Colored Women's Clubs Associations collection, 1902-1994

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Summary

Creators:
Netherland, Mary C. and Dixon, Lillian
Abstract:
The records included within this collection trace the histories of three different associations of colored women's clubs: the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs; the California State Association of Colored Women's Clubs; and the National Council of Negro Women. Records within this collection document the history, organization, and activities of the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs, the California State Association of Colored Women's Clubs, and the National Council of Negro Women.
Extent:
2.5 ft. (5 boxes)
Language:
Languages represented in the collection: English
Preferred citation:

Colored Women's Clubs Associations collection, MS 1, African American Museum & Library at Oakland, Oakland Public Library. Oakland, California.

Background

Scope and content:

Records within this collection document the history, organization, and activities of the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs, the California State Association of Colored Women's Clubs, and the National Council of Negro Women. Documentation available on the NACWC is confined primarily to souvenir programs, publications, and press coverage relating to annual conventions between 1945 and the 1960s. A few miscellaneous items are present relating to more recent activities in the 1980s. NACWC history and governance is recorded in a selection of papers relating to executive committee meetings, such as minutes, reports, and correspondence. The records also include one file on NACWC president Hallie Quinn Brown.

The records relating to the California State Association of Colored Women's Clubs are more thorough in scope, documenting the organization and activities of the executive committee, as well as of the Northern District, the Northern Federation, and individual affiliate clubs. Thirty-one women's clubs in the Bay Area are included in the files on affiliate clubs. The records on these clubs range from a few flyers or programs to information on by-laws, finances, and projects. Local clubs which are most thoroughly documented include the Fanny Jackson Coppin Club, the first African American women's club in Oakland; the Rhododendron Club; Mother's Charity Club; and the Imperial Art and Literary Club. The CSACWC records also encompass meeting minutes, reports, correspondence, and by-laws of the state office and the Northern District office, along with documentation of the Northern Federation's sponsorship of the Fannie Wall Home. Information on state presidents and officers, such as Lillian Dixon, Bertha Wysinger Allen, Mary Netherland, and Margaret Nottage is also present.

Documentation of local chapters' involvement in the National Council of Negro Women is available in files on the structure of the national organization, as well as on the activities of the Northern California Sections of NCNW. Along with files on NCNW presidents Mary McLeod Bethune and Dorothy Height, the records encompass miscellaneous reports and conference programs relating to such national projects as the Bethune Memorial Museum. The files also include a few records dating from the 1960s-1980s on the San Francisco Chapter, the Berkeley Chapter, the East Oakland-Hayward Section, and the East Bay Section.

Biographical / historical:

The records included within this collection trace the histories of three different associations of colored women's clubs: the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs; the California State Association of Colored Women's Clubs; and the National Council of Negro Women. These associations were all united by a common purpose of improving the welfare of African Americans and of providing service to the African-American community.

Most of the materials on the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs (NACWC) were gathered by Mary C. Netherland and document meetings and events she participated in as a delegate to national conventions. The NACWC was founded in 1896 through the merger of the Colored Women's League and the National Federation of African American Women. Its primary intent was to provide African American women with an avenue for making a greater contribution to society and for agitating for reform in the realms of health, education, social welfare, religion, and civil rights. In addition, it aimed to use social reform as a way to fight racism and discrimination. Since African- American women were excluded from white women's social reform clubs, they formed their own parallel organizations and united them under the umbrella of the NACWC. Participation in these clubs enabled intelligent and ambitious African American women to find a socially respectable outlet for their energies and social concerns.

California club women organized an affiliate association, the California State Association of Colored Women's Clubs (CSACWC), in Los Angeles in 1906. This state organization was founded by Eliza Warner and carried out the aims of the national association through the interests of local clubs. Departments formed within the CSACWC reflected the diverse interests and projects of club members, ranging from International Peace and World Affairs to Forestry and Prison and Parole work. Districts within the state existed to oversee club women within a particular geographic area. Women's clubs in the Bay Area belonged to the Northern District, which maintained a club house and held social events and meetings several times per year.

The Bay Area women also formed the Northern Federation of Colored Women's Clubs as an affiliate of the Northern District. This federation served as a corporation to oversee the operation of the Fannie Wall Children's Home and Day Nursery, a home for orphans and destitute working girls. Opened on November 20, 1918 at 1215 Peralta St., the Fannie Wall Home later moved to larger quarters at 815 Linden Street and remained under the operation of the Northern Federation until 1941.

On December 5,1935, Mary McLeod Bethune founded another association to organize women for constructive social action, the National Council of Negro Women (NCNW). A former president of NACWC (1924-28), Bethune wanted to create a coalition of national women's organizations which would have a greater commitment to women's issues and to working for the representation of African American women in public affairs. She established a national headquarters in Washington, D.C. and gained the participation of many diverse African American women's organizations around the country. Through regional councils and chapters, the NCNW worked to expose discriminatory practices and to educate the public about the status of minorities in the United States. In the Bay Area, the Northern California sections participated in advocacy projects for African American women and contributed to national projects focusing upon civil rights, hunger, employment, and housing.

Acquisition information:
This is an artificial collection which was assembled over a period of time through the donations of various individuals, including Mary C. Netherland and Lillian Dixon. Many of the materials were originally part of the collections of the East Bay Negro Historical Society.
Processing information:

Processed by Marianne Carden, April 1, 1995. Finding aid updated by Sean Heyliger, March 2, 2013.Finding aid updated by Sean Heyliger, January 2, 2016 to add accession #2016-001.

Arrangement:

Series I. National Association of Colored Women's Clubs Series II. California State Association of Colored Women's Clubs Series III. National Council of Negro Women

Rules or conventions:
Finding aid prepared using Describing Archives: a Content Standard

Access and use

Restrictions:

No access restrictions. Collection is open to the public.

Materials are for use in-library only, non-circulating.

Terms of access:

Permission to publish from the Colored Women's Clubs Associations Collection must be obtained from the African American Museum & Library at Oakland.

Preferred citation:

Colored Women's Clubs Associations collection, MS 1, African American Museum & Library at Oakland, Oakland Public Library. Oakland, California.

Location of this collection:
659 14th Street
Oakland, CA 94612, US
Contact:
(510) 637-0198
aamlo@oaklandlibrary.org
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