What a confluence.
No other woman had such a positive impact on the City of Memphis in our generation, with her contributions to the arts, civic preservation, politics and public service.
As a member of the NAACP since her college days at Sarah Lawrence, Bert Wolff worked tirelessly with Maxine Smith on numerous education and civil rights issues. Thanks to my mother, I began going to an integrated school in the third grade.
As this is the week and the day we honor our teachers and our mothers, it is fitting and proper to call out one of the greatest.
What a confluence. My mother, Bert Adler Prosterman Wolff served as President of the Memphis School Board during one of the most dramatic times in that city’s history. She happened to hold the gavel when they initiated desegregation in the 1980’s. New York Times columnist Charles Blow offered a tribute to his mother recently, who was also a renowned educator. Like Mrs. Blow, my mother was beloved by the friends of all four of her children, and throughout the community. She is just popular not just because of her accomplishments, but because of her sweet-natured, consensus-building leadership style.
No other woman had such a positive impact on the City of Memphis in our generation, with her contributions to the arts, civic preservation, politics and public service. In addition to serving on the School Board, she also served as General Director of Opera Memphis and the Memphis Botanic Garden at different times. When I was a child, she was active in a variety of local causes, most notably doing hands-on work with cerebral palsy patients. While serving at School Board President, she worked as the Executive Director of the Memphis Epilepsy Foundation.
Though she claims to be retired, Bert Wolff’s tireless work for Shelby Farms and other environmental causes keeps her very busy. She was a founding Board Member of the National Civil Rights Museum and has served as a Board Member or consultant to numerous other organizations including Temple Israel. As a member of the NAACP since her college days at Sarah Lawrence, Bert Wolff worked tirelessly with Maxine Smith on numerous education and civil rights issues. Thanks to my mother, I began going to an integrated school in the third grade. In Memphis, they were smart enough to integrate the younger children first before the high schools.
As this is the week and the day we honor our teachers and our mothers, it is fitting and proper to call out one of the greatest. Plus, she let her boys play high school football, and taught all her children how to sing and dance “Ballin the Jack.” What a mom!