The Martha s Vineyard Times
Martha’s Vineyard mourns loss of Vera Shorter, Herb Foster
Both were civil rights icons on the Island.
Vera Shorter was a pillar for social activism on Martha’s Vineyard and beyond. Gabrielle Mannino
The Island lost two of its leading and longtime civil rights advocates Saturday, Vera Shorter and Herb Foster.
Shorter was born in 1923 in Huntington, Long Island.
Shorter’s life was devoted to family, career, and civil rights advocacy in New York. She attended business school, and became the first African American equal opportunity officer in the New York district of the IRS. Her activism led her to the Brooklyn chapter of the NAACP.