Bridging Cultural Differences:
A Real-life 21st Century
Pocahontas Story

Our ability to embrace cultural differences requires an open mind and willingness to withhold criticism and judgment. Sometimes, though, when we observe another culture, the contrast to our way of life appears “foreign.” Rather than seek to understand the differences, we react defensively and attempt to suppress and/or annihilate individuals who hold different beliefs.

Fortunately, our nation’s history is replete with individuals who have stepped forward to stop such destructive behavior. They demonstrated an ability to nurture understanding in a sea of differing viewpoints and acted as a go-between or intermediator to bridge cultural differences.

Filmmakers have popularized historical figures who have served as intermediators. For example, Disney’s Pocahontas is a Hollywood version of the important contribution a young Indian princess, whose nickname was Pocahontas or Playful One, made to the survival of the early 17th Century English settlers. Historians invalidate the film’s accuracy, yet authenticate the intermediator role of Pocahontas. With her help, the Jamestown settlement was spared a fate similar to The Lost Colony.

The need to bridge cultural differences didn’t end in colonial times. Our modern-day society, laden with fear, uncertainty and doubt, continues to be "misunderstanding’s" fertile breeding ground. And just as Pocahontas stepped forward to bridge differences between the Powhatan confederacy and the Jamestown settlement, women today are finding ways to nurture harmony among differing cultures in their communities and build economic vitality.

Ann Miller Woodford, Founder and Executive Director of One Dozen Who Care, is an expression of a real-life 21st Century Pocahontas story. Ann describes herself as an “imaginarian,” a creative person who can take situations she’s in and create things around it. One of Ann’s personal goals is to bring about more understanding among races, religions, and youth with adults. She says,

“The worst part of change is fear.
Education and understanding can alleviate some of the trepidation
associated with the changes that are destined to come about.”

A native of Andrews, North Carolina, Ann’s education and career achievements stretch across America, from Asheville to Los Angeles, New York to Atlanta, as well as Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Columbus, Ohio. Her formal education began in the one-room-one-teacher Andrews Colored/Negro Elementary School. She graduated in 1961 at a time when segregated schools still existed. Ann applied to and received a scholarship from Allen High School in Asheville, which was a Methodist Church School run by Women’s Division of Christian Service.

Ann says her world opened up and her passion for honoring diversity started at Allen High School. “I had a chance in high school to work with, to understand and to see different people. Teachers were Methodist Deaconesses and were from New York, Vermont, Arizona, New Mexico (pause) so many different places. I got a chance to see and do things that gave me an open mind.” Ann graduated with honors from Allen High School and went on to graduate cum laude from Ohio University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree.

"My Sister, Myself" painted by Ann Miller Woodford

In her early career, she applied her artistic talents to developing products that reflect diverse cultures. She was one of the first artists and business owners to design, manufacture and market African American-oriented notes and greeting cards. Ann received widespread national publicity in the early ‘70’s for designing a set of African heritage playing cards. Ann describes her motivation for all of these endeavors in the following way,

“My whole goal was to build self-worth. To me, self-worth means that you look at your people, as well as yourself, and you have pride in what you do.”

Esther Rolle and Ann Woodford - 1986

Ann also saw a need for children’s toys to reflect diversity, so she designed and manufactured Black rag dolls named Charlie and Annie Ragg®. In 1987, while living in Los Angeles, this venture led to a partnership with Esther Rolle of the TV series Good Times. Together, the dolls were distributed around the world through US military Base Exchanges as well as in Federated Department Stores and small stores across the USA. Their enterprise was featured in Black Family Magazine.

Ann with Father

Twelve years ago, Ann decided to return to her cherished Western North Carolina home to be near her parents. She thought she would open an art gallery and continue marketing and manufacturing her dolls. That hasn’t happened.

Community involvement was a part of Ann’s life in California. She served on the committee that built up the African-American museum in Los Angeles. Upon her return to the mountains, community involvement beckoned to her once again. She’s held many leadership positions like Cherokee County Planner, Executive Director of the Andrews Chamber of Commerce, yet the spark that ignited this “imaginarian” was her passion to honor diverse cultures.

One day she looked around at the people of color in her community and asked the question, “What do the people of color in our community need?” She invited twenty-two women to a visioning meeting. Many attended the meeting and seven or eight decided they wanted to roll up their sleeves and get actively involved. On-going planning sessions were held and the group reached out to other women in the community. When a Humanities Council grant became available, which required a $1200 in-kind matching fund, there were 12 women at the planning session. Ann asked if each woman was willing to contribute $100 to generate the necessary funds. They all did. They became One Dozen Who Care, the first 501(c)3 community development organization in far western North Carolina to be organized and incorporated by Black women.

All God’s Children Get Together: A Celebration of African American Church Music Festival was ODWC’s premiere event in 1998. This collaborative venture between ODWC and the NC Humanities Council resulted in a documentary of local African-American history and culture as shown through the voices and faces of the elders and the Black Church. It will soon be available via video and audio tapes, as well as a book. These resources will be used by One Dozen Who Care to promote their cultural diversity/anti-racism work and is part of a long-term earned income strategy. The organization sponsors annual initiatives like Multi-cultural Women’s Development Conference, Cultural Diversity Day, and Martin Luther King Storytelling. These events are drawing ever-increasing crowds. For more information about these and additional initiatives spearheaded by One Dozen Who Care, visit www.odwc.org.

One Dozen Who Care is rapidly becoming the arms, legs, feet, hands, eyes, ears for bridging cultures and creating strong community bonds in far western North Carolina.

“If you take time to lift people up, there will be no time left to put people down,” says Ann. It’s a personal philosophy that is shaping a 21st Century real-life Pocahontas story.

Contact Ann at 828-321-1000 or e-mail woodford@dnet.net.

Publisher's Note: Woodford was recently presented with a plaque in honor of her founding the Andrews Valley Experience! (Chautauqua AVE!) by the Andrews United Methodist Church at the Blue Grass Jamboree. The AVE! festival is an economic development project that is taking hold in western North Carolina after three years, and seems destined to grow into something very special.

The One Dozen Who Care organization was also just notified that they have received a grant of $40,000 from the Babcock Foundation for their community service work. One Dozen Who Care, Inc. stands as a beacon for many groups of color that can be an exemplary part of the growth of our own communities and the broader communities within which we work.