Putting the spotlight on women in Manatee County

This year, Manatee Village Historical Park is celebrating women’s history with our temporary exhibit, “Progressive Women: Herstory in Florida, 1840-1918,” which will be on display through January 2019.

In conjunction with this exhibit, here are five notable women in the history of Manatee County and areas that once comprised the county.

▪ Mary and Josiah Gates were the first permanent white settlers in the Village of Manatee in 1842. They opened a hotel that hosted both church and court services.

During the Civil War, Mary Gates was among a group of women who confronted the Union soldiers when they came to burn the town’s grist mill.

After Josiah Gates' death in 1871, she continued to operate the hotel. She grew one of the first citrus groves on the south side of the Manatee River. At 72 years old, she survived the 1888 yellow fever outbreak and died in 1896 at 80 years old.

▪ Polly Parker, or Ma-De-Lo-Yee, was captured during the Second Seminole War (1835-1842) and forced to become a military guide for the roundup of Seminoles as a part of the Indian Removal Act (1830).

After the war, she became an outcast among the Seminoles for her cooperation, and set up camp near Bradenton. During the Third Seminole War, the military sent her to Arkansas to be relocated to a reservation, but she convinced them to take her back to Florida so she could negotiate an end to the war with her uncle, Seminole Chief Billy Bowlegs.

In Tallahassee, Parker led an escape and 38 Seminoles returned to the Everglades. The Seminole Tribe credits her with re-establishing the Tribe in Florida.

▪ Bertha Curry was the first female citizen of Manatee County to be registered to vote. Her registration is particularly notable, because she was registered in September 1919.

The 19th amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which gave all citizens the right to vote, including women, was not ratified until August 1920. She was the daughter of the Supervisor of Elections and he was able to get her registered to vote early, just after the U.S. Senate passed the amendment in June 1919.

▪ Emma E. Booker (1886-1939) began teaching in 1910 and, in 1918, helped establish the Sarasota Grammar School, the only school for African-American students in the area.

The school started in rented rooms filled with orange crates to serve as desks. Students used hand-me-down books from the area’s white schools.

She served as a teacher for five years before being promoted to principal. In this position, she helped raise money for a permanent school. The building was completed in 1925.

Booker encouraged her students and underwrote their continued education, and she lobbied for black students to receive the same educational opportunities as white students.

▪ Minnie Thompson Rogers was Florida's first licensed female funeral home director.

She was born in Leesburg and moved to Manatee County in the late 1800s. With her husband, she ran Rogers Funeral Home.

Rogers was a civic leader. She was the creator of the West Bradenton Women's Club and she helped found the first public nursery school. Rogers was a friend of Mary McLeod Bethune who helped her bring National Youth Administration funds to Manatee County in 1937 for the creation of the 13th Avenue Community Center for African-American children in Manatee County.

Learn about more incredible women in this area, and women’s history across the state of Florida, in our exhibit, “Progressive Women: Herstory in Florida, 1840-1918.” Admission is free. Manatee Village is open Monday through Friday, and second & fourth Saturdays of the month, from 9 a.m.-4 p.m.

Kathryn Rohlwing is the special events and marketing coordinator and works at the Manatee Village Historical Park.

This story was originally published June 29, 2018 at 1:14 PM.