UAFS event honors last two ‘Rainbow Girls’

story and photo submitted by the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith

Light was shed on personal civic involvement Jan. 19 at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith as Dr. Alice Taylor-Colbert spoke during a ceremony recognizing actions by two local women.

Honorees were Isabelle Bass, 95, and Katherine Brown, 94, the last two living members of the local Rainbow Girls organization, a women’s auxiliary formed in 1945 that spearheaded efforts to meet needs of the Twin Cities Colored Hospital in Fort Smith.

Introducing Bass and Brown was Billy Higgins, associate professor of geography and history, who said he chose as a graduate student to study African American history because he "was stirred."

"I’m still stirred," said Higgins, lauding Bass and Brown for their lifelong stand for decency, integrity and justice.

Nichelle Christian, member of the ADP committee and Brown’s granddaughter, presented Bass and Brown with the ADP’s first Citizenship Awards.

"The success of the Civil Rights Movement was made possible by the thousands of people who acted on their consciences, their souls, their understanding of what was right and of what incredible potential for good we have in this nation," Taylor-Colbert said.  "A democracy relies on the continuing participating of its citizens and on the continuing vigilance of its citizens to address injustices and inequities in order to fulfill the promise of the American Dream."

Taylor-Colbert lauded Bass and Brown for seeing a need in the Fort Smith community and choosing to not ignore that need, which speaks to the goals of the American Democracy Project at UAFS. The ADP is a national initiative fostering responsible citizenship at all levels.

The UAFS chapter was sponsor of the event honoring Bass and Brown and commemorating the Civil Rights Movement. Taylor-Colbert, who heads the ADP chapter at UAFS, is chair of the Department of History, Geography, Political Science, Philosophy and Religious Studies.

She said the ADP saw the Rainbow Girls organization as a symbol of the kind of civic participation that makes democracy thrive.

"For every act of kindness, for every effort of time and energy and resources to serve others, for every attempt to become informed in order to make wise decisions, for every trip to the polls to vote, for every letter or e-mail sent to a representative, for every membership in a community organization, for every attempt to right a wrong, for every effort to improve the lives of future generations," Taylor-Colbert said, "we of the American Democracy Project thank you for accepting the legacy of the Civil Rights Movement, which is simply put, ‘the call to service.’"

Dr. Taylor-Colbert said that accepting the call to service would allow King’s dream to stay alive and become a reality.

UAFS Chancellor Dr. Paul B. Beran encouraged those assembled to become involved in their community.

"I do believe that people need to participate in civic engagement," Beran said, "and that doesn’t happen by yourself. No person is an island."

He went on to say that no person should be "bowling alone," taken from the book of the same name, a book that describes the disengagement of Americans from political and civic involvement.

Also speaking were Fort Smith Mayor Ray Baker and Rhonda Gray, president of the Fort Smith Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta. Mariah Hall of Fort Smith, a member of UAFS’s Upsilon Kappa Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta, presented bouquets of flowers to Bass and Brown at the conclusion of the ceremony.