Ida M. Bowman Becks  Ida M. Bowman Becks (March 28, 1880 – ?), also known as Ida M. Becks"," was an American elocutionist, suffragist, and African-American community organizer. She played prominent roles in establishing a number of community organizations, especially in Kansas City, Kansas, from the 1910s to the late 1940s. Ida M. Bowman was born on March 28, 1880 in Armstrong, Missouri. She was the daughter of Milton Bowman. Bowman finished grammar school in 1896, and then attended the Lincoln School in Carrollton, Missouri. She graduated in 1899 as class valedictorian. Bowman then did post-graduate studies in Wichita, Kansas. She moved to Dayton, Ohio and began working as the secretary of the Colored Women‘s League. While in Dayton, she met H. W. Becks. The two married in 1907. In 1908, the couple moved to Kansas City, Kansas. Becks worked for two years as the field representative for the Florence Crittenton Home in Topeka, Kansas. She then became the field representative for the National Training School in Washington, D.C., under the auspices of the Women’s Auxiliary of the National Baptist Convention. Becks was also a nationally-known elocutionist and an “ardent suffragist.” She trained at the Chicago School of Elocution and spoke publicly at Chautauqua schools and other public events. Becks wrote a play entitled "Up From Slavery: Evening's Entertainment in 8 Acts", which she copyrighted in 1916. In 1919, she spoke at a memorial service for Theodore Roosevelt at Second Baptist Church in Kansas City (where Becks and her husband were members), discussing Roosevelt’s views on women's suffrage. In the same year, Becks led a debate about women’s suffrage at Ebenezer AME Church.: 144  Becks continued her public health work as well. In 1919, she fundraised for the Red Cross, and led the drive to establish a chapter of the Urban League and a community center for African-American men. In the early 1920s she served on the board of directors of the Wheatley-Provident Hospital. She also helped establish a local chapter of the YWCA to serve the African-American community.: 145  In 1921, Becks was one of five delegates to the NAACP convention in Detroit. That year she also established a Kansas City chapter of the Negro Women’s National Republican League, of which she was elected chairman.