Former First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and educator Mary McLeod Bethune greeted each other at the front of the room with a hug and a smile, the pair of friends waving to a packed crowd in a Maple Heights senior center.
The two have been dead for more than half a century, but on a recent afternoon, they were very much alive. The actresses portraying Roosevelt and Bethune detailed the stories of their lives and the women's friendship, which intersected at policy advocacy, civil rights and feminism.
"Once we established that friendship, we wanted to get together more because we knew we could use our voices, as you said, to actually do something to make a difference, to be useful, and to help others," Ruth Pangrace, the actress playing Roosevelt, said in an uncanny impression of the first lady and activist.
Several in the crowd murmured in agreement or shock as Pangrace and Jeannine Gaskin, who portrayed Bethune, explained the obstacles they faced as women 鈥� particularly Bethune as a Black woman 鈥� advocating for the future of Americans: including the ones in the room.
The events and stories the actresses described are nearly a hundred years old. But many say the lessons are still relevant.
"There's so much that sounds like they had to fight in the 20s and 30s for the same thing that we're still looking to try to solve today," said Linda Vopat, a 75-year-old Maple Heights resident in the audience.
Pangrace said that鈥檚 the goal of , a Northeast Ohio-based group that puts on presentations at senior centers, libraries, schools and more.
"Well, the whole learning from our mistakes thing, especially in this political environment, going back to the loving one another, to appreciating the struggle that it took to get where we are today and what we do have that's definitely worth holding onto," Pangrace said. She portrays about a dozen other characters.
The group started in 1991. At that time, it was mostly just a vintage fashion show, but the group鈥檚 president Linda Witkowski said it quickly evolved into something more, as the performers became interested in the stories of the women inside the costumes.
"We're not an anti-gentleman group," said Witkowski, a lifelong performer and retired IT specialist. "We're just saying, 'Hey, you guys, you already have your PR in place. We have some where we've got to build those, and we get to tell stories that maybe don't make the headlines.'"
The 17-member group offers an 80-character catalogue, including icons like suffragette Susan B. Anthony and pilot Amelia Earhart, but also, and equally as important, says Witkowski, lesser known names like computer scientist Grace Hopper.
That鈥檚 what draws in Gaskin, who, in addition to Bethune, also plays Jane Edna Hunter, a former slave鈥檚 daughter who went on to have a prolific social work career in Cleveland.
"Women's voices are silenced in general, but Black women's voices are swept under the rug even deeper," Gaskin said. "And so it's important to me that that history never dies and that we expose society to more than the Harriet Tubmans, and those Sojourner Truths. They're great, but there's so many other people."
A shifting political climate has Witkowski concerned for the future of Women in History Ohio. She said they鈥檝e been able to cover their costs, but that could change in the face of potential state and federal funding cuts facing top clients like libraries.
"Many of our clients use grant funding to bring our programs in. So for Black History Month, for Women's History Month - Those are our two biggest months. And we have our fingers crossed that we're not really going to be constrained heading into that."
She said that shift in part due to President Donald Trump鈥檚 anti-diversity, equity and inclusion mandates. Trump has threatened to withhold funding to programming and efforts elevating minority voices.
Still, Witkowski said they intend to keep integrity in their performances.
"We will not alter; we can't alter anything that we do or anything that we say because what we are doing is historically documented and the research is there behind all of it," Witkowski said. "So if we're presenting something, it simply is what is."
Ruth Pangrace said it鈥檚 not just about honoring women of the past like Eleanor Roosevelt. It鈥檚 empowering to women in the present, like the ones in the Maple Heights senior center, and even to the actresses like herself.
"You know, I'm old, I am 70, but it makes me feel like I'm still doing something worthwhile by sharing these important stories," Pangrace said.
