Sheros of the Tacoma CWC
Dr. Dolores Silas
Dr. Dolores Irene Silas was a person of many Tacoma, Washington “firsts”–the first woman of color to become a school principal at DeLong Elementary School (1970), the first to become a member of the City Council (1991), the first to be Deputy Mayor (1995) and the first to have a High School renamed for her (Woodrow Wilson HS) on July 1, 2021. Her bright light no longer illuminates this world, but her glow will continue to radiate throughout our community, in each of us whose lives she profoundly touched.
Freddie Mae Barnett
Barnett had lived in the Jim Crow South. Her military husband was eventually stationed in Fort Lewis in the late 1950s. Landlords here didn’t roll out the welcome mat. She and her husband were turned away from more than half a dozen homes because of the color of their skin. In nearly six decades on the Hilltop, she has registered voters and encouraged countless young people on their paths to college. Barnett is a beacon on the hill for women of the CWC, a source of inspiration whom they endeavored to make proud.