Queen Alert: 102-year-old Beatrice Lumpkin put on a face shield and gloves and took her ballot to...

[demmiblue]

102-year-old Beatrice Lumpkin put on a face shield and gloves and took her ballot to the mailbox.

When she was born, women couldn't vote.

Link to tweet

Since the elderly are at a higher risk of severe illness from the coronavirus, seniors are being advised to stay home during the pandemic and only go out for essentials. For a 102-year-old woman in Chicago, voting is essential. So Beatrice Lumpkin put on a hazmat-like suit and took her ballot to the mailbox, ensuring she could safely cast her vote this year.

A photo of Lumpkin in her PPE was shared by the Chicago Teachers Union, which she used to be a part of, according to CBS Radio station WBBM. Lumpkin smiled through her hazmat hood as her gloved hand held up her ballot by the mailbox outside of her apartment building.

Lumpkin, who began voting 80 years ago, told WBBM the first presidential candidate she voted for was Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1940. She hasn't missed a vote since.

She said it was important for her vote this year in part because she wanted to honor women's rights. "When I was born, women couldn't vote," Lumpkin told the station on Thursday.

The other reason, she said: "It's the most important election of my lifetime. The very future of democracy is on the line."

[Hugin]

1. !

[Demovictory9]

2. kick

[Dem2theMax]

3. 😃

[CatMor]

4. She is awesome.

[LakeArenal]

5. Thank you Beatrice Lumpkin.

[Stuart G]

6. K and R

[lpbk2713]

7. Love that girl.

[Alliepoo]

8. Beatrice ROCKS!!!!!!!

[demmiblue]

9. Here is an interesting article about her from Illinois Tech Magazine:

In a second bedroom, all admire Lumpkin’s east view of the lake. After commenting on the many sunrises she has enjoyed through that window, she points out a low-rise structure in the distance.

“You can see the steel mills, all the way over in Indiana,” Lumpkin says, her sprightly voice becoming a touch subdued, as if a small cloud briefly obscured the horizon.

Finally taking a seat at her dining room table (“I can see you including shots of me at 101, sipping my tea like a good centenarian should do,” she says, in characteristic good humor), Lumpkin talks about her storied life as labor activist, educator, and champion of the common person. She glances at her computer monitor, where a grandson has arranged a screen saver of personal photos as well as images of ancient Egypt, the country Lumpkin researched for her Illinois Institute of Technology master’s thesis in mathematics for teachers.

“The rough thing is when you look at a photo like that, well,” she says, nodding at a headshot of Frank Lumpkin, her husband of 61 years, who passed away in 2010 at 93. “Some of the people are no longer alive.”

An African-American Wisconsin Steel mill worker, Frank Lumpkin launched a 17-year battle to retrieve the pensions and lost wages owed to him and some 3,000 fellow employees when the Southeast Side plant closed without warning in 1980. His Save Our Jobs Committee succeeded in winning settlements amounting to $19 million. Lumpkin wrote about her husband’s activist roots and his fight for social justice in the 1999 book Always Bring a Crowd!: The Story of Frank Lumpkin, Steelworker.

...

“Beatrice Lumpkin: social justice warrior, civil rights activist, organizer, mathematician and teacher, comrade, author, friend, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and inspiration and mentor to so many, including me,” she states. “Words cannot convey how many lives Bea has shaped through her fierce determination to make the world a better place and unbending commitment to social justice. Bea is an example of how one person can shape the arc of history.”

https://magazine.iit.edu/fall-2019/unstoppable

[dlk]

10. Hail to the queen!

Brava!

[burrowowl]

11. Beatrice Lumpkin is a Real Hero!

[niyad]

12. Blessings to this brave, brave woman.

[cwydro]

13. Those who can't be bothered to vote make me sick.

Wonder if kaepernick plans to in this election?

This woman is an example to everyone.

[Roc2020]

14. Just lovely

[SaveOurDemocracy]

15. Love and Respect to Beatrice. She's wonderful! ❤💕

[warmfeet]

16. K & R

Much love for Beatrice.



I am a bit jealous that she got to vote for FDR.

[AZ8theist]

17. Gee, I wonder who she voted for??

[former9thward]

18. I was on a zoom meeting today which she was on.

I am a member of the south Chicago SOAR (Steelworkers Organization of Active Retirees) chapter and Bea is a member of our local chapter. Her late husband, Frank, was an activist in the steel mills in south Chicago. Even when we were meeting in person she showed up almost every month.

[Old Terp]

19. Long my she and others like reign!

[Sherman A1]

20. K&R

[archiemo]

21. No words to describe the happy I feel seeing this. N/T

[MustLoveBeagles]

22. She's an example for us all

Both her and her husband sound like remarkable people.

[appalachiablue]

23. Bravo! What a wonderful woman and American

Voted for FDR in 1940, wow.

[AllaN01Bear]

24. eggscllent.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

25. Good for her!

[watrwefitinfor]

26. In honor of Beatrice and in memory of her husband -

Are there still warriors like these two among us?

I found this beautiful video by a Chicago tv station, mostly about the pension struggle Frank Lumpkin led.

https://video.wttw.com/video/chicago-tonight-archive-march-09-2010-remembering-frank-lumpkin/

And a link to the full text of Beatrice's book, "Joy in the Struggle - My Life and Love". (A google search shows the book is for sale online.)

https://keywiki.org/files/joy-in-the-struggle/

Enjoy.

Wat