Daisy E. Lampkin Historical Marker

This historical marker honors the life of Daisy E. Lampkin, a Reading resident who moved to Pittsburgh and was a leader within various civil rights organizations, including the NAACP. Writing for the Pittsburgh Courier, one of the leading African American newspapers in the 1930s with national circulation, Daisy Lampkin helped share information about NAACP chapters and other early civil rights organizations. She also served as an alternate delegate to the National Republican Convention.

Daisy E. Lampkin was born an only child on August 9^th, 1883 and grew up in Reading, Pennsylvania with parents Rosa and George Adams. She attended a public high school and in 1909, she moved to Pittsburgh. She married William Lampkin in 1912. William Lampkin was a restaurant owner and Daisy helped run the restaurant in the suburbs of Pittsburgh. 

Shortly after the couple married Daisy began becoming involved in social causes. In 1912 she had the first of many tea parties so that other African American women could become engaged in the cause. Lampkin joined the renamed Lucy Stone League. She was elected president in 1915 and remained for 40 years. Five years into her presidency to the organization women were guaranteed the right to vote in 1920 under the 19^th amendment. 

After this amendment was passed Lampkin became chairman of the Allegheny County Negro Women’s Republican League, vice-chairman of the Negro Voters League of Pennsylvania, and vice-chairman of the Colored Voters Division of the Republican National Committee. Lampkin also twice served as an alternate delegate to the National Republican Party Convention and rose to the position of vice-president of the Pittsburgh Courier where she held positions as writer, editor, and executive. Through her efforts, this paper was the top circulating Black newspaper in the world by the 1950s Lampkin was also involved in other organizations and projects as well. She was active in the community with the Red Cross chapter and NAACP. She had become so well known that she became the Pittsburgh Courier’s vice-president under editor-publisher Robert L. Vann. Vann had recruited her to help with fundraising. She eventually became the vice-president.

Taylor, Durahn. Daisy Elizabeth Adams Lampkin, encyclopedia.com. June 8th 2018. Accessed December 13th 2021. https://www.encyclopedia.com/history/historians-and-chronicles/historians-miscellaneous-biographies/daisy-elizabeth-adams.

Levin, Steve. Daisy Lampkin was a dynamo for change, Black History Month. February 2nd 1998. Accessed December 13th 2021. https://old.post-gazette.com/Blackhistorymonth/19980202lampkin.asp.

Houck, Davis W. . Dixion, David E. . Women and the Civil Rights Movement. University Press of Mississippi, 1954-1965.

, John Heinz History Center. Uncovering Pittsburgh Stories: Women Activists, John Heinz History Center. June 2nd 2020. Accessed December 15th 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4EwymC9mzk .