[African Americana]. [North Carolina]. Hawkins, Charlotte E

[Typed Fundraising Letter with a Description of the Palmer Memorial Institute Sent by Its Esteemed Founder to a Cambridge-Area Donor]

Cambridge, Ma. [ca. September 11, 1909]. [1]p., on Alice Freeman Palmer Memorial Settlement letterhead, with original transmittal envelope. Original mailing folds, minor toning. Very good. Item #3097

A fundraising form letter sent by Charlotte E. Hawkins, later Charlotte Hawkins Brown, informing the recipient of the progress of her school and ostensibly soliciting donations for its continued support. Hawkins writes to Mrs. George Rolfe of Cambridge, but the letter was forwarded to Mrs. Rolfe on Martha's Vineyard. The letterhead includes the officers of the school, the Advisory Board, and the three courses of study available to students - Agriculture, Manual Training, and Domestic Science. In the present letter, aimed specifically at benefactors in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Hawkins describes the school, its student body of 125 students, and offers her plans for future work needed at the school.

A native of Henderson, North Carolina, Charlotte Hawkins Brown (1883-1961) was raised in Cambridge, where she met Alice Freeman Palmer by chance. The two struck up a friendship, with Mrs. Palmer encouraging Hawkins to attend the state normal school in Salem, for which Mrs. Palmer paid the tuition. After graduation, Palmer spurred Hawkins to return to North Carolina to educate other young African American men and women. Inspired by her own education, Hawkins did just that - moving to the Greensboro area and establishing her own school in Sedalia in 1902 (at the tender age of nineteen). The Palmer Memorial Institute eventually earned a national reputation as a boarding preparatory school for African Americans, providing educational opportunities for Black youth until the 1970s. Hawkins also wrote an influential guide on etiquette under her married name titled, The Correct Thing to Do to Say to Wear.

Price: $450.00