To continue our observance of history-makers of color, we focus on two Black women in Idaho: Dorothy Buckner and her daughter, former State Senator Cherie Buckner-Webb.
Dorothy Buckner, born on September 9, 1927, moved to Idaho as a young girl with her parents and siblings. She is best-known for her lobbying efforts that helped pass a civil rights bill in Idaho three years before the federal Civil Rights Act was implemented in 1964.
Buckner completed high school and graduated from Boise College, despite facing racist and sexist systematic barriers in both education and in society in general.
She moved to New York for a short time to study drama, then later moved back to Boise to marry her husband, Aurelius Buckner, and start a family.
Buckner raised her four children in Boise, where whites-only signs and redlining housing practices were common. Buckner’s daughter, state Sen. Cherie Buckner-Webb — the first and only black state legislator — said someone once burned a cross in front of their home.
Buckner believed that the way to fight racism was to confront it head-on, which put her at odds with others in her community. In an interview with the Idaho State Historical Society in 1981, Buckner said she observed some Black people living in Idaho did not want to fight back against discrimination as they feared retaliation, and they found the racism in Idaho less intense than that in the South.
In pursuit of her authentic convictions, Buckner involved herself with anti-racism work and joined the Treasure Valley chapter of the NAACP in Boise. She also became an active member in other local civil rights organizations. She served on the board of directors for her local NAACP chapter and on the Idaho Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights.
Buckner has been recognized by the NAACP as a Hall of Fame member. She passed away August 2, 2003.
Her legacy of anti-racism work is carried on by her daughter, former state senator Cherie Buckner-Webb.
As mentioned earlier, Buckner-Webb was the first and only black Idahoan State Senator.
A fifth-generation Idahoan, Buckner-Webb served six terms in the Idaho State Senate, previously serving two as a Representative in the Idaho House. She was on several committees including Education and State Affairs.
Buckner-Webb attributes her involvement in politics to the influence of her mother, who taught by example the importance of human rights activism.
“My mother would tell me that you must disturb the peace, not for one’s own sake, but with a mind on the greater good,” she said. “The more free, able and capable we are to walk in the world, no matter who we are; the more accessible we make it for others.”
When a cross was burned in her front yard as a child, Buckner-Webb said she was motivated towards human rights. She reported that her mother decided to keep the burnt cross in the yard rather than removing it afterward, as a form of protest.
Buckner-Webb graduated from George Fox University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Management and Organizational Leadership, and acquired a Master’s in Social Work from Northwest Nazarene University.
Before her career in politics, Buckner was the President of Planned Parenthood of Idaho.
She also worked with several Idaho-based corporations including Boise Cascade and Hewlett-Packard Incorporated. At Hewlett-Packard, Buckner-Webb served as the Global Culture and Diversity Program Manager. Additionally, she is the Founder and Principal of Sojourner Coaching, her own organizational development firm.
Actively involved in several community organizations, she is the winner of numerous awards including the Idaho Business Review Woman of the Year 2019, the Hewlett Packard Human Rights Award, Rotary Distinguished Educator, the Joyce Stein Award, Girl Scouts Council – Woman of Today and Tomorrow, and the Boise State University Woman Making History and Community Hero awards.
She is a founding board member of the Idaho Black History Museum, and has a unique tie to the organization, as her paternal great-grandfather came to Boise in 1905 to build St. Paul Baptist Church. That building has since been converted to the Idaho Black History Museum. There are currently plans to have a downtown park in Boise named after her, as well.
As a legislator, Buckner-Webb devoted her work to achieving equality for everyone in Idaho. She was a strong advocate for reproductive rights and fought tenaciously against anti-choice legislation. During one legislative session, she shared a personal story about a friend who had lost her fertility due to lack of abortion access.
In addition to her fight to preserve access to reproductive rights, she showed commitment to fighting discrimination against LGBTQ people and Native American sovereign nations. She was also a strong champion of education, fighting cuts in education spending and advocating for funding schools in areas hit hardest by inequity.
Throughout her political career, Buckner-Webb has been targeted by more than a dozen different Idaho-based racist hate groups. During her first campaigns, her signs were defaced with swastikas and racist epithets, and following her election to the House, she was sent death threats and harassed by a number of hate groups including the Klu Klux Klan.
After fighting against many anti-abortion, anti-LGBTQ, anti-women and anti-education bills and moving many progressive bills forward through her political career, Buckner-Webb did not run for re-election in 2020.
Buckner-Webb's credo is “leave a legacy.” She is committing to improving the future, especially for young women, whom she advises: “Don’t limit yourself. Be open to the possibilities and strive to come into your power. There’s nothing unfeminine about being sure of yourself, being direct, taking charge, and doing it your own unique way.”
Planned Parenthood is in gratitude to these two women, Dorothy Buckner and Cherie Buckner-Webb. Their work has truly been on the front lines of fighting sexism and racism.
To honor, respect and preserve the history and legacy Black women have created, please consider a donation to the Idaho Black History Museum, or your local Black history museum.
Tags: history