Doris Topsy-Elvord, local woman of firsts, becomes inspiration for school’s new name

By Rachael Rifkin
Staff Writer

Last month, the North Long Beach Micro-Enterprise Charter Academy officially became the Doris Topsy-Elvord Academy. During a name-changing ceremony, CEO and executive director Marvin Smith explained that he wanted the middle school, whose emphasis is on small-business concepts and entrepreneurship as well as math and science in order to better equip students for the future, to be named after someone who both reflected and inspired the community and school. As the first African-American woman to be elected to the Long Beach City Council, former vice mayor of Long Beach, and co-founder of the African American Heritage Society, Topsy-Elvord certainly fit the bill.
The ceremony was attended by community leaders, parents, students, family and friends, and included several speeches, a slideshow, an interpretive dance, and a poem about Topsy-Elvord read by eighth grader Armanni Gordan:

“You Can Get Anything Done If You Don’t Care Who Gets the Glory”

Doris has become the first African-American female elected to the Long Beach Council [after] graduating from St. Anthony High School. She has received many honors and awards for her lifetime of service to the Long Beach community. For 19 years, she was a deputy probation officer, including being named Woman of the Year. It is an honor to have our school name changed after this amazing woman to “Doris Topsy-Elvord Academy.”

“The name change gives people a name they are familiar with and the children a resource because Doris will be personally invested in the school,” said 9th District Councilmember Steve Neal, who also spoke at the event. “The children that go to this school will have the benefit of her knowledge. I personally think the world of her. She is committed to the things she believes in. She has that ‘I will not fail’ mentality. And she has a body of work that is a testament to her commitment to Long Beach.”
Doris was 9 when she moved to Long Beach from Mississippi in 1940. She attended St. Anthony High School and graduated in 1949. “I was the only African-American in the school,” said Topsy-Elvord. “I came from an integrated Catholic school in Mississippi, so I had always been at a school where there were other races. The kids treated me like I treated them. It was based on your character, not your color.”
As an undergraduate studying chemistry at UCLA, Topsy-Elvord became interested in other religions. “I was invited to a seder service one time,” she said. “I went, and these Jewish kids came up to me afterwards and asked why I was there. They weren’t being negative— they just wanted to know. I explained to them I wanted to learn about their religion, and they said, ‘Okay, we’ll show you.’ They took me under their wing, and I went to everything. Then I got interested in all religions. Prior to that, I only knew about the Catholic religion.”
Topsy-Elvord got married and had three sons. She now has five granddaughters, one grandson, five great-granddaughters, and one great-grandson. During her career she worked as a California Youth Authority counselor and a probation officer. She went on to her earn a bachelor’s degree in social welfare from Cal State Long Beach and a master’s degree in criminal justice administration from Chapman College. She also managed to squeeze in some travel time. She retired in 1988.
“I saved my money, and every other year I went somewhere else in the world just because it was there,” she said. “Even though I was not rich by any means, I have been to all the continents, except for Antarctica.”
Over the years, she also enjoyed working as a campaign volunteer. The strategy behind the process had always interested her. Eventually she decided to enter politics.
“I had come into contact with all kinds of people at UCLA and in my travels. It really helped me that I knew all about the different religions and nationalities,” Topsy-Elvord said. “When I was running for council, I went and knocked on as many doors as I could. I talked to them about what they wanted to talk about. I made it a point to study what they were interested in.”
She won the election and became the first African-American woman to serve as a Long Beach councilmember. She served two terms, from 1992 to 2000. In her second year as a councilmember, she was asked to run for assembly.
“Speaker of the Assembly Willie Brown came down from Sacramento to ask me,” Topsy-Elvord said. “I told him I couldn’t do it. I promised that I would clean up the sixth district, I would build affordable housing, I would bring back a bank and businesses, and I had to keep my word. I told him, ‘Anybody can come to Sacramento, but nobody else can get this done.'”
She was voted vice mayor of Long Beach in 1996 and in 1998. She is also the first African-American and only the third woman appointed to the governing board for the Port of Long Beach, serving as its president in 2005, and she has been a member of various organizations and societies. In addition, she was featured in the book No Mountain High Enough: Secrets of Successful African-American Women by Dorothy Ehrhart Morrison.
Still, Topsy-Elvord says she was surprised to hear that a school was going to be named after her. “It was amazing. That was not in my head. I thought they had to be kidding, but they weren’t. My kids are delighted,” she said. “I’m going to do what I can to help the school. So far I’ve helped them plan a reception. I also found out about their wish list. They had things on there like chess sets, grass seed, etc. So any of my friends who want to give me a gift for anything, I ask them to pull something off that wish list and give it to them. Because I don’t need anything, but the kids do.”