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Guide to the Colored Women's Clubs Associations Collection
MS 1
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Title: Colored Women's Clubs Associations collection
Dates: 1902-1994
Collection number: MS 1
Creator:
Netherland, Mary C.
Creator:
Dixon, Lillian
Collection Size:
2.5 ft.
(5 boxes)
Repository:
African American Museum & Library at Oakland (Oakland, Calif.)
Oakland, CA 94612
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.
Languages:
Languages represented in the collection:
English
No access restrictions. Collection is open to the public.
Materials are for use in-library only, non-circulating.
Permission to publish from the Colored Women's Clubs Associations Collection must be obtained from the African American Museum
& Library at Oakland.
Colored Women's Clubs Associations collection, MS 1, African American Museum & Library at Oakland, Oakland Public Library.
Oakland, California.
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.
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.
Biography / Administrative History
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.
Scope and Content of Collection
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.
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
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in
the library's online public access catalog.
California State Association of Colored Women's Clubs.
National Association of Colored Women’s Clubs (U.S.).
National Council of Negro Women.
African American women--California--History.
African American women--Societies and clubs.
National Association of Colored Women's Clubs (U.S.)--Archives.
National Association of Colored Women's Clubs (U.S.)--History.
Fannie Wall Children's Home and Day Nursery, Inc. Records, MS 162, African American Museum and Library at Oakland.
Leisure Arts Club Records, African American Museum and Library at Oakland.
Berkeley Civic Study Club Records, African American Museum & Library at Oakland.