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By William H. Honan |
Annie
0. Plummer, a housekeeper in Savannah, Ga., whose single-minded
campaign to distribute thousands of free dictionaries to needy
schoolchildren made her nationally known as "The Dictionary
Lady," died Dec. 23 at her home. She was 63.
Ms. Plummer died of lung cancer, said
Edward L. Ellis Jr., pastor of the First Bryan Baptist Church
of which she was a member.
One morning in 1992, Ms. Plummer was struck
by the fact that pupils were empty-handed while walking to
the Garrison Elementary School in Savannah near where she
lived.
No books.
It occurred to Ms. Plummer, who had been
an outstanding student in the late 1970's when she returned
as an adult to complete her education at the Richard Arnold
Community School in Savannah, that if these children were
given a basic book like a dictionary, it would help stimulate
their interest in learning and could change their lives.
Ms. Plummer started the project modestly
when she used $50 of her own money to buy 30 pocket dictionaries.
Borrowing a slogan from the United Negro College Fund, she
painstakingly wrote in each book, "A mind is a terrible
thing to waste. I challenge you not to waste yours."
She later told a reporter, "I went
to the corner and started giving them out."
A local newscaster publicized Ms. Plummer's
efforts and soon she began to receive donations. To raise
more money for the project, Ms. Plummer began selling Dictionary
Lady T-shirts for $10 each and helped organize a Dictionary
Walkathon. Churches and community organizations chipped in
to buy and distribute still more dictionaries.
A shrewd businesswoman, Ms. Plummer persuaded
one dictionary publisher to sell her a number of copies of
the $5.95 book for just 65 cents each.
By 1995, Ms. Plummer's stated aim was
to provide every third-grade student in Savannah and surrounding
Chatham County - about 4,000 in all - with a free dictionary.
She told a reporter that by 1996 her informal
organization had not only met that goal but had distributed
more than 17,000 copies of a paperback dictionary.
Gradually, the idea spread across the
country. Ms. Plummer was featured in articles in Southern
Living and People magazines and was visited and praised by
well-known people like Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf.
Susan Weiner, a former mayor of Savannah,
said of Ms. Plummer: "Here's a lady who didn't wait for
government to do the job. Good for her!"
To date, 32,800 books have been distributed,
and now there are at least six "Dictionary Ladies"
heading similar drives in communities around the country,
including Detroit, Chicago and San Diego.
The program's Web site is: savannahnow.com/community/dictionarylady/
(Note: No longer available - webmaster)
The Dictionary Lady Foundation, which was
incorporated in Savannah in 1997, now provides guidance to
branch organizations. "We are hoping to get helpers in
every town and school district throughout the world,"
said Barbara Dorsey, Ms. Plummer's daughter, who said she
plans to continue with her mother's work.
Annie Oneta Plummer was born on Oct. 17,
1936, in Sylvania, Ga., the fifth of 12 children of a truck
driver and a housekeeper. She was raised in Savannah and dropped
out of school in the ninth grade when she became a mother.
As a single parent seeking to provide
for herself and her daughter, Ms. Plummer went to work as
a housekeeper. She soon became involved in neighborhood campaigns
like getting a traffic light installed at a busy intersection.
Eventually Ms. Plummer returned to school
and received her diploma in 1978.
In addition to her daughter, who lives
in Savannah, Ms. Plummer is survived by a grandson.
Ms. Plummer was passionate about black
history. In honor of her vigorous lobbying, a bill to foster
the teaching of black history at state schools now before
the Georgia House of Representatives has been named "HB
1492 - Annie Plummer Act"
http://www2.state.ga.us/Legis/1999_00/leg/fulltext/sr780.htm
Funeral services for Annie Oneta Plummer,
63, will be held at 1 p.m. Wednesday at First Bryan Baptist
Church.
Plummer, who died Dec. 23, was known as
"The Dictionary Lady" both in Savannah and elsewhere
in the country. In 1992, she began distributing dictionaries
to schoolchildren after seeing students walking to Garrison
Elementary School without books.
Over the years, she managed to give out
thousands of dictionaries, writing inside each: "A mind
is a terrible thing to waste. I challenge you not to waste
yours."
She was a native of Savannah, a domestic
engineer and a member of First Bryan Baptist Church.
SURVIVORS: a daughter, Barbara Ann Dorsey
of Savannah; sisters, Mattie Plummer of Detroit, Pauline Mitchell
of Fayetteville, N.C., and Doleres Graham of Savannah; brothers,
Joe Plummer, Andrew Plummer, Willie Plummer and Willie Alexander
Plummer, all of Savannah; and a grandchild.
BURIAL: in Woodville Cemetery.
Sexton-Hall Mortuary.
http://www.savannahmorningnews.com/stories/122499/LOCplummerobit.shtml
http://www.mashmagazine.com/00feb/febsocial.html
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