Victorine Quille Adams will join four other women into the 2020 Maryland Women's Hall of Fame.  She was nominated by frequent Port Of Harlem contributor and University Archivist at Morgan State University Dr. Ida Jones.

After 15 years at Howard University’s Moorland–Spingarn Research Center, Jones learned of Adams when she took her new position at Morgan in 2016. “She donated her papers to Morgan and I processed them,” said Jones.  Like Adams, Jones is a member of Sigma Gamma Rho. “I was flabbergasted that I did not know who she was even though we are members of the same sorority.  I had never even heard her name,” she continued. 

Jones’ fascination with Adam’s life led to her fourth biography, “Baltimore Civil Rights Leader Victorine Q. Adams.”  The book tells the story of the first African-American woman to serve on the Baltimore City Council through the history of Black Baltimore.  “She was a pioneer in politics, education, business, and social justice,” added the Howard University graduate.

In addition to an application, Jones had to garner at least five letters of support.  In her second bid to have Adams inducted, Jones’ two letters included support from Senator Barbara Mikulski, whom Adams had mentored in the 1970s.

Like many other events across the world, the State of Maryland canceled the March (Women’s History Month) Hall of Fame ceremony.  The state has now scheduled the event for August when the state will also induct Evelyn O. A. Darden, Claire L. Parkinson, Ph.D., Nancy Grace Roman, Ph.D., and  Leslie R. Wolfe, Ph.D. to its Hall of Fame.

Notes: Jones also shares her professional thoughts in "The Tomb Of Niankhkhnum And Khnumhotep," in this issue.