Empire State Federation of Women's Clubs, Inc. records,
- Author:
- Empire State Federation of Women's Clubs.
- Call Number:
- MSS APAP-041 local
- Abstract:
- The collection contains meeting minutes; annual convention programs and ephemera; account books; correspondence of the president and financial secretary; and materials concerning the ESFWC's constituent organizations, the Northeastern Federation of Women's Clubs (NFWC) and the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs (NACWC). Highlights of the meeting minutes include discussion of letters sent to presidents Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Harry Truman concerning racial discrimination in the armed forces, defense industries and federal housing programs and to the mayor of Albany, Georgia concerning the treatment of civil rights leaders Martin Luther King and Ralph AbernathyRecords span from 1938-1991, but the bulk of them were generated in 1939-44, 1946-64, and 1968-1991.
- Historical Note:
- Founded in Brooklyn in 1908 by Alice Wiley Seay, the Empire State Federation of Women's Clubs (ESFWC) is the umbrella organization of New York State African-American women's groups. The women who started the ESFWC had two main goals: to do "uplift work among girls and young women" and to care for the aged Harriet Tubman and her Auburn, Cayuga County, New York home. Although the organization failed to acquire Tubman's home after her death, it has devoted itself to preserving historic sites associated with African American leaders such as Frederick Douglass. The organization consistently contributed to charitable causes and scholarship funds benefiting African-American girls and young women, and after the Second World War began sponsoring beauty pageants and organizing girls' clubs. In the 1960's, the ESFWC also began to organize boys' clubs. Throughout its history, the group has aided African-Americans of both sexes, has been staunchly opposed to all forms of racial prejudice and supported the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the National Urban League, and the civil rights movement. The ESFWC has long been affiliated with the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs (NACWC), which was founded in 1896, sending funds to the organization and delegates to the annual convention. Early presidents included Frances Reynolds Keyser, Mary B. Talbert, and Maria C. Lawton. The federation is affiliated with the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs and the Northeastern Federation of Women's Clubs.
- Physical Description:
- 3.46 cu. ft.
- Access Terms:
- Access to the collection is unrestricted.
- Notes:
- Part of the Archives of Public Affairs and Policy Collection. local
- Genres/Forms:
- Corespondence. ftamc and Programs. ftamc
- Names:
- Seay, Alice Wiley, Talbert, Mary B, Keyser, Frances Reynolds, and Lawton, Maria C
- Corporate Names:
- Empire State Federation of Women's Clubs, National Association of Colored Women's Clubs (U.S.), Northeastern Association of Women's Clubs, and National Association of Colored Women's Clubs (U.S.)
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