Ernesta Drinker Ballard

Ernesta Drinker Ballard (1920-August 11,2005) was a founding member of the National Organization for Women and a horticulturist. Ballard marched on Washington, lobbied for the Equal Rights Amendment, and raised money for female political candidates. She also was a founding member of the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League (NARAL), and served as chairwoman of the organization from 1989 to 1991.

She to co-founded "Women's Way" an umbrella support group that funds a host of women's groups, including Women Organized Against Rape, The Women's Law Project, Women Against Violence.

Ballard closed a successful horticultural business in 1964 to head up the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society and supervise its annual extravaganza, the Philadelphia Flower Show. She expanded the flower show from four staffers to more than 100 employees.

Ballard's ultimate aspiration was to become the first female Mayor of Philadelphia and, toward that end, she used her visibility as a pioneering feminist to campaign for establishing what she hoped would be the premier event of the city's Bicentennial. This was to be a horticultural extravaganza in the city's Fairmount Park called "Philaflora" which she hoped would attract thousands of visitors to the city in 1997. The plan ultimately failed and she soon retired her position at the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society to Jane W. Pepper, the group's current head.

She and her husband were Plymouth Rock ancestors, a legacy she was very proud of. A member of the "Social Registry", she used that position to support her own personal ambitions. While being active in both the women's and minority movements she took advantage of both groups to further herself.

Books

*"The art of training plants"
*"Growing Plants Indoors" (A Garden in Your House, Volume 1) by Ernesta Drinker Ballard, et al

External links

* [http://www.now.org/history/memoriam-ballard.htm In Memoriam: Ernesta Drinker Ballard. A Fond Memory — by Lillian Ciarrochi]