THE VFA PIONEER HISTORIES PROJECT

Bertha Stovall Waters

December 21, 1922 – January 6, 2018

“I didn’t go to school to make money. Going to school in itself is worthwhile. You put your mind to productive use. You understand more of what’s going on around you. You have control over your own destiny.”

Pioneer in the fight for economic and social justice and change. Civil rights movements, Anti-war movements, early supporter of gay and lesbian rights in Philadelphia. Wrote a regular column for Philadelphia Authentic, a Black newspaper, 1960s. Equity coordinator, Pennsylvania Department of Education, 1980s-1990s. Honored by Philadelphia Chapter, National Organization for Women, advocacy efforts for gender equity in education, 2005. Lifetime Achievement Award from Bryn Mawr College Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research, 2009. B.S, Temple University, 1977. M.A., Bryn Mawr College, 1979.