Anna Stonum
A young white woman with long straight sandy-colored hair parted center
Anna Stonum, from the 1975 yearbook of North High School, Granite City
Born
Anna Marie Stonum

October 14, 1958
Granite City, Illinois
DiedFebruary 6, 1999 (age 40)
Chicago, Illinois
Occupation(s)Artist, disability rights activist

Anna Marie Stonum (October 14, 1958 – February 6, 1999) was an American artist and disability rights activist based in Chicago.

Early life and education

Stonum was from Granite City, Illinois, the daughter of Robert Stonum and Julia Sedej Stonum. Her father worked at a steel mill and was mayor of Glen Carbon, Illinois; her mother worked at a Granite City Army Depot.[1][2] Stonum was a Girl Scout, in her mother's Brownie troop.[3] She attended Granite City's North High School,[4] and earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree (BFA) at Mundelein College in Chicago.[5]

Career

Stonum was a founding member of the Chicago chapter of ADAPT, a disability rights organization then known as American Disabled for Accessible Public Transit. She was on the board of the Disability Arts and Culture Center at the University of Illinois, and served on the boards of several advocacy organizations.[5] She helped to lead protests against the MDA Telethon hosted by Jerry Lewis.[6] In 1988, she was part of a group of American disability activists who visited Cuba and met Fidel Castro.[5]

In 1994, Stonum and two other activists sued the Chicago Cubs for the inaccessibility of the wheelchair seating area at Wrigley Field.[7][8] The suit was settled in 1996, with the Chicago Cubs agreeing to increase the number and accessibility of wheelchair seating spaces, parking, restrooms, and concessions at the ballpark.[9]

Stonum owned and ran a graphic design company, Design for All. Her t-shirt design featuring an evolutionary diagram with the caption "Adapt or Perish" is part of the National Museum of American History's collections on the disability rights movement.[10] The same graphic by Stonum was featured in the 2018 show "Chicago Disability Activism, Arts, and Design: 1970s to Today" at the University of Illinois Chicago.[11]

Personal life

Stonum had Friedreich's ataxia, a degenerative neuromuscular condition, and used a wheelchair in adulthood. She married fellow activist Mike Ervin in 1987. Artist Riva Lehrer painted "Mike & Anna", a portrait of Ervin and Stonum, in 1998.[12] Stonum died in 1999, at the age of 40, in Chicago.[5]

References

  1. ↑ "Christmas Lights". The Edwardsville Intelligencer. Edwardsville, Illinois. 21 December 1962. p. 1. Archived from the original on 10 November 2023. Retrieved 28 May 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ↑ "Obituaries: Stonum". Alton Evening Telegraph. Alton, Illinois. 27 March 1967. p. 20. Archived from the original on 10 November 2023. Retrieved 28 May 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ↑ "Brownie Troop 444". The Edwardsville Intelligencer. Edwardsville, Illinois. 13 October 1966. p. 6. Archived from the original on 10 November 2023. Retrieved 28 May 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ↑ North High School, The Ingot (1975 yearbook): 149 ("Sophomores" section). via Ancestry
  5. 1 2 3 4 Breslin, Meg McSherry (13 February 1999). "Anna Stonum, 40, activist for disabled". Chicago Tribune. p. 99. Archived from the original on 10 November 2023. Retrieved 27 May 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ↑ Joravsky, Ben (2 November 2000). "Hell on Wheels". Chicago Reader. Archived from the original on 27 November 2021. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
  7. ↑ "Wheelchair users sue Chicago Cubs". The Pantagraph. Bloomington, Illinois. 3 December 1994. p. 6. Archived from the original on 10 November 2023. Retrieved 27 May 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ↑ O'Connor, Matt (2 December 1994). "Handicapped fault Cubs in Suit". Chicago Tribune. p. 61. Archived from the original on 10 November 2023. Retrieved 28 May 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ↑ O'Connor, Matt (4 January 1996). "Suit Settled on Wrigley Access". Chicago Tribune. p. 226. Archived from the original on 10 November 2023. Retrieved 28 May 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ↑ Stonum, Anna. "Tshirt, Adapt or Perish". Smithsonian Institution, National Museum of American History (Photo of Tshirt). Archived from the original on 3 June 2023. Retrieved 28 May 2023.
  11. ↑ "Chicago Disability Activism, Arts, and Design: 1970s to Today". Gallery 400. 2018. Archived from the original on 6 July 2022. Retrieved 28 May 2023.
  12. ↑ Lehrer, Riva (1998). "Mike & Anna". Circle Stories. Archived from the original on 30 May 2023. Retrieved 28 May 2023.
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