A Practical Approach to the Race Problem. Origin and Work of the Commission on Interracial Cooperation.
A pamphlet explaining the origin and mission of the Commission on Interracial Cooperation, an organization founded in January, 1919 in Atlanta. The group sought to further "mutual understanding, peace, and good will" between the white and black communities. The group opposed lynching and mob violence, and sought to improve interracial attitudes, correct injustices and improve conditions affecting African Americans. The CIC was a moderate group that called itself a "movement" instead of an organization. "The philosophy of the movement is not that of 'seeking to solve the race problem,' but simply that of taking the next practicable step in the direction of interracial justice and good will" (p. 4).
Race Relations Pamphlets, Special Collections, William Smith Morton Library, Union Presbyterian Seminary
Copyright Undetermined. The copyright and related rights status of this Item has been reviewed by the organization that has made the Item available, but the organization was unable to make a conclusive determination as to the copyright status of the Item. Please refer to the organization that has made the Item available for more information. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/
Learn more: Commission on Interracial Cooperation, Social Welfare History Image Portal Pullen, Ann Ellis (2013). "Commission on Interracial Cooperation" New Georgia Encyclopedia.
Does the Bible Teach the Equality of Men and Women?
This document is a single sheet of paper printed on both sides. The essay, "Does the Bible Teach the Equality of Men and Women?" was written by Mrs. Milton McNeilan (Clarabel James McNeilan) a member of the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage, and State Organizer of the West Virginia Equal Suffrage Association, 1914-15. Excerpts: In the first chapter of Genesis we are told that after the other things were created “God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” And he said, “Let them dominion over the fish of the sea, the foul [sic] of the air, “ etc. But he did not say that ONE WAS TO HAVE DOMINION OVER THE OTHER. There is not a suggestion of this…. “It was not until after the fall of man that the curse was pronounced the material curse for the man, bondage for the woman. …” In all Christ’s teachings we do not find even a suggestion of an “inferior sex....” Those who read the Bible intelligently, and understand the history of that period, will see that the place where it seems to teach the subjection and inequality of women, merely pertain to ancient Oriental customs and traditions, and are not the teachings of Christ. There is absolutely nothing in the latter to indicate that He would prohibit women from having a share in the government, merely because they are women. These accounts of ancient customs and traditions do not apply to women of today and more than they do to men of today, and have nothing to do with Christianity, as Christ taught it. If we are followers of Christ let us teach and quote Christ, who taught justice and equality for all, as well as an all embracing love, ‘love the fulfilling of the law.’ That is Christianity and what we should get from the Bible. (Reprinted from the Suffrage Edition of Atlantic City Review, October 12, 1915.) Leaflets may be obtained from The Parkersburg Equal Suffrage Association at 5c per dozen. Printed in The City Print Shop, Parkersburg, by a Union Printer
McNeilan, Mrs. Milton (Clarabel James McNeilan, b. 1872)
M 9 Box 233 oversize, Adèle Goodman Clark papers, 1849-1978, James Branch Cabell Library, VCU Libraries
Special Collections and Archives, James Branch Cabell Library, VCU Libraries
NO KNOWN COPYRIGHT The organization that has made the Item available reasonably believes that the Item is not restricted by copyright or related rights, but a conclusive determination could not be made. Please refer to the organization that has made the Item available for more information. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NKC/1.0/ Acknowledgment of VCU Libraries as a source is requested.
Permit granted to Equal Suffrage League of Virginia to hold public meetings in the street, June 23, 1915.
Permit issued by the Mayor of Richmond, Va. allowing the Equal Suffrage League of Virginia to hold public meetings on the streets and in the parks of the city. On May 1, 1915, the ESL were denied permission to speak on city streets by Mayor Ainslie, on the grounds that, while there was no law forbidding them to speak, neither was there one that allowed him to grant them a permit. The women proceeded to give speeches from inside an automobile. The event was documented and reported by the Richmond Times-Dispatch on May, 2, 1915. Photographs from the May 1 rally may be found in the Social Welfare History Image Portal.
M 9 Box 233, Adele Goodman Clark papers, 1849 - 1978, Special Collections and Archives, James Branch Cabell Library, VCU Libraries
Learn more: Suffrage, Social Welfare History Image Portal Suffrage at 100. A visual history. New York Times. Wheeler, M. (1992). Mary Johnston, Suffragist. The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, 100(1), 99-118.
Planks from the Suffrage Platform --as Stated by Mrs. C. C. Catt [anti-suffrage handbill]
Anti-suffrage handbill uses quotations to make its case that woman suffrage supports racial equality and will lead to intermarriage, advances feminist views, is unpatriotic and does not support the war effort or the Constitution of the United States. The Equal Suffrage League of Virginia and the Equal Suffrage League of Richmond are both named. The writer of the handbill asks, "Is our Constitution another scrap of paper? Do YOU endorse these doctrines?"
M 9 Box 233, Adèle Goodman Clark papers, 1849-1978, James Branch Cabell Library, VCU Libraries
Special Collections and Archives, James Branch Cabell Library, Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries
NO KNOWN COPYRIGHT The organization that has made the Item available reasonably believes that the Item is not restricted by copyright or related rights, but a conclusive determination could not be made. Please refer to the organization that has made the Item available for more information. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NKC/1.0/ Acknowledgement of VCU Libraries as a source is requested.
Learn more: Discovery Set: The Anti-Suffrage Movement, Social Welfare History Image Portal
Virginia Suffrage News, vol. 1, no.3, December 1914
A publication of the Equal Suffrage League of Virginia. The ESL formed in November 1909 in Richmond, Va. Lila Meade Valentine served as the first president. Adele Goodman Clark, Nora Houston, Ellen Glasgow, Mary Johnston, Kate Waller Barrett, and Kate Langley Bosher were among the approximately 20 women who founded the group. In 1910, Ellen Gertrude Kidd, owner of "Pin Money Pickles" became treasurer of the ESL.
M 9 Box 56, Adèle Goodman Clark papers, 1849-1978, Special Collections and Archives, James Branch Cabell Library, VCU Libraries
Virginia Suffrage News, vol. 1, no. 2, November 1914
A publication of the Equal Suffrage League of Virginia. The ESL formed in November 1909 in Richmond, Va. Lila Meade Valentine served as the first president. Adele Goodman Clark, Nora Houston, Ellen Glasgow, Mary Johnston, Kate Waller Barrett, and Kate Langley Bosher were among the approximately 20 women who founded the group. In 1910, Ellen Gertrude Kidd, owner of "Pin Money Pickles" became treasurer of the ESL. An advertisement for Pin Money Pickles appears on p. 16 of this issue.
Photographic portrait of Kate Waller Barrett. Barrett was one of the first women medical doctors in the south. She co-founded the National Florence Crittenton Mission with Charles Nelson Crittenton. The organization focused on the needs of unwed mothers and prostitutes ("fallen women"). Barrett was instrumental in helping unwed mothers become an acceptable subject of philanthropy.
M 9 Box 239, Adèle Goodman Clark papers, 1849-1978, James Branch Cabell Library, VCU Libraries
COPYRIGHT UNDETERMINED The copyright and related rights status of this Item has been reviewed by the organization that has made the Item available, but the organization was unable to make a conclusive determination as to the copyright status of the Item. Please refer to the organization that has made the Item available for more information. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/
Learn more: Kate Waller Barrett, Social Welfare History Project Florence Crittenton Mission, Social Welfare History Project Kate Waller Barrett, Social Welfare History Image Portal
Richmond School of Social Economy, First Annual Announcement, 1917-1918. Bulletin No. 1
First Bulletin of the Richmond School of Social Economy. This school would change names at several points in its history, becoming the School of Social Work and Public Health, the Richmond Professional Institute, and, after merging with the Medical College of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University. Stamped on cover: "Name changed from Richmond School of Social Economy to Virginia School of Social Work." Address also changed with a stamp from "6-8 North 6th Street" to "1112 Capitol St." Richmond, VA. This bulletin describes the classes, curriculum, and field work offerred by the new Richmond School of Social Economy along three tracks: general, public health nursing, and recreation. Entrance requirements, registration, fees, scholarships, library facilities, board and other matters are outlined. The names of the Board of Directors, Administrative Officers, Faculty and Special Lecturers are listed. An advertisement for the first term declared: "Usual Opportunities Offerred For specialization in Public Health Nursing, Church Work, Medical Social Work, Juvenile Court and Playground Work." Field work in the first year included the Virginia Home and Industrial School for Girls, a reform school in Bon Air, Va. The superintendent, Anna M. Petersen taught eugenics at the RSSE. --- Transcriptions of Richmond Times-Dispatch articles describing the events surrounding the establishment of the school may be found at the Social Welfare History Project. These describe the period from October 1916, when serious conversations about starting a school began to be reported in the press, to July 1917 when Howard H. Hibbs, began as the school's first director. The efforts of Richmond and Petersburg citizens such as Orie Latham Hatcher, Virginia McKenney (later Claiborne), Father Charles Hannigan, Nannie Minor, the Rev. J. T. Mastin, May Lansfield Keller, Katherine H. Hawes, the Rev. H. C. D. Maclachlan, and Agnes Randolph were important in the movement from felt need, to the idea of a school, and finally to the reality of classes and field work. Additional transcriptions in the Social Welfare History Project concern reporting of the school's opening and first term. Excerpts from the Bulletin: The Richmond School of Social Economy was incorporated April 17th with the following Board of Directors; Mr. J. J. Scherer, Jr. … President Mr. Wortley F. Rudd … Vice-President Miss Virginia S. McKenney ... Secretary Mr. F. B. Dunford … Treasurer (Names of board members follows) Administrative Officers Mr. J. J. Scherer, Jr., Chairman Miss Virginia McKenney Mr. F. B. Dunford Dr. H. D. C Maclachlan Mrs. Roy K. Flannagan Dr. O. L. Hatcher Father Chas. Hannigan Dr. F. T. McFaden Mr. W. F. Rudd
NO COPYRIGHT - UNITED STATES The organization that has made the Item available believes that the Item is in the Public Domain under the laws of the United States, but a determination was not made as to its copyright status under the copyright laws of other countries. The Item may not be in the Public Domain under the laws of other countries. Please refer to the organization that has made the Item available for more information. http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/
Learn more: Virginia Home and Industrial School for Girls, Social Welfare History Project Richmond School of Social Economy - Beginnings. October 1916 - July 1917. Social Welfare History Project Richmond School of Social Economy. Opening Term. Fall 1917. Social Welfare History Project
The Rights of the People -- Women Are People. Suffrage Victory Map [ESL of Virginia / NAWSA broadside]
This broadside has a map at top that shows the extent of woman suffrage across the United States. At this time, women could vote in presidential elections in some states; in municipal elections in others; and only with regard to school bond and tax matters in others. The lower half of the broadside is titled "VIRGINIA WOMEN WANT THE VOTE." The text was created by the Equal Suffrage League of Virginia. It argues that two out of three women across the state, in both rural and urban location, are suffragists. "Virginia women who are asking for enfranchisement are BY NO MEANS A SMALL MINORITY." "The child and the home are the greatest assets of the nation. The Farmer's Wife is his working partner. She helps him to pay taxes on roads and schools. She should have the right on where and how these roads and schools are built; to elect the school trustees who determine what her children shall be taught." "Virginia wives and mothers should vote upon public health laws and moral laws which vitally affect the welfare of the family." The broadside then addresses the argument that a federal amendment permitting women to vote will increase the voting power of African Americans in the south. With the Civil War and Reconstruction only fifty-four years in the past, the southern states were against any federal law reducing their right to control who could vote. The ESL makes the argument that the states' power to levy poll taxes, have residency requirements, and require that voters be able to read and write will be sufficient. "Whte Supremacy. There is now no negro domination under male suffrage in the counties in Virginia where white people are in the minority, and there will be no negro domination with men and women voting." The broadside also argues that women are conservative voters, so woman suffrage will not increase the socialist vote.
M 9 Box 233, Adèle Goodman Clark papers, 1849-1978, Special Collections and Archives, James Branch Cabell Library, VCU Libraries
Learn more: Suffrage, Social Welfare History Image Portal Discovery Set: Woman Suffrage, Social Welfare History Image Portal Discovery Set: Annotating Suffrage, Social Welfare History Image Portal Discovery Set: The Anti-Suffrage Movement, Social Welfare History Image Portal
Eugenics in Relation to the New Family and the Law on Racial Integrity.
Eugenics in Relation to the New Family and the Law on Racial Integrity. Including a paper read before the American Public Health Association. Pamphlet created by W. A. Plecker, M.D., Virginia state registrar of vital statistics from 1912 to 1946. Plecker was an advocate of eugenics and white supremacy. He used Virginia's Act to Protect Racial Integrity (1924) to remove legal recognition of Native Americans in the state, instead classifying them as "colored." The Act to Protect Racial Integrity remained in effect until 1967 when it was overturned in the landmark case, Loving v. Virginia. Pamphlet sections: Introduction Eugenics Virginia's Attempt to Adjust the Color Problem (Read before the American Public Health Association, at Detroit, October 23, 1924.) An Act to Preserve Racial Integrity Appendix
Bureau of Vital Statistics, State Board of Health, Richmond, Va.
NO KNOWN COPYRIGHT The organization that has made the Item available reasonably believes that the Item is not restricted by copyright or related rights, but a conclusive determination could not be made. Please refer to the organization that has made the Item available for more information. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NKC/1.0/
Learn more: Eugenics, Social Welfare History Image Portal White supremacy, Social Welfare History Image Portal Race, Social Welfare History Image Portal Heim, J. (2015 July, 1). How a long-dead white supremacist still threatens the future of Virginia’s Indian tribes. The Washington Post. State Recognized Tribes, Secretary of the Commonwealth. Virginia Indians. Albiges, M. (2018 October, 4). Virginia’s Indian tribes celebrate federal recognition. Associated Press. Richmond School of Social Economy, First Annual Announcement, 1917-1918. Bulletin No. 1, Social Welfare History Image Portal
American Association for Labor Legislation [membership solicitation card]
Membership solicitation card published by the American Association for Labor Legislation. One side has an editorial cartoon by Gordon Grant, republished from Better Times, a New York welfare magazine. It shows a family standing under an arch in which the keystone (labelled "Employment") is slipping out. If the keystone falls, the family will be crushed. Excerpts: Security of Employment for the Breadwinner. The only basis of Sound Social Action. Help the Keystone Hold! Other side-- Purpose: To improve industrial conditions that needlessly involve loss of life, health and productivity of workers; and to obtain uniform labor laws in the interest of the whole community. This Association is an instrument with which men and women are accomplishing, cooperatively, what they could not hope to do individually.
M 9 Box 98, Adèle Goodman Clark papers, 1849-1978, James Branch Cabell Library, VCU Libraries
Learn more: We're Home--Now What? National World War I Museum and Memorial exhibit
Imperial Palace, Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, Atlanta, GA [postcard]
Postcard showing Imperial Palace, Stone Mountain, GA surrounded by seven Klansmen brandishing torches, mounted on horseback. A portrait of William Joseph Simmons, founder and leader of the second Ku Klux Klan, appears at upper right corner. Portrait caption: "Col. W. J. Simmons, Founder and Imperial Wizard." Text: "Imperial Palace, Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, Atlanta, GA. Stone Mountain, Largest Solid Stone in the World, one mile from Base to Summit. On its highest pinnacle the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan Oranized at Midnight, Nov. 25th, 1915." On reverse: "Published by a Klansman" --- The birth of the second Ku Klux Klan was partly inspired by D. W. Griffith's 1915 film, The Birth of a Nation. The face of Stone Mountain became the site of the Confederate Memorial Carving, the largest bas-relief sculpture in the world. This bas-relief depicts the three Confederate leaders of the Civil War: President Jefferson Davis and Generals Robert E. Lee and Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson. The sculptor was Gutzon Borglum, whose next major project was Mount Rushmore. In his "I Have A Dream" speech (28 August 1963), Martin Luther King, Jr. invoked the imagery of "My Country 'Tis of Thee" saying, Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia. Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee. Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
M 172 Box 1, Calvin T. Lucy papers, James Branch Cabell Library, VCU Libraries
The organization that has made the Item available reasonably believes that the Item is not restricted by copyright or related rights, but a conclusive determination could not be made. Please refer to the organization that has made the Item available for more information. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NKC/1.0/
Learn more: Backlash to Reform: Hatred and Extremism, Social Welfare History Image Portal Martin Luther King, Jr., Social Welfare History Image Portal Ku Klux Klan, Social Welfare History Image Portal Mapping the Second Ku Klux Klan, 1915-1940, Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries New York World Expose of the Ku Klux Klan, Wikipedia Ku Klux Klan, New York 1921. Chronicling America. Historic American Newspapers. Library of Congress White supremacy, Social Welfare History Image Portal
Exchange for Woman's Work - Interior, Richmond, Va.
Photograph of the interior of the Richmond Exchange for Woman's Work, 203 East Franklin Street, Richmond, Va. The Richmond Exchange for Woman’s Work, founded in 1883, part of the Woman’s Exchange movement that began in Philadelphia in 1832. The Association was begun by women "to aid ladies whose pecuniary circumstances require them to make their own handiwork a means of their support, and also to afford an opportunity by which work may be sold for charitable purposes." The Richmond Exchange operated until 1955.
MSC0037-Photo, The Valentine.
COPYRIGHT NOT EVALUATED The copyright and related rights status of this Item has not been evaluated. Please refer to the organization that has made the Item available for more information. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/CNE/1.0/
Learn more: Sander, K. W. (1998). The Business of charity: The woman's exchange movement, 1832-1900. Urbana: University of Illinois Jones, D. G. (2001). A box lunch. Richmond, Va.: D. Jones. Federation of Woman's Exchanges Richmond Exchange for Woman's Work, Social Welfare History Image Portal
Richmond Exchange for Woman's Work, 309 East Franklin Street [pamphlet]
This ephemera pertains to the Richmond Exchange for Woman’s Work, founded in 1883, part of the Woman’s Exchange movement started in Philadelphia in 1832. Exchanges were popular places for women in hardship to sell goods on consignment without working publicly, a social taboo at the time. Some Exchanges still operate, and while the Richmond Exchange closed in 1955, it launched several female-owned businesses including Sally Bell’s Kitchen, still in business. Its founders—Elizabeth Lee Milton and Sarah Cabell Jones—met through the Richmond Woman’s Exchange. A handwritten note at the document's end records "From March 1st 1883 to March 1st 1884 $2430.80 was paid to consigners -" Printed text excerpts: The Association has been organized to aid ladies whose pecuniary circumstances require them to make their own handiwork a means of their support, and also to afford an opportunity by which work may be sold for charitable purposes. The rooms of the Exchange are located in a convenient part of the city, and there useful and domestic, fancy and artistic articles are exhibited and sold. Orders for work of all descriptions may be given, and purchasers of tasteful and useful articles may relieve the wants of others while gratifying their own taste.
Manuscripts, Call Number Mss1 M3855 c 4024, Library of the Virginia Museum of History and Culture, Virginia Historical Society
Virginia Museum of History and Culture, Virginia Historical Society
NO COPYRIGHT – UNITED STATES The organization that has made the Item available believes that the Item is in the Public Domain under the laws of the United States, but a determination was not made as to its copyright status under the copyright laws of other countries. The Item may not be in the Public Domain under the laws of other countries. Please refer to the organization that has made the Item available for more information. http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/ Acknowledgement of the Virginia Historical Society as a source is requested.
Rules of the Richmond Woman's Work Exchange [broadside]
This broadside pertains to the Richmond Exchange for Woman’s Work, founded in 1883, part of the Woman’s Exchange movement started in Philadelphia in 1832. Exchanges were popular places for women in hardship to sell goods on consignment without working publicly, a social taboo at the time. Some Exchanges still operate, and while the Richmond Exchange closed in 1955, it launched several female-owned businesses including Sally Bell’s Kitchen, still in business. Its founders—Elizabeth Lee Milton and Sarah Cabell Jones—met through the Richmond Woman’s Exchange. Excerpts: 1. The annual membership fee is $2. This membership will entitle each subscriber to enter the work of three persons for one year.... 10. Articles of personal property, which ladies are compelled by necessity to dispose of, are received under the rules applied to all other consignments. 11. Work is not received from ladies whose circumstances do not make it necessary for them to dispose of their handiwork, except when the proceeds are to be devoted to charitable purposes.
Manuscripts, Call Number Mss1 K2588 a 117-123, Library of the Virginia Museum of History and Culture, Virginia Historical Society
Richmond Exchange for Woman's Work [correspondence and ephemera]
This correspondence and ephemera pertain to the Richmond Exchange for Woman’s Work, founded in 1883, part of the Woman’s Exchange movement started in Philadelphia in 1832. Exchanges were popular places for women in hardship to sell goods on consignment without working publicly, a social taboo at the time. Some Exchanges still operate, and while the Richmond Exchange closed in 1955, it launched several female-owned businesses including Sally Bell’s Kitchen, still in business. Its founders—Elizabeth Lee Milton and Sarah Cabell Jones—met through the Richmond Woman’s Exchange.
Manuscripts, Call Number Mss1 K2588 a 117-123 and Manuscripts, Call Number Mss1 M3855 c 4024, Library of the Virginia Museum of History and Culture, Virginia Historical Society
Richmond Exchange for Woman's Work [card]
Card describing the mission of the Richmond Exchange for Woman's Work. The Exchange for Woman’s Work, founded in 1883, was part of the Woman’s Exchange movement started in Philadelphia in 1832. Exchanges were popular places for women in hardship to sell goods on consignment without working publicly, a social taboo at the time. Some Exchanges still operate, and while the Richmond Exchange closed in 1955, it launched several female-owned businesses including Sally Bell’s Kitchen, still in business. Its founders—Elizabeth Lee Milton and Sarah Cabell Jones—met through the Richmond Woman’s Exchange. Card text: This depot for the exhibition and sale of the handiwork of needy women has always on hand an assortment of dainty crochetted and knitted goods, toilet sets, fancy and plain needle-work and painting, besides delicious home-made biscuit, cake, jellies, pickles, beef-tea, and delicacies for the sick. Strangers in the city may here find suitable souvenirs of their visit, and at the same time assist a deserving class of workers.
Richmond Exchange for Woman's Work members
Members stand outside the Exchange for Woman's Work at 203 East Franklin Street, Richmond, Va.
MSC0037-Photo, The Valentine
Learn more: Sander, K. W. (1998). The Business of charity: The woman's exchange movement, 1832-1900. Urbana: University of Illinois Federation of Woman's Exchanges Richmond Exchange for Woman's Work, Social Welfare History Image Portal
Exchange for Woman's Work. Fourth Annual Report, 1887. [exceprt]
Report by Mrs. W. T. Richardson, recording secretary for the Exchange for Woman's Work. This excerpt (pp. 9 - 14) is taken from the Fourth Annual Report of the Exchange, 1887. Text (excerpt) Annual Report. The Richmond Exchange for Woman’s Work has now completed its fourth year. During the past twelve months, 5,279 articles have been place on sale, representing the handiwork of 400 women, 3,790 of these consignments were sold, realizing the sum of $3,375, which amount, less the commission of ten per cent, was paid to the consignors. Every article deposited for sale, however simple, must be the best of its kind. To reach and adhere to this standard is the persistent aim of the Board of Managers. They are gratified to observe a steady advance in the character and variety of the work offered. The Exchange is thus proving a school p.10 for the education of workers—developing the artistic instinct, correcting defects of design and execution, etc., --while it fosters a spirit of industry, energy and independence, and affords to all, even the aged and the invalid, an opportunity to turn to pecuniary advantage whatever talent they possess, however homely it may be…. We enter upon our fifth year with courage and hope—in any event, resting upon the promise that our work shall be accepted according to what we have, and not according to what we have not. Respectfully submitted, Mrs. W. T. Richardson, Recording Secretary.
MSC0037-AnnualReport, The Valentine
NO COPYRIGHT - NON-COMMERCIAL USE ONLY This Work has been digitized in a public-private partnership. As part of this partnership, the partners have agreed to limit commercial uses of this digital representation of the Work by third parties. You can, without permission, copy, modify, distribute, display, or perform the Item, for non-commercial uses. For any other permissible uses, please review the terms and conditions of the organization that has made the Item available. http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-NC/1.0/
Address by Ethel Baskervill, Richmond Exchange for Woman's Work, January 8, 1932
Transcription: Woman’s Exchange January 8, 1932 The Richmond Exchange for Woman’s Work is the first woman’s shop established in Richmond which has been in continuous operation for almost fifty years. It was established in 1883 to assist ladies who, in 1883, felt their privacy would be violated and their pride tarnished if the public knew they were forced to work for money. Now we know that what a woman can do is her greatest ornament and that she always consults her dignity by doing it. Now we have meetings where Consignors and Board Members discuss every phase of our mutual business. There are among the consignors some of your best friends and mine. They are from the best levels of our citizenship – much respected and self respecting women. Without exception they are women who cannot go out into active business. Most of them have children or invalids at home who cannot do without them, or perhaps their husbands have had bad luck and cannot make ends meet. They show a notable gallantry by throwing their strength into helping their family to be self supporting upstanding citizens. The Exchange is not a charity, - it is a philanthropy. We simply give women a chance to help themselves. As a shop we are obliged to meet tremendous and increasing competition. We try to meet it by defeating it. We try to give honest value, courteous and efficient service and the very best quality in town. In our foods we tolerate no substitute for the best materials. 2 We have lately put on a second delivery and we send to Westhampton and to Ginter Park. We are constantly trying to introduce novelties in all our departments. We have many services which the public does not always realize. We make aspics and desert to order. We mend fine bead bags and wash and darn delicate laces and old lace curtains. We restore antique, painted trays. We print stationery, --just like you get from Peru, Indiana, at the same price, - and more promptly. We take for sale some young woman’s treasured bit of glory, that must be sacrificed because her husband has lost his job, or some frail old lady’s paisley shawl or piece of family silver. The Superintendent gives these facts about some of our present consignors A-says that through her sales she has been able to keep her two boys at school. B-says that her sales of cake and fancy articles enabled her to have her daughter taught the violin which she is now teaching to others. C-says her sales have made it possible for her to take care of an invalid mother and stay at home with her. D-says her sales have given her the means to help to keep her sister at the Blue Ridge Sanitarium. E-could not hold her home together without the Exchange. We have over two hundred consignors. It is not an easy job that we do. We have only a thirty thousand dollar endowment invested in mortgage bonds. p.3 The consignors pay us twenty per cent commission, -which is only about two-thirds of what it costs any shop to do business. We have a small amount from subscriptions and consignors membership tickets. One of our greatest difficulties has been to keep our promise to pay the consignor on the first pay day after her article is sold. This is difficult because some of our patrons are careless about paying their bills. They do not realize that we have no working capital and that their delay is a very serious embarrassment for us, and has often sent us to borrow from the bank where we have to pay interest. We rarely beg, but we do have a constant struggle to make ends meet. If we ever have to shut up our business it will throw about two hundred women out of employment. We do not ask pity, - we only ask that you will try our shop. Give us the chance we are trying to give our consignors. Ethel Baskervill
MSC0037-Baskervill, The Valentine
"You Gotta Believe It" Your One Vote Does Count. [Crusade for Voters pamphlet]
Front and back covers of a four-page pamphlet created by the Crusade for Voters, Richmond, Va. The circular logo on the front cover shows a family of color with an American flag. Surrounding them is the slogan, "Every member of our family is a voter." Other text on the page says, "'You Gotta Believe It' Your One Vote Does Count. In Unity There is Strength." p.4 excerpts The black vote could be vital in many councilmanic elections, congressional elections, and even in the presidential election. If there is one who has not seen the value of the vote, take him by the hand and get him registered. He could be your next door neighbor, your husband, your wife, a member of your church, club, or organization. Wherever you find him, get him registered! By using your votes wisely -- voting for the right people -- impossible doors will be opened. The power of the people is at the Ballot Box -- Vote. At page bottom: Published by the Crusade for Voters -- a non partisan organization in the interest of increasing the Voter Registration and Education.
M 296, Box 2, John Mitchell Brooks collection of NAACP files, 1957-1960, 1978, James Branch Cabell Library, VCU Libraries
Learn more: Controlling the Vote: Rights. Registration. Representation. Social Welfare History Image Portal Hayter, J. M. (2017). The dream is lost. Voting rights and the politics of race in Richmond, Virginia. Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky Moeser, J. V. & Dennis, R. M. (2020). The politics of annexation. Oligarchic power in a southern city. Open Access Edition. Digital publisher: VCU Libraries. Original (1982) edition Cambridge, MA: Schenkman Publishing Company Voter registration, Social Welfare History Image Portal Voting rights, Social Welfare History Image Portal
Constitutionality of the Voting Rights Act of 1965; a response to the Attorney General of the United States...
This booklet was distributed by the Virginia Commission on Constitutional Government (VCCG) in opposition to the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The Commission began in 1958 and existed until the late 1960s. Led by David J. Mays, a prominent lawyer and advisor to Virginia’s commission on the response to the Brown v. Board of Education decision, it advocated nationally for states’ rights and conservatism, and eventually distributed over 2 million published pamphlets, brochures and speeches. The Constitutionality of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 argues against the Voting Rights Act. Robert Y. Button (Virginia’s Attorney General at the time) made a typical VCCG argument in stating that the Act “attempted to erode the basic concepts of constitutional government in which the individual States are acknowledged to be sovereign” and is “patently unconstitutional.” Excerpts: pp. 8-9 "the Supreme Court of the United States has repeatedly declared that a State is free to conduct its elections and limit its electorate as it may deem wise, except as its actions may be affected by the prohibitions of the Federal Constitution, and that the power of Congress to legistlate at all the subject of racial discrimination in voting rests upon the Fifteenth Amendment and extends only to the prevention by appropriate legistlation of the discriminatiion forbidden by that Amendment..." p. 14 "I do believe, however, -- as Mr. Justice Harlan made clear...that the Framers of the Constitution: 'staked their faith that liberty would proper in the new Nation not primarily upon declarations of individual rights but upon the kind of government the Union was to have. And they determined that in a government of divided powers lay the best promise for realizing the free society it was their object to achieve.' (Italics supplied [by Button]. One aspect of this governmental edifice which the Framers sought to erect, and which H. R. 6400 would manifestly subvert, was the distribution of power between the Nation and the States, each supreme within its sphere, thus forming an indestructible Union of indestructible States." Other VCCG publications in the Image Portal
General collection, Call Number JK1861.V82 B8, Library of the Virginia Museum of History and Culture, Virginia Historical Society
Virginia Commission on Constitutional Government
Learn more: Controlling the Vote -- Rights. Registration. Representation. Social Welfare History Image Portal Voting Rights Act of 1965. An Introduction. Social Welfare History Project Hayter, J. M. (2017). The dream is lost. Voting rights and the politics of race in Richmond, Virginia. Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky Moeser, J. V. & Dennis, R. M. (2020). The politics of annexation. Oligarchic power in a southern city. Open Access Edition. Digital publisher: VCU Libraries. Original (1982) edition Cambridge, MA: Schenkman Publishing Company Hershman, J. H. Jr. Massive Resistance. (2011, June 29). Encyclopedia Virginia
SCLC Crusade for the Vote: To Double the Negro Vote in the South [Southern Christian Leadership Conference brochure]
Brochure distributed by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) which describes and promotes the "Crusade for the Ballot. To Double the Negro Vote in the South." The campaign aimed to double the number of registered Black voters in the South and to educate and stimulate these citizens to exercise the vote. Page 3 of the brochure states that this goal will be achieved by educating and stimulating Black citizens to vote. Organizing communities, bipartisanship, and non-violence. SCLC leadership at this time included Martin Luther King, Jr. President, Wyatt Tee Walker, Executive Director, and Atty. I. M. Augustine, General Counsel. The pamphlet is from the National Conference of Christians and Jews, Religious Freedom and Public Affairs Project, and is part of a resource file on discrimination in voting. It discusses voter suppression tactics and lists ways to counter them and increase voter registration and participation. Excerpts: p. 2 THE FACTS (1) Over 5 million Negros of voting age live in the South. (2) Only 25% of adult Negroes vote compared with 60% white adults. (3) Purges of voter lists, "slowdowns" by registrars, opening the registration office only one of two days a month and at hours that are not helpful for working people; and (4) Open intimidation by some plantation bosses and many local officials, all play a part in discouraging the Negro Citizen from becoming a registered voter. As a result, "Government by consent of the governed," upon which our nation was founded in 1776, is a goal still to be made a reality in most of the South today. Most of the present crop of Southern Senators and Congressmen will oppose and fillibuster all legislation designed to protect the voting rights of citizens of this region. YOU CAN CHANGE THIS SITUATION Despite these obstacles Negro citizens are struggling daily to double the number of voters and to obtain representation in government. Even the most die-hard segregationist in public office can be made to respect voting power. Furthermore, we know there are many liberal white citizens in the South who count on the Negro votes to increase enough for liberal voice to be heard in the government. The whole nation will benefit from an enlarged Negro vote in the South. This area of our country CAN elect men and women of good will and a sense of justice to Congress and to local state legislatures. Let all who believe in Freedom and Human Dignity join in this great Crusade for The Ballot Now!! p. 3 In Unity There Is Strength. No narrow partisan interest must be allowed to divide us. In reaching a cross section of the Negro community, the Crusade will move across party lines. It is for the good of the local community that all civic, church, fraternal and other organizations p. 4 "The goal of the Freedom Movement in the South can be summed up in 3 words: All, Here, and Now We want all of our rights as citizens (not just some rights); We want them here, in the Deep South, and We want them now" -Martin Luther King, Jr. When you have finished reading this, please pass it on to a member of the family, a neighbor or a friend. Full transcript and other related items via University of Minnesota Libraries, Social Welfare History Archives.
Southern Christian Leadership Conference
National Conference of Christians and Jews records (SW0092). Special Projects. Religious Freedom and Public Affairs Project. Discrimination in Voting. (Box 18, Folder 19). Social Welfare History Archives, University of Minnesota Libraries.
Social Welfare History Archives, University of Minnesota Libraries
Learn more: Controlling the Vote -- Rights. Registration. Representation. Social Welfare History Image Portal
Literacy and the Right to Vote. CLSA Reports: Information Bulletin, No. 2, May 15, 1962.
This information bulletin is a publication of the Commission on Law and Social Action of the American Jewish Congress. The four-page document, written by CLSA director Leo Pfeffer, discusses the topic of literacy tests and voter registration, particularly as a tool of discrimination against Black and immigrant voting. Pfeffer also considers literacy in languages other than English. This American Jewish Congress bulletin is from the National Conference of Christians and Jews, Religious Freedom and Public Affairs Project and is part of a resource files on discrimination in voting. It discusses the use of literacy tests as a means to prevent voting. Excerpts: p.1 Today, however there is no widespread demand that literacy tests for voters be completely abolished. What is in issue is the use of such tests to discriminate against members of minority ethnic groups. The major victims in the South are the Negroes and in New York Puerto Ricans who are literate only in Spanish and Jews literate only in Yiddish. It is no accident that literacy tests should be so popular in the South. Their origin is to be found in the search by the Southern states to find ways to defeat the objective of the 15th Amendment which sought to secure the Negro's right to vote. Among other (e.g., poll tax, white promaries, etc.) the literacy test was hit upon as such a device. While this did effectively bar the polls to many Negroes, it had the disadvantage from the Southerner's viewpoint of also disenfranchising many whites who likewise were illiterate. To get around this, the "grandfather clause" was invented. This was a provision in the statute which exempted from the requirement of literacy anyone who was a descendant of a person who voted before 1866, in effect meaning any white person. p.2 Typical of the administration of literacy tests in the South is the explanation given by a Louisiana registrar to an investigator of the Civil Right Commission for her practice of asking for constitutional interpretations only from Negro applicants: "Usually, I find that the white people are more intelligent along those lines and I very seldom ask them; but some of the colored people -- I can determine by the way they fill out their card that they are not intelligent in these respects." To meet this problem the Civil Rights Commission unanimously recommended that any state law requirement of literacy as a prerequisite to the right to vote shall be deemed satisfied if the applicant shows that he completed six years of instruction in elementary school. A number of measures along this line have been introduced in Congress. p.3 Southern spokesmen argue that these bills are unconstitutional because they interfere with states rights. They contend that if a Negro is discriminated against his only relief is to sue in the courts. However, both the 14th and 15th Amendments specifically provide that Congress shall have the power to enforce their provisions by appropriate legislation....Enactment by Congress of the proposal recommended by the Civil Rights Commission would show that Congress realizes that it too shares responsibility in the struggle for equality. p. 4 There is a valid reason to deny the right to vote to persons who have not yet reached the age of maturity, or to those whose limited mental capacities render them unable to handle their own affairs. There is no valid reason to deny the ballot to a person who is competent to exercise intelligent judgment in respect to the issues of the day and the candidates for public office simply because he acquired his knowledge in one rather than another language.
Commission on Law and Social Action of the American Jewish Congress
National Conference of Christians and Jews records (SW0092). <a href="https://umedia.lib.umn.edu/item/p16022coll453:11061/p16022coll453:11057?child_index=19&query=&sidebar_page=7" target="_blank" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://umedia.lib.umn.edu/item/p16022coll453:11061?q%3D%2522Voting%2Brights%2522&source=gmail&ust=1596631787427000&usg=AFQjCNE-srMJQt7FYy6BeuKGvSaecsHldQ" rel="noopener" title="University of Minnesota Libraries UMedia digital collections">Special Projects. Religious Freedom and Public Affairs Project. Discrimination in Voting. (Box 18, Folder 19) Social Welfare History Archives, University of Minnesota Libraries
Every Man His Own Law [cover title: In those days there was no king in Israel...]
This booklet was distributed by the Virginia Commission on Constitutional Government (VCCG) . Led by David J. Mays, a prominent lawyer and advisor to Virginia’s commission on the response to the Brown v. Board of Education decision, it advocated nationally for states’ rights and conservatism, and eventually distributed over 2 million published pamphlets, brochures and speeches. This booklet argues against the Voting Rights Act and describes demonstrations as looting and mobbery. Excerpts: EVERY MAN HIS OWN LAW. A commentary by the Virginia Commission on Constitutional Government concerning the unparalleled lawlessness in the streets of the Nation today. The Appendix contains excerpts from the Constitution of the United States; the Virginia Bill of Rights; and excerpts from the Code of Virginia. Specifically covered are several sections of the Code of Virginia dealing with suppression of and punishment for riotous acts. In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes. --JUDGES 21:25 Forward: It seems necessary and appropriate, however, to devote one pamphlet to a protest against the current unparalleled lawlessness that has plagued many of our cities, and which, if continued, would destroy those very liberties which the rioters profess to cherish but seek to gain through lawless acts. p.6 The ballot box is secret and is made accessible to those who have no property qualifications whatsoever and pay no taxes of any kind; and to those who cannot even read the comics. The most ignorant now has the same voice as the philosopher--often much greater because of the weight of minorities in key states in presidential elections. p.8 The American people are long-suffering and will tolerate repeated abuses; but a time comes when they rise in wrath to stamp them out. When they do, no minority group can resiste them, no matter what means it employs. p.9 They are insurrections against government. And it is no longer a matter of race, because some white hoodlums join in the loot, and the property taken and destroyed belongs to Negroes as well as to whites. It is the attack of the lowest of our citizens against any who may have achieved some measure of economic success.... It is to our shame that police officers have been ordered to shoot only in self-defense while mobs run wild, committing every excess. p.10 If they [police] are inadequate to quell insurrection, and if National Guard units may be too thin to put down several mobs at the same time, then we must organize, arm, and train home guard units in all our cities, composed of law-abiding citizens of both races. Mobbery has no place in free America. It must be destroyed. Other VCCG publications in the Image Portal
General collection. Call number K 49 V75 E8. Library of the Virginia Museum of History and Culture, Virginia Historical Society
Learn more: Controlling the Vote -- Rights. Registration. Representation. Social Welfare History Image Portal Voting Rights Act of 1965. An Introduction. Social Welfare History Project Hershman, J. H. Jr. Massive Resistance. (2011, June 29). Encyclopedia Virginia