Ethel E. Murrell, a lawyer, writer and lecturer, campaigned for the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment. After graduating from the University of Miami Law School in 1934, Murrell opened a Miami law firm, and maintained her practice while travelling frequently to lecture on historical, religious, and feminist topics. During the 1940's, Murrell headed the Married Women's Law Committee of the Florida State Bar Association. The Association drafted and sponsored the Married Women's Act of 1943. Murrell defended the Act before the Florida Supreme Court in 1944 and succeeded in having the constitutionality of the law upheld on all points.
Murrell also participated in a drive for the re-drafting of the Florida constitution and was named a member of the Dade County Bar Association Constitutional Committee. She presented a resolution to the Bar calling for the inclusion of a phrase which would make men and women equal before the law. A dedicated member of the National Woman's Party (NWP), Murrell held the position of Chairwoman in 1952. Murrell, however, resigned one year later as a result of rivalries for leadership and the group's departure from the exclusive goal of the Equal Rights Amendment.
In addition to her political activities, Murrell wrote newspaper columns, magazine articles, college law textbooks and books of poetry which were published in the United States, Europe and the Far East.
María Mendoza Kranz was born in Key West, Florida. She is a member of a third generation of the Mendoza family that emigrated from Cuba to Key West in the early 1870s to escape Spanish colonial rule. Her grandfather, José González de Mendoza, was one of the founders of the school at the Club San Carlos in Key West.
Mendoza Kranz’s father, Enrique González de Mendoza, who was born in Key West, is said to have introduced Cuban rumba to Miami in the 1930s. He also organized the “El Dulce” rumba band that played at the Roney Plaza Hotel in Miami Beach.
Mendoza Kranz was the first Spanish-speaking salesperson employed by S.H. Kress & Co. in downtown Miami and also among the first women to work at a Miami aircraft factory during World War II. Since 1979, she has taught line dancing to Hispanic senior citizens.
Harold Bauer was born in Kingstson-upon-Thames, England, on 28 April 1873. After attempting a career as a violinist, Bauer focused his musical talents on the piano and became one of the most beloved pianists of the first half of the 20th century. After successful appearances throughout Europe, he debuted in the United States in 1900 with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. In 1917, he became an American citizen. Bauer founded the Beethoven Association of New York in 1919 and was vice president of the Manhattan School of Music.
Harold Bauer's association with the University of Miami School of Music began through his friendship with Marie Volpe, wife of School of Music faculty and University Orchestra founder Arnold Volpe. Mrs. Volpe invited Bauer to the University in 1940. Bauer taught his fist master classes in January and February of 1941, attracting students from around the country. Bauer discontinued his association with the University in 1943 but resumed his winter visits in 1946.
His association with the University deepened as he advised the School of Music on the standards of its piano education component. Harold Bauer also offered concerts for the South Florida community at the University. With his wife, concert pianist Winnie Pyle, Harold Bauer visited spent his winters at the University of Miami until he died at the age of 77 at Jackson Memorial Hospital on 12 March 1951. For a time, supported by gifts from Mrs. Winnie Bauer, the School of Music offered the Harold Bauer Awards to students demonstrating greatest progress and outstanding achievement.
Esmond Grenard Barnhill was a photographer active during the early 1900s. Born March 4, 1894 in Saludi, North Carolina, he became interested in photography at an early age and established his own business in St. Petersburg at age 19. Barnhill specialized in publishing postcards, greeting cards and pictorial photography from 1914 to 1932. Many of these were designed by using "goldtoning," a method of dyeing photos using uranium dyes. Barnhill passed away in 1987. Barnhill was particularly famous for his hand-colored photographs and paintings that depict the old Florida landscape.
The Daughters of the American Revolution (D.A.R.) is a lineage-based membership organization of women dedicated to promoting historic preservation, education, and patriotism. D.A.R. chapters are involved in raising funds for local scholarships and educational awards, preserving historical properties and artifacts and promoting patriotism within their communities.
Nicholas Patricios holds a Bachelor of Architecture in 1962 by the University of Witwatersrand and a Doctorate of Philosophy by the University College London, England , 1970. He was the Director of the Urban & Regional Planning Program at UM from 1978 to 2012 and Interim Dean of the new School of Architecture from 1983-1984.
Mabel Blake (1895-1979) served as Chaplain for the Newark, New Jersey section of the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) and as chairman of the religious education committee, 1967-1968. She was also a member of the Bethany Baptist Church and the Order of the Eastern Star.
The NCNW, founded to promote racial and sexual equality, worked to unite African-American women of all classes. Dedicated to fighting discrimination and poverty, members organized community projects including day care centers, business cooperatives and consumer education programs.
