After family’s long fight, Lena Ferguson gets honor from the DAR

The text of the plaque says it honors Ferguson’s “dedication, activism and service making the DAR a more inclusive and better organization. Her legacy will live on for generations to come.”

In addition, the DAR renamed a nursing scholarship this year in Ferguson’s honor.

Ferguson sought to join the DAR after being encouraged by a nephew, Maurice Barboza, who had connected the family’s lineage to the Revolutionary War, a requirement for membership. Her ancestor is Jonah Gay, a member of the town committee of Friendship, Maine, that supported the war effort.

But her attempts to become a member of a Washington chapter of the DAR were initially rebuffed because of her race. In 1983, Ferguson was admitted as an at-large member of the national DAR but was unable to join a local chapter until the next year.

Ferguson’s fight drew media attention and even a threat to revoke the DAR’s tax-exempt status.

After she joined, Ferguson reached an agreement with the DAR to ensure more inclusivity in the organization. It led to a revision of the DAR’s national bylaws in 1984 to prohibit race- and creed-based discrimination in its chapters.

“The settlement fought discrimination in membership, and it set up a mechanism that would require the DAR to notify all of the chapters that regardless of a woman’s race or color, they should be considered for membership,” Barboza said.

Barboza, a lawyer who lives in Alexandria, Va., has persistently advocated for his aunt’s recognition in the DAR and was frustrated by the lack of acknowledgment of her work.

In November, he proposed the idea of a plaque honoring her to the DAR.

Barboza said that instead of accepting money as part of a settlement, Ferguson negotiated for the creation of a scholarship for D.C. students and a program focused on research into the African Americans, Native Americans and people of mixed heritage who supported the Revolutionary War.

She served as the national vice chair overseeing the DAR scholarships for over two decades.

Ferguson’s research grew and culminated in the publication of “Forgotten Patriots: African American and American Indian Patriots in the Revolutionary War.”

“She was just a remarkable person. People go through these awful things, and she just did it with such grace and such dignity, and such decency,” said Patricia Brannan, a lawyer who represented Ferguson in the early 1980s in her fight to be admitted into the DAR. “She knew she had been wronged, and that she didn’t want it to happen to anyone else.”

Ferguson died in 2004. The recognition has been a longtime coming for Ferguson’s family.

Serena Ferguson had pushed the DAR for years to name its D.C. scholarships in honor of her mother. She renewed the push last year. She was contacted in January by the DAR’s president general, Pamela Rouse Wright, who invited her to rejoin the DAR and honor her mother. The scholarship award was also increased from $2,500 to $5,000 per student and will benefit two nursing students at the University of the District of Columbia.

“I wanted her to be recognized, but they have taken it so much further by building a memorial for my mother that’s going to be on DAR property and basically is saying that she’s helped bring diversity to the DAR. That she would be recognized for her legacy of civil rights,” Serena Ferguson said.

Wright said the DAR’s memorial plaque is a rare occurrence and is intended to highlight Lena Ferguson’s impact.

“We felt that Lena’s sacrifices and her determination and her courage and her grace was extraordinary, and we wanted to publicly acknowledge that she did make a difference and that we’re very appreciative,” Wright said.