By José Sánchez Córdova
It used to be that when you walked into the old building for the Communities Foundation of Texas, you’d see a picture of Pearl C. Anderson, the Dallas philanthropist who gave thenonprofit its first six-figure donation in 1955.
Former state Rep. Helen Giddings, who had met Anderson once at a Red Cross event, noticed the missing portrait and inquired about it. Three days later, the portrait arrived at her office. The CFT eventually replaced the portrait and now, years later, they’re partnering with Giddings to ensure Anderson’s story remains top of mind.
“Mrs. Anderson is one of the most extraordinary individuals that I have ever met,” Giddings said. “The Dallas story can never really be told without a chapter on Pearl C. Anderson.”
The remarkable Pearl C. Anderson
It begins in Winn Parish, a rural area in central Louisiana, where Pearl C. Anderson was born out of wedlock to a biracial mother and a white father in 1898. In early 20th century Louisiana, Anderson’s background meant she was subjected to racism on all fronts. She was too white for her Black neighbors and not white enough for the rest.
“I felt it all pretty keenly then. I don’t now because I’m pleased with what I am, but I did then and I was determined to get out from it and find a life for myself,” she told The Dallas Times Herald for a 1976 profile.
She grew up on a farm “chopping cotton and pulling peanuts in the fields,” according to the Texas State Historical Association handbook. She didn’t receive any formal schooling until she was 12, when the Rosenwald Foundation built a school near her. For Anderson, it was an early experience seeing the impact of philanthropy.
Nine years later, she was alone on a train to Dallas with all that she had.
She bought a small lot on Dildock Street with the money she had left, settling in South Dallas. After borrowing materials from a lumberyard with the lot as collateral, she opened up a grocery store. Four years later, she had paid off what she owed.
After seven years running the store, Anderson moved to a job clerking in an ice house. Shortly after, she became ill and met with physician John Wesley Anderson. The pair married in 1929 and spent time traveling the world when he had time away from his patients.
J.W. Anderson, nearly 40 years older than Pearl, was wealthy and already an established philanthropist and community leader in the city of Dallas. According to the THSA, he donated generously to the YMCA and served as the vice president of the Dallas Black Chamber of Commerce all while treating an estimated 70,000 patients throughout a 50-year career in the city.
After her husband’s death in 1947, Anderson took up the mantle of his philanthropy and made it her life’s work. He left her just $6,000 in the bank, but a wealth of real estate holdings.
A downtown property on Jackson Street, appraised at $325,000 in 1955, became the central piece of her donation to the CFT, then called the Community Chest Trust Fund. According to the organization, she had only one request: that the land be used to help “the poor, young people and other struggling people, without regard to their race or religion.”
Beyond the donation to the CFT, Anderson supported various other organizations. She was the treasurer of the NAACP’s Dallas chapter and a lifetime member of the organization. She was also a lifetime member of the American Red Cross and the Lighthouse for the Blind. She established scholarships at Southern Methodist University, Bishop College and Meharry Medical College, her late husband’s alma mater.
In 1961, Dallas ISD honored her with the Pearl C. Anderson Middle Learning Center in South Dallas. A nursery in Garland was funded by her donation to the CFT and named after her.
All that barely scratches the surface.
“Most of her benefactions are known only to herself and God. Her happiness is in sharing where there is a real need,” her priest, Father Walter Cerbin, told The Dallas Times Herald in 1976.
Honoring her legacy
Anderson’s impact is spread across donations to dozens of local organizations over the course of decades. For her efforts, this weekend’s edition of the annual Women’s Leadership Summit, chaired by Giddings, is honoring Anderson by naming two awards after her. Anderson died in her Dallas home in 1990 at the age of 91.
Cynt Marshall, the chief executive officer of the Dallas Mavericks, will receive the Pearl C. Anderson Trailblazer Award. The recognition is meant to spotlight women who are at least 40 years old, who have significant personal accomplishments and who have used their position to become a role model for other women through their leadership, community impact and advocacy.
Jade Parrish-Marks, an associate at the commercial real estate firm CBRE, was selected as the inaugural recipient of the Pearl C. Anderson Rising Star Award. It recognizes young women who have made significant progress in their careers and community and show promise for future impact.
The awards are being presented in partnership with the CFT, where the Pearl C. Anderson Fund continues to finance projects in the community nearly 70 years after the initial donation. Reo Pruiett, chief programs and engagement officer at the CFT, has worked with the summit in the past and welcomed the opportunity to elevate Anderson’s story this year.
“Being able to use Pearl C. Anderson’s story as an example of what it means to be a philanthropist, to be someone that is serving the community and not looking to be served was a powerful way for Communities Foundation to give back,” Pruiett said.
The Pearl C. Anderson Fund at CFT continues to support the Dallas community today. Recent grants have included maternal mentoring programs through Heart of Courage, a mobile food pantry in partnership with Richardson ISD and a grocery store access program through Brother Bill’s Helping Hand.
Giddings says that despite her remarkable story and undeniable impact, Anderson’s story remains largely unknown, even in the city she made her home for more than 70 years.
“I have made it a point to tell her story every chance I get and to try and elevate her story so that people understand her contributions and her legacy,” Giddings said. “It’s just a disservice to her, and it’s a debt of gratitude that her contributions in this town are not recognized.”
Details
Women’s Leadership Summit. Sept. 6 and 7. Hilton Anatole Hotel, 2201 N. Stemmons Freeway, Dallas. Registration required.
Staff researcher Jennifer Brancato contributed to this article.
CLARIFICATION, Sept. 6, 2023 at 3:30 p.m.: This story was updated to clarify that the Communities Foundation of Texas eventually replaced its portrait of Pearl C. Anderson.
This story, originally published in The Dallas Morning News, is reprinted as part of a collaborative partnership between The Dallas Morning News and Texas Metro News. The partnership seeks to boost coverage of Dallas’ communities of color, particularly in southern Dallas.
