Girls Home, 502 W. Clay Street, Richmond, Va. [brochure]
<p>This informational brochure describes "interesting facts about the object, origin and progress" of a working-girls' home for self-supporting African American women in Richmond, Va. The project, described as a technical training school, was established in 1919 as a project of the National Protective League for Negro Girls and the Richmond Neighborhood Association. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ora_Brown_Stokes_Perry#cite_note-VCU-4" target="_blank" title="Ora Brown Stokes Perry" rel="noreferrer noopener">Ora Brown Stokes</a> (Perry), a social activist, was a leader in both organizations. <br /><br />p.1 "Our Club Home. An 'Inspiration Point' for Self-Supporting Women and Girls for 'These are they that maintain the fabric of the world, and without them is no city builded.'"<br /><br />From p. 2 "The object of the Girls' Home is to provide and maintain a home which will solve the problem of the colored woman and girl of good character who comes to Richmond for the purpose of advancement, often without relatives, friends, or money; to surround them with Christian influences, to elevate the standard of employment, to provide a social center for women and girls."<br /><br />"The Home is managed by a splendid board with Mrs. Artena J. Miller as the efficient chairman. Mrs. Alice Holmes Watkins is the splendid House mother." <br /><br />"Our President, who is the Probation officer for women and girls, investigated the cause for the downfall of so many girls and women who came to the city. The cause was found to be that upon entereing the city they ofttimes found no one to direct them rightly and they were often sent by strangers to questionable places for room and board and the path downward was entered before they even knew it." <br /><br />"It is the only one of its kind which is being carried on by women of the race. The white friends has assisted largely by financial contributions and words of encouragement....Mrs. Ora Brown Stokes, President." <br /><br />The song "The Clarion Call" composed by Ora B. Stokes (September 5, 1915) and dedicated to Pocahontas Camp Fire Girls, Richmond, Va. is printed on the back of this brochure. The song was to be sung to <a href="https://youtu.be/k88PSXys6uc" target="_blank" title="hear the tune" rel="noreferrer noopener">the tune of "Loyalty to Christ"</a> [From Over Hill and Plain] composed by Flora Hamilton Cassel. <br /><br />Along with Ora Brown Stokes (President), other officers of the Richmond Neighborhood Association included Mrs. Harriet E. Thompson, Mrs. Maggie M. Hill, Mrs. Rosa Sutton Caffee, Miss Lucy, A. Peters, Mrs. Alice H. Kersey, Mrs. T. Everett Johnson. <br /><br />Officers of the National Protective League for Negro Girls include Mrs. Ora Brown Stokes (Richmond), Mrs. W. T. B. Williams (Hampton), Miss Lillian Coleman (Fredericksburg), Miss Martha Fowlkes (Richmond), Miss Ruth Morris (Richmond), and Mrs. Theresa J. Diamond (Fredericksburg). <br /><br />This home is sometimes referred to as the Home for Working Girls. </p>
Perry, Ora Brown Stokes
M 9 Box 37, <a href="http://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaxtf/view?docId=oai/vcu/repositories/5/resources/279.oai_ead.xml" target="_blank" title="finding aid" rel="noreferrer noopener">Adèle Goodman Clark papers, 1849-1978</a>, James Branch Cabell Library, VCU Libraries
Special Collections and Archives, James Branch Cabell Library, VCU Libraries
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Learn more: <br /><br /><span>Bonis, Ray (2019). <a href="https://www.lva.virginia.gov/public/dvb/bio.asp?b=Stokes_Ora_Brown">Ora E. Brown Stokes (1882–1957)</a>. In </span><i><span>Dictionary of Virginia Biography</span></i><span>.<br /></span>Lehman, Angela (2023). <a href="https://socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/social-work/ora-brown-stokes-and-the-richmond-neighborhood-association/">Ora Brown Stokes and the Richmond Neighborhood Association,</a> Social Welfare History Project<br /><a href="https://gallery.library.vcu.edu/exhibits/show/making-vcu/early-social-work-history" target="_blank" title="Early social work history at Virginia Commonwealth University" rel="noreferrer noopener">Early social work history</a>, Making VCU, VCU Libraries Gallery<br /><a href="https://images.socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/items/browse?tags=Ora+Brown+Stokes" target="_blank" title="materials related to Ora Brown Stokes" rel="noreferrer noopener">Ora Brown Stokes</a>, Social Welfare History Image Portal
Letter, Ora Brown Stokes to Adèle Goodman Clark, June 1, 1922 regarding fundraising for National Federation of Colored Women's Clubs
Letterhead: Commission on Inter-Racial Co-operation, Atlanta, Ga.<br /><br />210 W. Leigh St.<br />Richmond Va.<br /> June 1st 1922<br /><br />Dear Miss Clark:<br /><br />The National Federation of Colored Women's Clubs will meet in this city during the first week in August and I am asked to raise$50.00 towards the $1500 that the local committee must raise to meet the demands that will be required of us. <br /><br />I am writing to 25 of our white friends asking them to help me raise my $50.00. As Chairman of the local committee I am anxious to get the required amount. <br /><br />Won't you please help us and help me to make my report? <br /><br />Very truly yours,<br />Ora Brown Stokes<br /><br />-----<br />The NACWC biennial meeting was held at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Richmond, Va., August 6 - 11, 1922. <br /><br /><a href="https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84025841/1922-08-05/ed-1/seq-4/">Ida B. Wells Barnett</a>, the prominent journalist and civil rights activist, traveled from Chicago with her daughter Alfreda to attend. Speakers included Hallie J. Brown, Mary Church Terrell, Margaret Murray Washington (Mrs. Booker T. Washington), Mary Bethune, and others.
Stokes, Ora Brown
M 9 Box 81, <a href="http://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaxtf/view?docId=oai/vcu/repositories/5/resources/279.oai_ead.xml" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Adèle Goodman Clark papers, 1849-1978</a>, James Branch Cabell Library, VCU Libraries
1922 June 1
Special Collections and Archives, James Branch Cabell Library, VCU Libraries
This item is in the public domain. Acknowledgement of the Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries as a source is requested.
Learn more: <br /><br /><a href="https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn84025841/1922-07-29/ed-1/seq-1/" target="_blank" title="Newspaper article" rel="noreferrer noopener">Great Women's Convention Here</a>. <em>Richmond Planet, </em>1922, July 29. <br /><br />Bonis, R. (2019). <a href="https://www.lva.virginia.gov/public/dvb/bio.php?b=Stokes_Ora_Brown" target="_blank" title="Ora E. Brown Stokes" rel="noreferrer noopener">Ora E. Brown Stokes (1882–1957)</a>, <em>Dictionary of Virginia Biography</em>. <br /><br /><a href="https://images.socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/items/browse?tags=Ora+Brown+Stokes" target="_blank" title="other materials related to Stokes" rel="noreferrer noopener">Ora Brown Stokes</a>, Social Welfare History Image Portal
Virginia Commission on Interracial Cooperation. Officers, Executive Committee, and Members
List of members and the organizations they represented in the Virginia Commission on Interracial Cooperation. Dr. R.E. Blackwell was the Virginia Chairman of this group. <br /><br />The parent organization, the <a href="https://images.socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/items/browse?tags=Commission+on+Interracial+Cooperation" target="_blank" title="materials related to the CIC" rel="noreferrer noopener">Commission on Interracial Cooperation</a> (CIC), was based in Atlanta, Ga. Founded in 1919 by progressive Southern whites, the CIC sought to improve race relations with an anti-lynching campaign, and by educating the public about issues affecting blacks such as peonage, police brutality, and disparities in educational and health services. The group published a newsletter, <em><a href="https://images.socialwelfare.library.vcu.edu/items/browse?collection=10" target="_blank" title="issues of The Southern Frontier" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Southern Frontier</a>. <br /><br /><br /></em>
Virginia Commission on Interracial Cooperation
M 9 Box 81, <a href="http://ead.lib.virginia.edu/vivaxtf/view?docId=oai/vcu/repositories/5/resources/279.oai_ead.xml" target="_blank" title="finding aid" rel="noreferrer noopener">Adèle Goodman Clark papers, 1849-1978</a>, Special Collections and Archives, James Branch Cabell Library, VCU Libraries
Special Collections and Archives, James Branch Cabell Library, VCU Libraries
COPYRIGHT UNDETERMINED<br /><br />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. <br /><br /><a href="http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/">http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/UND/1.0/</a>