Group portrait of attendees at the Interracial Conference of Church Women, Eagles Mere, Pa., September 21-22, 1926.
The conference was held by the Commission on the Church and Race Relations of the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America, Inc. (the Federal Council of Churches), the Council of Women for Home Missions, and the National Board of the YWCA.
Mrs. Richard W. Westbrook (Mary L. Westbrook) of Brooklyn, NY, was the conference chairman. She stands in the front row (fifth from right) next to
Charlotte Hawkins Brown, founder of Palmer Memorial Center, who stands in the front row center.
Delegates identified:
First row:
Dr. Sara W. Brown (YWCA), second from left.
Mrs. L. W. Kyles (A.M.E. Zion Church, Winston Salem, NC), third from left.
Charlotte Hawkins Brown (founder Palmer Memorial Center), center.
Mary L. Westbrook (conference chair), fifth from right.
Miss
Eva del Vakia Bowles (YWCA), second from right.
Second row:
Mary Anderson (first director U.S. Women's Bureau) third from left.
Mrs. John Ferguson (Council of Women for Home Missions), fourth from right.
George Edmund Haynes (sociologist, National Urban League), fourth row center.
Third row: Adele Clark (League of Women Voters), left at end.
Top row:
Annetta M. Dieckmann (YWCA, Industrial Dept.), third from left.
The Eagles Mere conference was noteworthy because it brought together white and black women leaders to study the possibilities of larger cooperation. Also of significance, delegates to the conference represented both the North and the South, giving the discussions a nationwide scope (
Federal Council Bulletin, September-October, 1926, p.7).
See all documents related to this conference.