Mary "May" Ingraham (30 July ''or June'' 1901 – 26 March 1982) was a Bahamian

suffragist Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to v ...

who, among other things, was the founding president of the Bahamas Women's Suffrage Movement.

Suffragist

Along with

Georgianna Symonette Georgianna Kathleen Symonette (4 April 1902 – 14 May 1965) a Bahamian suffragist, was the founding chairwoman of the Women's Branch of the Progressive Liberal Party and founding member of the Women's Suffrage Movement. In 2012, The Bahamian ...

, Eugenia Lockhart and Mabel Walker, Ingraham founded the Women's Suffrage Movement. In 1962, women gained the right to vote and serve in elected office in the legislature. By 1967 black women had organized themselves into a strong voting block that contributed to the

Progressive Liberal Party The Progressive Liberal Party (abbreviated PLP) is a populist and social liberal party in the Bahamas. Philip Davis is the leader of the party. History The PLP was founded in 1953 by William Cartwright, Cyril Stevenson, and Henry Milton Tay ...

's win and eventually

Majority rule Majority rule is a principle that means the decision-making power belongs to the group that has the most members. In politics, majority rule requires the deciding vote to have majority, that is, more than half the votes. It is the binary dec ...

Recognition

Mary Ingraham Intergenerational Care Centre – in Nassau at St. Vincent Road and Faith Avenue – is named for Ingraham. The centre is under the purview of the Department of Social Services and Community Development within the Bahamas Ministry of Social Services and Urban Development and is operated by the South Bahamas Conference of the Inter-American Division of Seventh-day Adventists. The Bahamas Post Office, on October 10, 2012, issued commemorative panes – six different

postage stamps A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail), who then affix the stamp to the f ...

per pane, titled ''50th Anniversary of Women Suffrage'' (two rows, clockwise, from the top left):

Mary Ingraham – 15¢
Georgianna Symonette Georgianna Kathleen Symonette (4 April 1902 – 14 May 1965) a Bahamian suffragist, was the founding chairwoman of the Women's Branch of the Progressive Liberal Party and founding member of the Women's Suffrage Movement. In 2012, The Bahamian ...
(1902–1965) – 25¢
Mabel Walker (1902–1987) – 50¢
Eugenia Lockhart (1908–??) – 65¢
Dame Alberta Isaacs – 70¢
Dame Doris Johnson (1921–1983) – 80¢

: each of the six stamps bearing the portrait of notable women who influenced

women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the women's rights, right of women to Suffrage, vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to gran ...

in The Bahamas.

Affiliations

In the past Ingraham was a

Daughter A daughter is a female offspring; a girl or a woman in relation to her parents. Daughterhood is the state of being someone's daughter. The male counterpart is a son. Analogously the name is used in several areas to show relations between ...

Ruler of the

Improved Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks of the World The Improved Benevolent Protective Order of Elks of the World (IBPOEW) is an African-American fraternal order modeled on the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. It was established in 1897 in the United States. In the early 21st century, it ha ...

and a Matron of the Order of Eastern Stars.

Family

Mary Ingraham was born in the St. Agnes

Chapelry A chapelry was a subdivision of an ecclesiastical parish in England and parts of Lowland Scotland up to the mid 19th century. Status It had a similar status to a township but was so named as it had a chapel of ease (chapel) which was the com ...

District,

Nassau, Bahamas Nassau ( ) is the capital city, capital and largest city of the Bahamas. With a population of 274,400 as of 2016, or just over 70% of the entire population of the Bahamas, Nassau is commonly defined as a primate city, dwarfing all other towns in ...

, to Ellis Hartman Mason ( Ellis Henry Mason; 1872–1937) and Alice Leanora Bartlett (; died 1942). On December 30, 1919, she married Rufus Harcourt Ingraham (1900–1967) in Grant's Town, one of the Over-the-Hill suburbs south of Nassau. St. Agnes Church ( Anglican), still in existence, has endured for years. Three of Ingraham's brothers were musicians in the United States:

Norman Mason (1895–1971), a
Dixieland Dixieland jazz, also referred to as traditional jazz, hot jazz, or simply Dixieland, is a style of jazz based on the music that developed in New Orleans at the start of the 20th century. The 1917 recordings by the Original Dixieland Jass Band ...
clarinetist, multi-instrumentalist, bandleader;
Oliver Welock Mason ( 1900; ''d.'' 1961), a trumpeter who, in the 1930s and 1940s, performed with the orchestra for the traveling
minstrel show The minstrel show, also called minstrelsy, was an American form of racist theatrical entertainment developed in the early 19th century. Each show consisted of comic skits, variety acts, dancing, and music performances that depicted people spe ...
, ''
Silas Green from New Orleans ''Silas Green from New Orleans'' was an African American owned and run variety tent show that, in various forms, toured the Southern States from about 1904 through 1957. Part revue, part musicomedy, part minstrel show, the show told the adventure ...
.''
Henry Morris Mason ( 1906; ), a trumpeter who, among other things, recorded as a
sideman A sideman is a professional musician who is hired to perform live with a solo artist, or with a group in which they are not a regular band member. The term is usually used to describe musicians that play with jazz or rock artists, whether solo ...
for
Fannie Goosby Fannie May Goosby (born 1902, died after 1934) also known as Fannie Mae Goosby was an American classic female blues singer, pianist and songwriter. Ten of her recordings were released between 1923 and 1928, one of which, "Grievous Blues", she r ...
(1928 – Brunswick 7029), Cleo Gibson (1929 –
Okeh Okeh Records () is an American record label founded by the Otto Heinemann Phonograph Corporation, a phonograph supplier established in 1916, which branched out into phonograph records in 1918. The name was spelled "OkeH" from the initials of Ott ...
8700), Blanche Calloway (1931 – Victor 22866; 1934 –
Banner A banner can be a flag or another piece of cloth bearing a symbol, logo, slogan or another message. A flag whose design is the same as the shield in a coat of arms (but usually in a square or rectangular shape) is called a banner of arms. Also, ...
33304 & 33224),
Leon Abbey Leon Alexander Anthony Abbey (May 7, 1900 – September 1975) was an American jazz violinist and bandleader. Biography He was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota on May 7, 1900, to Luther James Robert Abbey and Eva Lee Alexander. He started his care ...
(1938 – Sonora Swd 3411 & 3799),
Willie Lewis William T. Lewis ''(né'' Willie Meria Tawlton Lewis; 10 June 1905 – 13 January 1971) was an American jazz clarinetist and bandleader. Career Lewis was born Cleburne, Texas, United States. He grew up in Dallas and played in variety shows as ...
(1941 – Elite Special 4067, 4068, 4069, 4070, 4071),
Eddie Brunner Eduard "Eddie" Brunner (July 19, 1912, Zurich - July 18, 1960, Zurich) was a Swiss jazz reedist and bandleader. Brunner learned to play clarinet, piano, and tenor and alto saxophone, and began playing professionally in the early 1930s with Rene D ...
(1941 – Elite Special), and
Gene Sedric Gene Sedric ''(né'' Eugene Hall Cedric; June 17, 1907, St. Louis, Missouri – April 3, 1963, New York City) was an American jazz clarinetist and tenor saxophonist. He acquired the nickname "Honey Bear" in the 1930s because of his large camelhai ...
( 1940s – Collectors Items 017).

Bibliography

Notes

References

* . . ; and * * * * Retrieved January 22, 2021 (subscription required; accessible at many libraries) *

NARA The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an " independent federal agency of the United States government within the executive branch", charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It ...

publication no. T627; digital folder no. 5460974; microfilm image no. 310. * (Note: William-Pulfer, in 2018, completed her

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper ''Piled Higher and Deeper'' (also known as ''PhD Comics''), is a newsp ...

Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis Indiana University–Purdue University Indianapolis, commonly referred to as IUPUI, is a Public university, public research university in Indianapolis, Indiana. It is a collaboration between Indiana University and Purdue University system, Purd ...

). {{DEFAULTSORT:Ingraham, Mary 1901 births 1982 deaths Bahamian suffragists People from New Providence