Rosa Mae Phannix showed a reporter a lump on her right wrist.
She was retired then, and the lump had been there most of her life. A sorry souvenir of wringing out all those clothes in Alabama.
Growing up — the oldest of five sisters — she worked in the fields from 6 a.m. to midmorning, the story from 1985 said.
“She did wash for pay for the next four hours, returned to the fields until dark and then ironed until after midnight with an iron heated by a wood-burning fire.â€
She was Rosa Mae Berry back then, a Black girl who wanted to be a teacher caught in a segregated system that locked down any opportunity.
And when she married Theodore Phannix, she took in sewing; $1.50 a day to add to his wages at the sawmill.
“I’ve had a hard life,†she told the reporter. “But I thank the Lord I’m still here.â€
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Phannix was telling her story from a sunny first-floor apartment on Vine Street. She sat in front of her sewing machine to have her picture taken, in the news because the Lincoln Chapter of the National Association of Negro Women had named a scholarship in her honor.
“If they think I deserve it, I’m thankful,†she said. “I’m doing the best I can, but now I’m going to have to do it better.â€
Phannix moved to Nebraska in the years after the Great Depression, her nephew Thomas Curry Jr., said this week. Her father and stepmother followed. So did most of her younger sisters.
“All I know is she took care of my mother and her sisters. They lived with her for a while until they got on their feet.â€
She was in Eastern Star, he said. She was big in her church.
She escaped the naked racial hate of Alabama. "Now they say 'yes ma'am and no ma'am' instead of 'n, n, n,'" she told the newspaper.
She didn't let that hate seep into her heart. "I love everybody and I like to help. ... I don't have much education, but I have God in my life."
Phannix didn’t have children of her own, but she raised her sister’s daughter and the grandchildren that came later.
Wherever she went, children called her Momma. “I don’t care if they’re white, black, blue or gray. As long as they’re human, they’re my child,†Phannix said.
“She was a mother, aunt, sister to everyone,†said Belinda Shepard-Payne, whose father, Rev. Dr. Garther Collins, led Mount Zion Baptist. “She was an idol to me; I never heard anything bad about Rosa Phannix.â€
Phannix lost her husband in the 1960s and didn’t drive, so Shepard-Payne, and her father before her, would give her rides to church and to her job keeping house for a Lincoln family on Sheridan Boulevard.
“She took care of those kids like her own, too.â€
Members of Mount Zion still tell stories about the devout member who began serving the church from her earliest days in Lincoln, after she joined and noticed the communion glasses were spotted and started making them sparkle.
She became head deaconess and traveled to Baptist conventions. She sang in the choir, holding onto the piano to keep her steady when she started to move to the music.
She brought tea cakes to church to share and always had sewing supplies in her purse.
“Someone would say, ‘Mrs. Phannix, do you have a needle?’" Shepard-Payne said. "And she would say, ‘Yes, what color of thread do you want?’â€
Out came the needle and thread, followed by scissors. A button, if you needed one, she added.
“Still, to this day, we laugh about that.â€
Phannix was vice president of the Lincoln Chapter of the NAACP in the 1940s. She was the head of the Malone Center’s Happy Time Club for senior citizens. Secretary of the Malone Neighborhood Council. For a decade, she served on the board of the Lincoln Action Program
“Rosa Mae was a steady, conscientious member,†Doris Scott wrote in a letter to the editor. “A caring advocate for low-income people throughout Lancaster and Saunders counties.â€
Phannix died in 1992 in Omaha.
Her adopted daughter has passed away, her nephew said. He’d lost touch with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
There is no longer a Lincoln Chapter of the National Council of Negro Women. No record of who received the Rosa Phannix Scholarship.
But there is a record of her legacy in a newspaper story from 1985.
The photos on her apartment walls and framed on her dresser — couples in wedding finery and babies in hospital gowns. A clothespin plant holder, a gift from the young son of the family on Sheridan Boulevard.
A pair of sewing machines, scraps of fabric and an ironing board.
40 MOVIES TO WATCH AND LEARN FROM
40 movies to watch and learn from during Black History Month — or anytime
'Selma'
Released 2014 • Director Ava DuVernay • Where to watch Prime Video
David Oyelowo portrays Martin Luther King Jr. in a film depicting the civil rights leader's historic voting rights marches from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama.
Make it a double feature: 'Boycott'
¸é±ð±ô±ð²¹²õ±ð»åÌý2001 • Director Clark Johnson • Where to watch HBO, Prime Video
Jeffrey Wright portrays Martin Luther King Jr. in a film about the Montgomery bus boycott.
'Harriet'
¸é±ð±ô±ð²¹²õ±ðÌý2019 • Director Kasi Lemmons • Where to watch HBO, Prime Video
Cynthia Erivo helped bring the overdue story of the Underground Railroad conductor Harriet Tubman to the big screen. The film was directed and co-written by St. Louis native Kasi Lemmons.
Make it a double feature: 'The Birth of a Nation'
Release 2016 • Director Nate Parker • Where to watch Prime Video
Nate Parker stars in the story of abolitionist Nat Turner, an enslaved man who successfully led an uprising.
'Ray'
¸é±ð±ô±ð²¹²õ±ðÌý2004 • Director Taylor Hackford • Where to watch HBO, Prime Video
Jamie Foxx’s portrayal of music genius Ray Charles received all the flowers — and deservedly so.
Make it a double feature: 'What's Love Got to Do With It'
Release 1993 • Director Brian Gibson • Where to watch Prime VideoÂ
Angela Bassett portrays rock 'n' roll icon Tina Turner in this crowd-pleasing biopic.
'Hidden Figures'
¸é±ð±ô±ð²¹²õ±ðÌý2016 • Director Theodore Melfi • Where to watch Prime Video
NASA's Black female mathematicians Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughan and Mary Jackson received a rare spotlight with portrayals by Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer and Janelle Monáe.
Make it a double feature: 'Concussion'
Release 2015 • Director Peter Landesman • Where to watch Prime Video
Will Smith portrays acclaimed pathologist Dr. Bennet Omalu, who conducted groundbreaking research in the field of chronic traumatic encephalopathy among football players.
'The Tuskegee Airmen'
¸é±ð±ô±ð²¹²õ±ðÌý1995 • Director Robert Markowitz • Where to watch HBO, Prime VideoÂ
Laurence Fishburne, Allen Payne, Cuba Gooding Jr., Andre Braugher and Courtney B. Vance are among those leading the cast in the story of Black combat pilots in World War II.
Make it a double feature: 'Red Tails'
Release 2012 • Director Anthony Hemingway • Where to watch HBO, Prime Video
Cuba Gooding Jr. revisits familiar territory with Nate Parker, David Oyelowo, Terrence Howard, Ne-Yo and Elijah Kelley.
'Miss Evers' Boys'
¸é±ð±ô±ð²¹²õ±ðÌý1997 • Director Joseph Sargent • Where to watch HBO, Prime Video
Alfre Woodard and Laurence Fishburne headline this story of the Tuskegee Experiment, a top-secret, decadeslong government operation in which underprivileged Black men were used in a study of untreated syphilis.
Make it a double feature: 'The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks'
Release 2017 • Director George C. Wolfe • Where to watch HBO, Prime Video
Renée Elise Goldsberry portrays Henrietta Lacks, a Black woman whose cervical cancer cells in the 1950s were used, without her consent, in groundbreaking medical research. Also starring Oprah Winfrey and Rose Byrne.
'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom'
¸é±ð±ô±ð²¹²õ±ðÌý2020 • Director George C. Wolfe • Where to watch Netflix
Viola Davis is triumphant as real-life “Mother of the Blues†Ma Rainey in this fictionalized story about an ill-fated recording session. It's Chadwick Boseman’s final role.
Make it a double feature: 'Bessie'
Release 2015 • Director Dee Rees • Where to watch HBO, Prime Video
Queen Latifah, a Grammy-winning artist herself, takes on a different blues queen, Bessie Smith, a contemporary of Ma Rainey’s (portrayed here by Mo’Nique).
'Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom'
¸é±ð±ô±ð²¹²õ±ðÌý2013 • Director Justin Chadwick • Where to watch Prime Video
Idris Elba leads this biopic depicting the rise of Nelson Mandela, the South African president and anti-apartheid revolutionary.
Make it a double feature: 'Hotel Rwanda'
Release 2004 • Director Terry George • Where to watch Starz, Prime Video
Don Cheadle portrays Paul Rusesabagina, the Rwandan hotel manager who successfully housed countless refugees during a 1994 genocide.Â
'Marshall'
¸é±ð±ô±ð²¹²õ±ðÌý2017 • Director Reginald Hudlin • Where to watch Prime Video
Chadwick Boseman stars in a legal drama about an early case of Thurgood Marshall, who went on to become the first Black Supreme Court justice. Directed by East St. Louis native Reginald Hudlin.Â
Make it a double feature: '42'
Release 2013 • Director Brian Helgeland • Where to watch Prime Video
Chadwick Boseman, with his penchant for portraying larger-than-life historical figures, hits a home run as Jackie Robinson, the first Black athlete to play in Major League Baseball in the modern era.
'Ali'
¸é±ð±ô±ð²¹²õ±ðÌý2001 • Director Michael Mann • Where to watch Showtime, Prime Video
Will Smith enters the ring as Muhammad Ali in a flick that depicts 10 years of the boxing champion’s life.
Make it a double feature: 'The Hurricane'
Release 1999 • Director Norman Jewison • Where to watch HBO, Prime Video
Denzel Washington plays Rubin “Hurricane†Carter, a boxer who is wrongly imprisoned for murder and must fight for his freedom.
'One Night in Miami'
¸é±ð±ô±ð²¹²õ±ðÌý2020 • Director Regina King • Where to watch Prime Video
Kingsley Ben-Air, Eli Goree, Leslie Odom Jr., and Aldis Hodge star in a fictionalized depiction of the real-life 1964 meeting of Malcolm X, Muhammad Ali, Sam Cooke and Jim Brown at a Miami motel.
Make it a double feature: 'Malcolm X'
Release 1992 • Director Spike Lee • Where to watch Prime VideoÂ
Denzel Washington stars in a sweeping biopic about activist and minister Malcolm X.
'Straight Outta Compton'
¸é±ð±ô±ð²¹²õ±ðÌý2015 • Director F. Gary Gray • Where to watch Prime Video
O’Shea Jackson Jr., Corey Hawkins and Jason Mitchell star in a musical drama based on the rise of groundbreaking and controversial rap act N.W.A., which spawned Dr. Dre, Ice Cube and Eazy-E.
Make it a double feature: 'Notorious'
Release 2009 • Director George Tillman Jr. • Where to watch Prime Video
The rise to fame and untimely death of New York rapper Notorious B.I.G. is depicted in this hip-hop biopic starring Jamal Woolard.
'Lee Daniels' The Butler'
¸é±ð±ô±ð²¹²õ±ðÌý2013 • Director Lee Daniels • Where to watch Prime VideoÂ
Forest Whitaker stars in an epic drama about Cecil Gaines, a White House butler who served under eight different presidents.
Make it a double feature: 'Southside With You'
Release 2016 • Director Richard Tanne • Where to watch Prime Video
Parker Sawyers and Tika Sumpter portray a young Barack Obama and Michelle Robinson, on their first date in the summer of 1989, years before becoming president and first lady.
'Fruitvale Station'
¸é±ð±ô±ð²¹²õ±ðÌý2013 • Director Ryan Coogler • Where to watch Prime Video
Michael B. Jordan stars as 22-year-old Oscar Grant, who was killed by police on a devastating night at a train station in 2008.
Make it a double feature: 'Detroit'
Release 2017 • Director Kathryn Bigelow • Where to watch Prime Video
“Detroit†depicts the 1967 Detroit riots and a deadly incident at the Algiers Motel involving white police officers who attacked and killing Blacks.
'Lady Sings the Blues'
Release 1972 • Director Sidney J. Furie • Where to watch Available on DVD
Diana Ross soars in her breakout acting role as legendary jazz artist and “Strange Fruit†singer Billie Holiday.
Make it a double feature: 'Introducing Dorothy Dandridge'
Release 1999 • Director Martha Coolidge • Where to watch Available on DVD
Halle Berry portrays Hollywood actress and singer Dorothy Dandrige, navigating her way through a tough Tinseltown that didn’t want her.Â
'The Pursuit of Happyness'
¸é±ð±ô±ð²¹²õ±ðÌý2006 • Director Gabriele Muccino • Where to watch Prime Video
Will Smith teams up with his son Jaden in an inspirational story about salesman Chris Gardner, who went from sleeping in shelters to founding his own brokerage firm.
Make it a double feature: 'The Banker'
Release 2020 • Director George Nolfi • Where to watch Apple TV+
This early Apple TV+ movie stars Anthony Mackie and Samuel L. Jackson as Bernard Garrett and Joe Morris, two of the first Black bankers in the United States — with the help of a white associate who fronts the business.
'Remember the Titans'
¸é±ð±ô±ð²¹²õ±ðÌý2000 • Director Boaz Yakin • Where to watch Disney+, Prime Video
Denzel Washington plays football coach Herman Boone, who integrated T.C. Williams High School in the early 1970s.
Make it a double feature: 'The Express: The Ernie Davis Story'
Release 2008 • Director Gary Fleder • Where to watch Showtime, Prime Video
Rob Brown portrays Syracuse University football player Ernie Davis, the first African American to win the Heisman Trophy.
'Rosewood'
¸é±ð±ô±ð²¹²õ±ðÌý1997 • Director John Singleton • Where to watch Prime Video
This historical drama is based on the horrific 1923 Rosewood, Florida, massacre, a race riot in which whites destroyed a Black town.
Make it a double feature: 'Mississippi Burning'
Release 1988 • Director Alan Parker • Where to watch Cinemax, Prime Video
A look at 1964’s Freedom Summer Murders of civil rights workers James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner, as investigated by FBI agents portrayed by Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe.
'Glory'
Release 1989 • Director Edward Zwick • Where to watch Starz, Prime Video
Denzel Washington and Matthew Broderick star in a wartime feature on the Civil War’s first Black regiment, the 54th Massachusetts Infantry.
Make it a double feature: 'Men of Honor'
Release 2000 • Director George Tillman Jr. • Where to watch Prime Video
Cuba Gooding Jr. is Carl Brashear, the first Black U.S. Navy diver; the cast also includes Robert De Niro, Charlize Theron, Hal Holbrook and Powers Boothe.
'Race'
Release 2016 • Director Stephen Hopkins • Where to watch Prime Video
Stephan James portrays 1936 Berlin Olympics track and field champion Jesse Owens, dubbed “the fastest man alive."
Make it a double feature: 'Pride'
Release 2007 • Director Sunu Gonera • Where to Watch Prime Video
Philadelphia swim coach James Ellis, played by Terrence Howard, leads the first Black swim team at the Marcus Foster Recreation Center near Philadelphia.