Feisty Female Friday: Betty Reed Soskin

The FFF this week is Betty Reed Soskin.

Betty was an American ranger with the National Park Service, assigned to the Rosie the Riveter World War II Home Front National Historical Park in CA. Until her retirement in 2022, at the age of 100, she was the oldest serving NPS ranger in the US.

Betty was born Michigan. During World War II, she worked as a file clerk for Boilermakers Union, an all-black union auxiliary. Betty and her then-husband, founded Reid's Records in CA a small black-owned business specializing in Gospel music. Her children attended public schools there and encountered considerable racism and death threats after they built a home in a white suburb. Betty was also active in the church, became a well-known songwriter in the civil rights movement, and was a prominent community activist. She divorced and married William Soskin, a psychology professor at Berkeley.

She later served as a field representative two for CA Assemblywomen and became actively involved in the planning stages and development of a park to memorialize the role of women on the home front during World War II. Her work led to the establishment of the Rosie the Riveter World War II Home Front National Historical Park, a site where future generations could remember the contributions women made to the war effort. Betty became a consultant at the park she helped create before becoming a National Park Service rangerat the age of 85. Her duties included conducting tours, serving as an interpreter, explaining the park's purpose, history, sites, collections to park visitors, and was a voice for making sure the African-American WWII experience had a prominent place in the Park's history.

Betty released her memoir, Sign My Name to Freedom, is also the subject of a documentary about her involvement with music, was named a CA Woman of the Year, was part of the NWHP, was cited in " The History of the ACLU in CA, received an honorary doctorate, The National WWII Museum Silver Service Medallion, an Award for Enhancing Public Understanding of National Parks from the NPCA, has a school named after her, and is the subject of a musical.

Betty always emphasized quiet confidence and used her own unique story as a source of strength and inspiration for others. She was retired from NPS Service, died in CA at the age of 104, and is survived by two of her four children.