St. Pete is celebrated for its fabulous weather, beautiful vistas, worldclass food scene, and thriving cultural atmosphere but the people of St. Pete truly make this city something special. In appreciation, Green Bench Monthly shines a light on one of the many people that make St. Pete unique.
This month, we remember a remarkable woman: Fannye Ayer Ponder. Originally from Ocala, she and her husband, Dr. James Ponder, relocated to St. Petersburg in 1924. A Florida A&M graduate, Ponder undoubtedly had a positive effect on many students’ lives during her long tenure at Gibbs High School. Her lifetime commitment to activism, however, provides an inspiring portrait of a woman determined to effect change beyond the classroom.
“Tireless Service”
Nearly 25 years after arriving in St. Petersburg, Fannye Ponder was honored with the 1949 Bethune-Cookman Award for Humanitarian Service. Often describing Bethune-Cookman College’s founder, Mary McLeod Bethune, as “her other mother,” Ponder and her mentor were close since Ponder’s childhood. The award cited Ponder’s “unselfish service and great human understanding” as the key to her rise in prominence. Ponder’s accomplishments offer ample proof of her “tireless service” towards the “uplifting of humanity.” She founded and/or held many leadership positions in numerous organizations dedicated to civic and social change, including the City Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs, the Florida State Federation of Colored Women, the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW), and the Interracial Board of Children’s Service Bureau. Only five years before receiving the award, she founded the Metropolitan Council of Negro Women (MCNW). An affiliate of the NCNW, the MCNW’s primary purpose, according to Ponder, was to “effect integration of blacks into political, economic, educational, cultural and social life and to develop competent and courageous leadership among Negro women.” This led to one of her proudest accomplishments, the construction of the Fannye Ayer Ponder House on Ninth Avenue S. Designated as a historic site in 1991 and renovated and rededicated in 2016, it was a vital gathering spot during segregation.
“More work to be done”
Ponder’s tireless efforts for change, locally and nationally, led her to accompany Bethune to the White House on three separate occasions to meet with first ladies Eleanor Roosevelt, Bess Truman, and Mamie Eisenhower. They lobbied for reform. St. Petersburg Mayor Herman Goldner declared June 6, 1972, as “Fannye Ayer Ponder Day,” commemorating her 40 “years of service to her community and nation.” Ponder noted that “Blacks have come a long way educationally, socially, and financially in this country, but there’s still more work to be done.” She supported a nonviolent approach to change and offered special praise for the hard work that Black women performed to try and “move forward.” Shirley Chisolm’s 1972 Democratic presidential bid especially heartened her. Knowing it was likely to be unsuccessful, Ponder still saw the importance of the first major-party female Black candidate. She understood that breaking down barriers was vital to creating lasting change. Nearly 50 years later, her words still ring true: “There are many frontiers yet to conquer. We have not yet come to the full realization of our dream … that Negroes have equal rights in everything in this country.”
