Ivy Julia Cromartie Stranahan (1881–1971) was an American

philanthropist Philanthropy is a form of altruism that consists of "private initiatives, for the Public good (economics), public good, focusing on quality of life". Philanthropy contrasts with business initiatives, which are private initiatives for private goo ...

heavily involved with the Seminoles of Southern

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

. She trained as a teacher initially, but after marrying Frank Stranahan, she settled permanently in

Fort Lauderdale A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

. While there, she began supporting the rights of the Seminoles and aiding them in moving to an

Indian reservation An Indian reservation is an area of land held and governed by a federally recognized Native American tribal nation whose government is accountable to the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs and not to the state government in which it ...

. She is closely associated with the Friends of the Florida Seminoles, an organisation through which she sought to support the education of Seminole children, build homes and eventually to support themselves fully.

Early life

Ivy Julia Cromartie was born in White Springs,

, to August and Sarah Cromartie (née Driver) on February 24, 1881. Her father was a teacher based in Central Florida. During the development of the southern part of the state, the Cromartie family continued to move further south. During one part of her childhood, the family lived near a settlement named Owens on the

Peace River The Peace River (french: links=no, rivière de la Paix) is a river in Canada that originates in the Rocky Mountains of northern British Columbia and flows to the northeast through northern Alberta. The Peace River joins the Athabasca River in th ...

around from

Arcadia Arcadia may refer to: Places Australia * Arcadia, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney * Arcadia, Queensland * Arcadia, Victoria Greece * Arcadia (region), a region in the central Peloponnese * Arcadia (regional unit), a modern administrative un ...

. They moved onto Juno, Florida, and then later to

Lemon City Little Haiti (french: La Petite Haïti, ht, Ti Ayiti), is a Neighborhoods in Miami, neighborhood of Miami, Florida, United States. It is known historically as Lemon City, Little River and Edison. It is home to Haitian Immigration to the United S ...

where her schooling was completed. She sought to become a teacher immediately and trained through the summer following graduation. She was assigned to work at the school in

. She arrived prior to the completion of the construction of the school building and stayed with a school trustee and his family for several months. The one-room school opened in 1899 to serve the six families in the surrounding area.

Life in Fort Lauderdale

She met Frank Stranahan shortly after arriving in Fort Lauderdale. He had opened a trading post in 1893 to trade with the local Seminoles and also held the local contract for mail delivery. The pair courted, and after she returned to Lemon City at the end of the school year, she accepted Stranahan's proposal of marriage. After taking a trip following the wedding to visit family members, they settled back in Fort Lauderdale and built Pioneer House, later known as Stranahan House. Ivy taught

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

to the local Seminole children, as well as tutoring them in the Bible. She began heavily involved in Seminole affairs with the local Government and became the Chair of the Indian Affairs Committee of the Florida Federation of Women's Clubs. Although she had petitioned for a permanent

for the Seminoles, when this was granted in 1917, it was her rival Minnie More-Wilson who received most of the credit through her Friends of the Florida Seminoles organisation. Only a year earlier, Ivy had attempted to remove More-Wilson from the Indian Affairs Committee. By 1924, the expansion of Fort Lauderdale had begun in earnest and there was pressure for the Seminoles to move to the approved area set aside as a reservation. She entered their existing camp and convinced members of the group to join her on an expedition to the

Dania Reservation Hollywood Reservation, formerly known as the Dania Reservation, is one of six Seminole Indian reservations governed by the federally recognized Seminole Tribe of Florida, located near Hollywood, Florida. The reservation is bordered by the communi ...

. Ivy arranged for the Seminoles to be paid to make the Reservation habitable, and began transporting work parties to and from the location. She arranged for timber to be delivered courtesy of the Indian Commissioner at Fort Myers and by the end of the year several homes, a school and an administrative building had been built on the site and all the Seminoles had moved. She had promised that once moved, they would not need to move again. However, within ten years, this promise was broken as the Government was looking to move the Seminoles to the

Brighton Reservation Brighton Seminole Indian Reservation is an Indian reservation of the Seminole Tribe of Florida, located in northeast Glades County near the northwest shore of Lake Okeechobee. It is one of six reservations held in trust by the federal governme ...

. Ivy fought the order, and it was eventually revoked. She continued to work on introducing Christianity into the Seminoles and successfully integrated them into the

Southern Baptist Convention The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is a Christian denomination based in the United States. It is the world's largest Baptist denomination, and the largest Protestant and second-largest Christian denomination in the United States. The wor ...

. This was following the foundation of a new Friends of the Florida Seminoles organisation, which was often confused with the former under More-Wilson. The new version of the organisation named Ivy as Secretary-Treasurer, and she would remain involved with the group for the rest of her life. Together they sought to stem the growing alcohol issue in the Seminoles by educating the women about the problems it could bring. In the 1940s, the focus had switched to ensuring the ongoing education of the children of the Seminoles. When the Friends of the Florida Seminoles, Florida Foundation Inc. was chartered in 1949 as a non-profit organisation, Ivy Julia Cromartie Stranahan was listed as President. The organisation grew, allowing it to support the construction of new homes on the reservation. When Government support was withdrawn in 1954, Ivy and her Friends society helped the Seminoles to set themselves up as a business, allowing them to organise themselves as the Seminole Tribe of Florida, Inc. in 1957.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Stranahan, Ivy Julia Cromartie 1881 births 1971 deaths People from Fort Lauderdale, Florida Schoolteachers from Florida 20th-century American women educators American pioneers Seminole tribe 20th-century American educators 20th-century American philanthropists