Vivian Osborne Marsh

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Vivian Osborne Marsh
Vivian Osborne Marsh, 1920s
Born
Vivian Costroma Osborne

September 5, 1897
Houston, Texas
DiedMarch 8, 1986
El Cerrito, California
NationalityAmerican
Occupationclubwoman
Known forpresident of the California State Association of Colored Women, and national president of Delta Sigma Theta

Vivian Osborne Marsh (September 5, 1898 — March 1986) was an American clubwoman based in San Francisco, California. She was president of the California State Association of Colored Women, and national president of Delta Sigma Theta.

Early life[edit]

Vivian Costroma Osborne was born in Houston, Texas, the daughter of Benjamin J. Osborne and Alice Estes Osborne.[1] She moved to California with her sister and their widowed mother in 1913. She graduated from Berkeley High School in 1914. She earned a bachelor's degree (1920) and a master's degree (1922) in anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley. Her master's thesis was titled "Types and Distribution of Negro Folklore in America".[2] In 1921, Marsh is credited with chartering the Kappa chapter of Delta Sigma Theta sorority and later, the Berkeley Bay Area Alumnae Chapter.[2] The women were initiated as members of Delta Sigma Theta sorority in September 1922. The women became members during an initiation performed by Delta organizer, Ida Myller.[3] This makes the Kappa chapter the second NPHC sorority chartered in California, after Alpha Kappa Alpha's Rho chapter.[4] She later earned a teaching credential from UCLA, in 1932.[5]

Career[edit]

Marsh remained active with Delta Sigma Theta throughout her life, establishing the Berkeley Bay Area Alumnae Chapter in 1934,[6] and was the sorority's seventh national president, from 1935 to 1939.[7][8][9] During her time as president of Delta Sigma Theta, she organized a traveling library for rural Georgia, and Teen Lift, a program to improve access to concerts, operas, and plays for black teenagers.[7] She also went to Washington D.C. to represent the sorority in the work for anti-lynching legislation.[10] Marsh was active member and leader of several other fraternal associations, including Heroines of Jericho, the Order of Calanthe, and Prince Hall Order of the Eastern Star.[2]

Marsh was also active with the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs, beginning as a member of the Phillis Wheatley Club in college. She was a member of the YWCA and the Berkeley Women's Civic Club, and was director of the Oakland junior branch of the NAACP from 1928 to 1929.[5] She supervised the Division on Negro Affairs of California's National Youth Administration during the Depression.[11][12][13] She was elected president of the California State Association of Colored Women in 1941.[7] She was elected vice-president of the National Council of Negro Women in 1945.[14][15]

During World War II, she christened a Navy cargo ship, the S. S. Ocean Telegraph, in Oakland in 1944.[2] She was leader in the Women's Ambulance and Defense Corps of America, a civilian readiness organization.[16][17]

Marsh took part in Republican Party politics in California. She was a member of the State Republican Legislative Council, and of the Alameda County Republican Central Committee.[18] In 1956 she was vice president of the Alameda County Republican League.[19] She was appointed to the Planning Commission in the city of Berkeley,[20] and chaired the Board of Adjustments.[2] In 1959 and 1965 she ran for a seat on the City Council, but lost. The Mayor of Berkeley declared February 21, 1980 as "Vivian Osborne Marsh Day".[7][21]

Personal life[edit]

Vivian Osborne married a fellow Texan, World War I veteran Leon F. Marsh, in 1921. They raised two sons, Roy Curtin Osborne and Leon F. Marsh Jr.; Leon Jr., the first black firefighter in Berkeley, died in 1956. She was widowed when Leon Sr. died in 1968,[22] and she died on March 8, 1986, aged 87 years, at a nursing home in El Cerrito, California, following a stroke.[7] Canadian football player Dante Marsh is her great-grandson.[23]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Nancy T. Robinson, "Vivian Osborne Marsh" in African American National Biography (Oxford University Press 2006). ISBN 9780195301731
  2. ^ a b c d e Dona L. Irvin, "Vivian Osborne Marsh" in Jessie Carney Smith, Shirelle Phelps, eds., Notable Black American Women, Book 2 (VNR AG 1996): 428-431. ISBN 9780810391772
  3. ^ Morris, Edna B Johnson (December 26, 1941). QUEEN DELTA'S VIOLETS, A HISTORY OF DELTA SIGMA THETA SORORITY, Inc. , MANUSCRIPT SUBMITTED TO THE SIXTEENTH NATIONAL CONVENTION, for approval, change, or rejection (1st ed.). DETROIT, MICHIGAN: Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated.
  4. ^ "Centennial Celebration". hustorage.wrlc.org. Retrieved May 27, 2023.
  5. ^ a b Who's Who in Colored America (Yenser 1942): 355.
  6. ^ Mildred L. Oliver, "President's Message" Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Berkeley Bay Area Alumnae Chapter website.
  7. ^ a b c d e Shaun Michael Mars, "Vivian Osborne Marsh" Black Past (January 22, 2007).
  8. ^ "Past National Presidents" Delta Sigma Theta website.
  9. ^ "Vivian Marsh New Head of Deltas" Pittsburgh Courier (August 31, 1935): 9. via Newspapers.com
  10. ^ "Grand Basileus of Deltas Sent to Capitol to Aid in Fight for Anti-Lynching Measure" Pittsburgh Courier (February 5, 1938): 8. via Newspapers.com
  11. ^ Olen Cole Jr., "Black Youth in the National Youth Administration in California, 1935 to 1943" Southern California Quarterly 73(4)(Winter 1991): 385-402. DOI: 10.2307/41171597
  12. ^ Lena M. Wysinger, "Activities Among Negroes" Oakland Tribune (October 30, 1938): 20. via Newspapers.com
  13. ^ "Vivian Marsh Gets NYA Position" Pittsburgh Courier (October 22, 1938): 8. via Newspapers.com
  14. ^ Toki Schalk, "National Council of Negro Women Outlines Aims for a Full and Diversified Program Reaching Women Throughout the World" Pittsburgh Courier (November 10, 1945): 8. via Newspapers.com
  15. ^ "Negro Unit will Note 15th Year" Fresno Bee (September 15, 1965): 19. via Newspapers.com
  16. ^ "Grand Delta Presidents Meet in Philadelphia" Pittsburgh Courier (November 3, 1945): 8. via Newspapers.com
  17. ^ Guide to the Women's Ambulance and Transportation Corps Collection, San Diego History Center Document Collection.
  18. ^ "U. S. Senator Lincoln Day Rally Speaker" Oakland Tribune (January 19, 1958): 17. via Newspapers.com
  19. ^ "Backs Ike" Oakland Tribune (October 20, 1956): 4. via Newspapers.com
  20. ^ "Organizer Honored by East Bay Women's Council" Oakland Tribune (March 30, 1956): 16. via Newspapers.com
  21. ^ "No Lack of Candidates" San Francisco Examiner (February 1, 1959): 6. via Newspapers.com
  22. ^ "Rites Set For Leon Marsh Sr." Oakland Tribune (October 2, 1968): 22. via Newspapers.com
  23. ^ "Lion King Bares his Oaktown Soul" Vancouver Sun (June 27, 2014): 42. via Newspapers.com
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