Draft:Keller Henderson Bumgardner Barron

Keller Henderson Bumgardner Barron is an American political activist based in South Carolina. She has been an active member of the League of Women Voters since the 1950s, was part of the campaign to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment in the 1970s, and is an elder in the Presbyterian Church. Research papers related to her voters' rights and women's rights advocacy are located in the University of South Carolina archives. thumb

Early life
Keller was raised in Atlanta, Georgia. In 1953, she graduated with a B.A. in History and Political Science from Agnes Scott College, a liberal arts women's college in Decatur, Georgia. After university, she married dentist Sherrod Bumgardner and moved to Columbia, South Carolina. In her adopted state of South Carolina, Keller raised a family with Sherrod and embraced her role as a community leader.

Summary
Some highlights of her activism include serving on the national board for the League for Women Voters, serving as the Co-Coordinator of the Equal Rights Ratification Coalition of South Carolina with National Organization for Women, serving as the first women chair of the South Carolina Committee of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (1977-1979), serving as Research Director of the Joint Legislative Committee on Aging, and serving as Chair of the Greater Columbia Community Relations. Her work with Community Care also led to the establishment of a local Meals on Wheels program.

She's dedicated her life's work to championing women's rights, voters' rights, racial equity, education reform, and immigration reform. In 2019, she was a League for Women Voters delegate to the 2019 United Nations Conference on the Status of Women. In 2021, she was an honoree for Columbia's City of Women.

Keller remains active in various leadership roles, including as as chair of the Vote 411 campaign for the League of Women Voters.

Bibliography

https://www.columbiacityofwomen.com/honorees/keller-henderson-bumgardner-barron

https://sc.edu/about/offices_and_divisions/university_libraries/browse/sc_political_collections/collections/barron_keller_b_1932.php

South Carolina Political Collections, Ernest F. Hollings Special Collections Library, University of South Carolina. 1322 Greene St., Columbia, SC 29208.

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