Daisy Lampkin once said that, “nothing is done unless women do it,” and throughout her life, she was a woman who did it all.
Born in 1883 in Washington, D.C., Lampkin moved to Pittsburgh in 1909, where she spent decades tirelessly crusading for civil and women’s rights through a variety of local and national organizations.
Though she is best known as a widely respected NAACP organizer, Lampkin did much more. She joined the Lucy Stone Woman Suffrage League, later leading it as president from 1915 to 1955. Lampkin purchased stock in the Pittsburgh Courier and increased her shares until she became vice president of the company in 1929; she wrote, edited, and promoted the paper for more than 30 years.
Politically active, she served as an alternate delegate to the National Republican Convention and was vice chair for the Colored Voters Division of the Republican Party. As an NAACP organizer, Lampkin dramatically increased membership and fundraising, earning her a position as national field secretary in 1935 and the title of NAACP’s Woman of the Year in 1945.
Despite stepping down as secretary due to health issues in 1947, Lampkin continued serving on the NAACP's national board until 1965 when she passed away after a stroke. Throughout her life, Lampkin was involved with numerous other organizations, including the National Association of Colored Women, the Urban League of Pittsburgh, and Delta Sigma Theta sorority.
This article was originally published in partnership with the Heinz History Center for its exhibition, A Woman’s Place: How Women Shaped Pittsburgh.
