in advance.  You can contact Uncrowned Queens at info@uncrownedcommunitybuilders.com.

On September 26, 2005, Talbert Hall on the University at Buffalo North Campus was rededicated.