Dr. Selma Burke's artwork is on the dime

'First Black sculptor to design a US coin'

DR. SELMA HORTENSE BURKE relief portrait is the model for President Roosevelt’s image on the DIME

THE TIMELINE

1900 - Selma Burke born in Mooresville, North Carolina

1943 - she won a contest and President Franklin D. Roosevelt sat for her to do a sculpture of him

1945 - President Roosevelt died

1945 - Ruth Wilson called from the Record of Deeds office and told Selma that John Sinnock came by to look at her plaque + took on of her drawing with him to the US Mint

1946 - President Roosevelt (founder of March of Dimes) artwork approved to go on the dime and has been on there ever since

1947 - John Sinnock died

1977 - interview: "That image is mine" - Selma Burke

1994 - interview: "I'm so mad at that man... This has happened to so many Black people." - Selma Burke

1995 - she passed away in New Hope, PA

2008 - Recorder of Deeds office moved - it is locked, the windows are dirty, and no one knows where her work of President Roosevelt is

sources: Black Firsts: 4000 Ground-Breaking and Pioneering Historical Events book by Jessie Carney Smith + WomensHistory.org | Selma Burke by Mariana Branman | NWHM Predoctoral Fellow in Women's History + Ourstate.com | Artist Selma BURKE's 1943 Presidential Portrait Might've Inspired Dime Design by Jeremy Markovich + Smithsonian American Art Museum

photographs: John H. Mosley Photograph Collection | Charles Blockson Afro-American Collection | Temple University Libraries via coincollecting.com

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Am I the last to know? There is so much more to learn about her and I can’t wait.

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THANKS SO MUCH for being here.

Hugs, Love, and Gratitude Y’all!

Sally Mc