TERRE HAUTE — Ambassador Cynthia Norton Shepard Perry, now U.S. director of the African Development Bank in Ivory Coast, was born in Lost Creek township in 1928, one of nine children.
Perry, who earned her doctorate in International Education in 1972 from the University of Massachusetts, began her working career at Nichols Investment Corp. in Terre Haute in 1957. She would later work for IBM Corp. and then join the faculty of Texas Southern University, where she became dean of international affairs in 1978.
After extensive service for the U.S. Peace Corps in Africa, the U.S. Information Service in Kenya and as a lecturer at the University of Nairobi, President Ronald Reagan tapped Perry to serve as U.S. ambassador to Sierra Leone in 1986, fulfilling a dream she had for 30 years.
She would remain in that post for three years and then become ambassador to Burundi from 1989-1993.
Pregnant with her fourth child from her first marriage, Perry was in her mid-20s when she started down her foreign-service career path with the help and encouragement of her Otter Creek High School principal, Herbert Lamb, who counseled Perry how to best pursue her dream. It was from Lamb’s discussions with Perry that she took the phrase “all things being equal,” which would become the title of her 1988 autobiography.
Perry, whose first marriage to Lost Creek Township native James O. Shepard ended in divorce in 1968, married Evansville native James Olden Perry in 1971. The two had known each other back in Indiana years earlier. While in Africa with his wife, James Perry would work for the Peace Corps and the United Nations and start schools for American and international schoolchildren, according to his obituary. James Perry died in 2006 and is buried in Lost Creek family cemetery in eastern Vigo County. James Shepard died in Houston in 2004 at age 88.
During an unpaid leave from IBM in the 1960s, Perry earned her bachelor’s degree from Indiana State University in political science. She would later earn a master’s degree from ISU in English before moving to Amherst, Mass.
“My father told me someday I would be great,” Perry told the Houston Chronicle in 1978. “If I could live my life over again, the only thing I would change is that I’d start earlier.”
Arthur Foulkes can be contacted at (812) 231-4232 or arthur.foulkes@tribstar.com.
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February 19, 2007
Black History Month: Valley resident became college dean, ambassador
- Black History Month
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- Councilman’s plan: Help Terre Haute grow by working with other cities Neil Garrison, city councilman, has implemented a new plan that fosters unity between communities similar to Terre Haute.
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Black History Month: Carter Goodwin Woodson 'Father of Black History'
Carter Goodwin Woodson, a black author, editor, publisher and historian, was born in December 1875 and lived until April 1950. Woodson believed that African-Americans should know about their past in order to cooperate intelligently in the affairs of our country. Strongly he believed that African-American history is a firm foundation for young Black Americans.
He is known as the “Father of Black History” and held an important position in black history in early 20th century American history. - Correction March 16, 2007 The Tribune-Star corrects errors. If you believe we have made an error, contact Editor Max Jones at (812) 231-4336 or e-mail him at max.jones@tribstar.com.
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Capturing history while we can
When the idea for a month-long project on Black History Month was suggested, I was excited and a bit apprehensive.
Being a history buff, the idea of rooting around in archives and yearbooks, and talking to members of older generations really appealed to me. - Persevering over obstacles When I was in school, I remember reading Ralph Elison’s poem “Invisible Man” and not understanding why he thought of himself as “invisible.” But in studying a little about local black history I believe I got a glimpse of what he meant. I think for hundreds of years there was a feeling among the majority of Americans that this land was a white, European nation and black people, native Americans and other non-Europeans were aliens who should be kept out of sight — made “invisible” — by being placed on reservations, deported back to Africa, or legally kept in legally segregated schools or in different neighborhoods.
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Black History Month: Former resident looks back on his days in Vigo County’s ‘colored orphans home’
James Anderson lived at the “colored orphans home” east of Terre Haute more than 60 years ago, but looking out over the wooded and hilly landscape where he spent much of his childhood, it “almost seems like yesterday,” he said.
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Black History Month: Valley resident became college dean, ambassador
Ambassador Cynthia Norton Shepard Perry, now U.S. director of the African Development Bank in Ivory Coast, was born in Lost Creek township in 1928, one of nine children.
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Black History Month: Author of 5 books building legacy across Indiana
If there was one message Daisy Hood drilled into her eight children in the 1920s and ’30s, it was the importance of contributing to one’s community.
The message was lived by Daisy herself who, despite being crippled from childhood polio, was a well-known community activist and educator in Terre Haute during the days of black and white segregation. Daisy was instrumental in the development of the Charles T. Hyte Community Center, the Colored Day Nursery and the Phyllis Wheatley Home. She also sat on numerous boards, including the Terre Haute branch of the NAACP. -
Black History Month: Terre Haute native leads one of Navy’s most successful athletic programs
Paul Harris learned two lessons in one moment.
First, coasting is not an option while wearing a U.S. Naval Academy track-and-field uniform. Second, his coach — Stephen Cooksey — is quite comfortable standing out in a crowd. - Black History Month: Emancipation Proclamation once celebrated in Terre Haute Terre Haute’s black citizens used to celebrate the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation every Sept. 22 with a day off from work and school.
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- Black History Month: Colored Day Nursery provided care for black kids From 1908 to 1966, the Colored Day Nursery in Terre Haute provided care and meals to black children whose parents worked. The nursery was organized by a group of mothers to “serve the colored working mothers of the neighborhood,” according to the book “The Negro in the History of Indiana” by John Lyda.
- African Global Night set for Feb. 24 at ISU On Feb. 24, the African Students Union together with other departments within and outside Indiana State University will sponsor African Global Night to celebrate Black History Month.
- Black History Month: Mother Bettie is a TH living legend Bettie Eleanor Davis, 85, is a Terre Haute native whose love of young people and interest in sharing the history of her people have made her a local treasure. Davis, also known as Mother Bettie, is a volunteer and activist who has been researching and telling the history of black people in Terre Haute for more than a decade.
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Black History Month: Valley’s role on Underground Railroad still being revealed
In a day when skin color differentiated the masters from the slaves, many people took a chance by putting their lives in the hands of strangers, traveling hundreds of miles north through the Wabash Valley in search of freedom.
More information about Vigo County’s role in that system comes to light each day, but because of the extreme secrecy of the Underground Railroad, it’s unsure if its entire, storied history ever will be revealed. - Black History Month: Demetrius ‘Dee’ Ewing broke business barriers in Terre Haute Born on Halloween 1909 in Clarksville, Tenn., Demetrius “Dee” Ewing would eventually become the first black businessman to own a store on Wabash Avenue in Terre Haute.
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Black History Month: Indiana’s first black legislator attended Allen Chapel school
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The Allen Chapel school was a “subscription school,” meaning parents paid for their children to attend. The fee at the school was 25 cents per week, according to a publication by the Allen Chapel. - More Black History Month Headlines
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