Arizona Cleaver Stemons

Arizona Cleaver Stemons (1898 – March 1980), born Arizona Leedonia Cleaver, was an American social worker. While she was a student at Howard University in 1920, she was one of the five founding members of the Zeta Phi Beta sorority, and its first president.

Arizona Cleaver Stemons
Born1898
Pike County, Missouri
DiedMarch 1980
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
NationalityAmerican

Early life

Arizona Leedonia Cleaver was born in Pike County, Missouri,[1] and raised in Hannibal, Missouri.[2][3]

Career

Arizona Cleaver was one of the "Five Pearls", the founding members of Zeta Phi Beta, when it began at Howard University in 1920.[4] She was the sorority's first chapter president, and its first Grand Basileus (national president).[5][6] She organized the Philadelphia graduate chapter of Zeta, and remained active nationally as the sorority's first president emerita for several decades,[7][8][9] and was a popular speaker at Zeta events into her seventies.[10][11] "This country of ours," she said in a speech in 1952, "must oppose movements that divide the races and seek an economy that will feed, clothe, and house the nation, without regard to race, creed, or national origin."[12] After 1933 she worked as a social worker in Philadelphia, working with the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children[13] and for the city's Department of Public Welfare.[14]

Personal life and legacy

In 1928, Arizona Cleaver became the third wife of James Samuel Stemons, a writer and union organizer.[15] James Stemons died in 1959.[16] Arizona Cleaver Stemons died in March 1980, aged 81 years, in Philadelphia.[3][17]

The Philadelphia graduate chapter of Zeta took ownership of her home after her death, and continues to maintain the property. In 2015, a new monument was placed at her gravesite in Eden Cemetery in Philadelphia, by the sorority, and a historical marker about Stemons was placed near the site of her high school in Hannibal. In 2016, a park in Hannibal was renamed the Douglass School/Arizona Cleaver Stemons Park.[18] In 2019, to mark the centennial of Zeta Phi Beta, a street in Philadelphia was renamed Arizona C. Stemons Way.[14][19][20] Also in 2019, the Zeta Phi Beta sorority announced a $100,000 scholarship named the Triumphant Founder Arizona C. Stemons Centennial Scholarship.[21] There are several other scholarships named for Stemons.[22]

References
  1. Thompson, Alyse (August 8, 2015). "African-American sorority celebrates legacy of founder in her hometown of Hannibal". Herald-Whig. Retrieved 2020-02-07.
  2. "Forging a Path for African-American Women: Arizona Leedonia Cleaver Stemons". Missouri Highway 36. 2016-09-26. Retrieved 2020-02-07.
  3. Parks, Gregory (2008-06-13). Black Greek-letter Organizations in the Twenty-First Century: Our Fight Has Just Begun. University Press of Kentucky. p. 109. ISBN 978-0-8131-7295-8.
  4. "Five Girls, 'Pearls', Founded Zeta at Howard". Baltimore Afro American. January 24, 1970. Retrieved February 7, 2020 – via NewspaperArchive.com.
  5. "Founders & First Initiates". Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. Retrieved 2020-02-07.
  6. "Founder Arizona Stemons Honored at Zeta Celebration". Baltimore Afro American. January 27, 1962. p. 8. Retrieved February 7, 2020 – via NewspaperArchive.com.
  7. "Zetas Observe Founders' Day". The Pittsburgh Courier. 1943-02-06. p. 10. Retrieved 2020-02-07 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. "Zeta Founder in Limelight". The Huntsville Mirror. 1952-03-22. p. 3. Retrieved 2020-02-07 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. "Zeta Hierarchy". The Pittsburgh Courier. 1967-01-28. p. 10. Retrieved 2020-02-07 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. Bowman, Barbara (1970-08-10). "Crisis in a Black Sorority". The Los Angeles Times. p. 11. Retrieved 2020-02-07 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. "Sorority Sets Founders' Day Dinner Meet". Daily Press. 1965-01-22. p. 14. Retrieved 2020-02-07 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. "South Central Regional of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Success in Nashville". The Huntsville Mirror. 1952-04-26. p. 3. Retrieved 2020-02-07 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. "Parents are Held for Beating their 3-year-old Girl". The Daily News. 1949-05-25. p. 5. Retrieved 2020-02-07 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. "Philadelphia City Council approves street renaming in honor of Zeta Phi Beta founder, Arizona C. Stemons". The Philadelphia Sunday Sun. 2019-03-29. Retrieved 2020-02-07.
  15. Bourque, Monique (August 1990). "Register of the Papers of James Samuel Stemons". Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Balch Institute for Ethnic Studies. Retrieved 2020-02-07.
  16. "James Samuel Stemons Exhibit". Historical Society of Pennsylvania; Preserving American Freedom. Retrieved 2020-02-07.
  17. "Stemons (obituary listing)". The Philadelphia Inquirer. 1980-04-19. p. 3. Retrieved 2020-02-07 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. Darr, Bev (April 11, 2016). "Willow Street Park renamed after Douglass graduate/sorority founder Stemons". Hannibal Courier-Post. Retrieved 2020-02-07.
  19. "File #: 190192". City of Philadelphia. Retrieved 2020-02-07.
  20. Atwell, Ashleigh. "Philadelphia City Council Approves Resolution To Name Street After Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Co-Founder". Blavity News & Politics. Retrieved 2020-02-07.
  21. DeElena, Heather (June 6, 2019). "Triumphant Founder Arizona Cleaver Stemons $100,000 Centennial Scholarship". Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated. Retrieved 2020-02-07.
  22. "Sistes of the Dove Centennial Year Scholarships". Zeta Phi Beta Psi Mu Zeta. Retrieved 2020-02-07.
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