C. Bette Wimbish facts for kids

C. Bette Wimbish (March 24, 1924 – November 30, 2009) was an important African-American woman who worked for equal rights in Florida. She helped end segregation in schools and fought for civil equality. Many knew her as a civil rights activist and politician. She was the first African American to serve on the St. Petersburg, Florida city council.

Wimbish was also the first African American to hold an elected office in the Tampa Bay area in the 1900s. She was the first black female lawyer in Pinellas County, Florida. She was married to Ralph Wimbish and they had three children.

Growing Up and School

Where did Bette Wimbish come from?

C. Bette Wimbish was born Carrie Elizabeth Davis in Perry, Florida. Her parents were Ola Mae and Tom Davis. Her father left when she was very young.

She finished high school at Booker T. Washington High School in Tampa, Florida. After that, she wanted to go to the University of Pennsylvania. But she was not accepted because she was black. Even though this was disappointing, Bette was determined.

How did she become a lawyer?

At 16, Wimbish started college at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical College for Negroes. This school is now known as Florida A&M. She wanted to become a doctor. While there, she met Ralph Wimbish, who also wanted to be a doctor. They got married on November 12, 1944. That same year, she earned her bachelor's degree from Florida A&M.

Bette started her career as a physical education teacher. Meanwhile, her husband Ralph studied medicine in Nashville.

Facing unfairness in Florida

The young couple faced unfair treatment because of their work for civil rights. In 1948, they tried to build a house in a mostly white area of Tampa. They hoped to find a good place to raise their daughter. But the house burned down the night before they were supposed to move in. No one ever found out why the fire started. However, many believed it was an attack by a group trying to stop them.

After this, the family moved to St. Petersburg in 1953. Dr. Ralph Wimbish opened his medical office there.

Later, Bette changed her mind about being a doctor. She became passionate about law. She tried to get into Stetson Law School but was turned down. This was likely because of her early civil rights work. She then applied to Florida A&M's law school and finished in just two years. She passed the bar exam easily. Still, it was hard for her to find a job as a lawyer because of widespread discrimination in the South.

Fighting for Change

Working for school equality

In 1959, Ralph Wimbish became the president of the Saint Petersburg branch of the NAACP. This made the couple even more involved in ending school segregation. Six years after the Brown Decision, schools in St. Petersburg were still separated by race.

Instead of following the law to desegregate schools, the Pinellas County school board built new separate schools. They said these schools were "separate but equal." But they still rejected black students from these new all-white schools. So, the Wimbishes tried a new plan. Since they couldn't force the school board to obey the Brown Decision, they decided to try and integrate the school board itself.

Running for office

In 1960, C. Bette Wimbish decided to run for a seat on the Pinellas County Board of Public Instruction. At that time, no black person had ever run for a county-wide political job in Pinellas. Bette had a degree from Florida A&M and experience teaching. She was very qualified to challenge the all-white political system.

Wimbish knew her chances of winning were small. But she hoped her voice would be heard. Her main goal was to improve schools, not just talk about race. She was especially motivated because the district's solution to crowded black high schools was to build another black high school, not to integrate. She didn't win the election, but she received 10,000 votes. This was a lot, considering there were only 3,800 black voters in the area.

Protesting for equal service

Wimbish kept working to desegregate schools and lunch counters. In March 1960, Bette took part in two days of sit-ins. She and a college student, Theodore Floyd, sat at the William Henry lunch counter. They hoped to encourage city leaders to form mixed-race committees. However, they were refused service. The lunch counters closed quickly to avoid problems.

In Florida, business owners could choose who they served. There were no local or state laws that stopped white businesses from serving black people. Even though there were no immediate changes, boycotts and protests eventually led to many of Saint Petersburg's lunch counters becoming desegregated by early 1961. The Wimbishes continued to fight against crowded black facilities and the district's lack of solutions for black students.

Making progress

Schools didn't start to desegregate until September 1962. At first, only a small number of black children were allowed into mostly white schools. Black families still faced little cooperation from the district. Real progress didn't happen until the NAACP took the issue to court. Because of this lawsuit, 6,700 black children attended desegregated schools during the 1966-67 school year. This was a big jump from only 739 students two years before.

Businesses also started to desegregate. During Christmas 1960, Bette and her husband encouraged people to boycott local businesses. They told residents to buy from catalogs instead of the city's segregated stores. As a result, Governor LeRoy Collins encouraged mixed-race committees to find solutions. After some time, local business leaders and the St Petersburg Times realized that fighting against desegregation would hurt Pinellas County's reputation as a popular tourist spot.

Opening their home

Besides their political work, the Wimbishes opened their home to black athletes and entertainers. These visitors often couldn't get hotel rooms because of segregation laws. In the 1950s and early 1960s, their family hosted famous people. These included musicians like Lionel Hampton, Cab Calloway, and Dizzy Gillespie. Athletes like Jesse Owens, Elston Howard, and Althea Gibson also stayed with them.

In 1961, Ralph Wimbish told the New York Yankees and St. Louis Cardinals that he would no longer find separate housing for black players. The Yankees moved their team to Fort Lauderdale without a problem. But some people in Saint Petersburg reacted by burning a cross in the Wimbishes' yard. This was meant to threaten Bette and her husband.

The Wimbish family also welcomed the Freedom Riders in 1961. These student activists rode buses into the South to fight segregated bus services. The Riders often visited the Wimbishes' home for rest. They rode on segregated buses in Saint Petersburg without trouble, unlike their experiences in Alabama and Mississippi.

Life After Law School

A new chapter

When Bette was 45, her husband Ralph died from a heart attack. This happened during her last two weeks of law school at Florida A&M. She then returned to Saint Petersburg. In 1968, she joined the Minnis and Williams Law Firm to work on family law cases. Eventually, she turned her husband's old medical office into her own law office.

She began helping black sanitation workers fight for equal pay. Even though they didn't win, her strong will inspired many people in the community to join the movement. The strike also gave her a platform to run for the City Council in the spring of 1969.

Serving the city

Wimbish was elected to the City Council in 1969. She won against the person already in office, Martin Murray. She promised a government that would listen to people and create equal job chances for minorities. She then served as vice-mayor from 1971 to 1973. As vice-mayor, she helped fix the city's water system. She also started one of the nation's first mandatory seat belt laws. She also tried to get black real estate owners paid for past discrimination, but this effort was not successful.

In 1975, Governor Reuben Askew appointed Bette as assistant secretary of commerce. She moved back to Tallahassee. This made her the second-highest-ranking woman in Florida's state government. Later, she was appointed deputy secretary of commerce. After losing her state legislature seat in Tallahassee in 1982, she returned to Saint Petersburg. In 1988, she ran for Congress against Bill Young.

Continuing the fight

She campaigned on issues of human rights and equality. These included women's rights, fairness in society, and equal education. She ran for the state Senate and Congress several times but did not win. Her campaigns focused on environmental issues. Wimbish talked about the dangers of polluted groundwater, acid rain, and the shrinking ozone layer. She also pushed for day care for working parents. She wanted students to have equal chances to get loan programs for school. She received 65,000 votes in one election, but still did not win.

In 1991, Bette's mother passed away. Her son died 14 months later at age 32. After this, she took a job as a lawyer for the Florida Department of Social Services. She also worked as a mediator for labor law cases for the federal government. She retired in 2003.

Later Life and Impact

Wimbish passed away on November 30, 2009, at 85 years old. She was a respected member of her community. She belonged to many groups, including: the Florida Bar Association, the American Bar Association, and the National Bar Association. She was also part of the National Council of Negro Women, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and the National Urban League. She was recognized in important publications like Who's Who Among Black Americans and Outstanding Women of Florida.