Alice Wiley Seay

Last updated • 2 min readFrom Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia
Alicey Wiley Seay in 1905. Alice Wiley Seay.png
Alicey Wiley Seay in 1905.

Alice W. Wiley Seay (1858 – November 1937) was an American social worker and founder of the Empire State Federation of Women's Clubs. She was also involved in charity work through the Dorcas Society and women's clubs. She held leadership roles in many of these organizations.

Contents

Biography

Seay was born in Giles, Virginia in 1858 and was most likely born into slavery. [1] By 1880, Seay was no longer living in her family home and in June 1886, she married Pleasant Wiley. [1] She and her husband moved to Brooklyn sometime after their marriage. [1] Seay worked as a dressmaker and she and her husband had several tenants living in their home. [1]

Seay became involved in clubs and raising money for the needy while she lived in Brooklyn. She began to do charity work through the Dorcas Home Missionary Society. [1] Seay was president of the Dorcas Society in Brooklyn beginning in the late 1880s. [2] In 1903, she became the vice president of the Northeastern Federation of Colored Women's Clubs (NFCWC), and in 1905, she was elected president of that group. [3] [4] [5] In 1908, Seay founded the Empire State Federation of Women's Clubs (ESFWC). [6] ESFWC was an affiliate of NFCWC and was involved in improving the lives of women and girls and also raising funds for the care of Harriet Tubman. [6]

Seay's husband died in 1906 and Seay moved back to Virginia briefly. [1] In 1910, Seay married James Alfred Seay. [1] She moved back to Brooklyn for a few years where she again led the Dorcas society in Brooklyn. [7] She also served on the board for the Mothers Day Nursery at the Lincoln Settlement. [8] [9]

Seay was involved in the temperance movement, dedicating a conference on the topic for the third annual meeting of the ESFWC. [10] She was also a member of the Order of Tents and the Equal Suffrage League of Brooklyn. [11] [12]

In 1915 she was recorded as the chairman of the membership committee for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. [13]

Seay returned to Virginia in 1916 where she was employed as a social worker and where her husband, James, had a farm. [7] [14] James died in 1932. [7] Five years later, Seay died in Mattoax, Virginia in November 1937. [15] She was buried at the Flower Hill Baptist Church in Giles, next to James. [7] In February 1938, a memorial service for Seay was performed at the Concord Baptist Church. [15] The service drew over 300 attendees. [15]

Related Research Articles

First Lady is a 1935 play written by Katharine Dayton and George S. Kaufman. It is a three-act comedy, with three settings and a large cast. There are four scenes, which occur at monthly intervals starting with the December prior to a presidential election year. The story concerns a Washington, D.C. socialite who almost lets her rivalry with another social maven impede her husband's political future. The title is a play on the usual term accorded to a President's wife, suggesting it really belongs to the leading society hostess in the capitol.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rosalie Slaughter Morton</span> American physician

Rosalie Slaughter Morton was an American physician, surgeon, and author. In addition to running her own medical practices, she became the first woman appointed as Attending Surgeon at the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University in 1916, and became the first chairperson of the American Women's Hospitals Service the following year. Morton served as a medic during the First World War, and was the first chair of the Public Health Education Committee. She was also one of the first women to join the faculty, and to later become a professor, at the Polyclinic Hospital of New York.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northeastern Federation of Colored Women's Clubs</span>

The Northeastern Federation of Colored Women's Clubs (NFCWC) is an umbrella organization representing black women's clubs in the northeastern United States. The organization was affiliated with the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs (NACWC). It was the first umbrella organization for black women's clubs in the United States, predating the NACWC by a month. The motto of the club is "For God and Humanity".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mabel Conkling</span> American sculptor

Mabel Harris Conkling was an American sculptor, and president of the National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors from 1926 to 1928.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elizabeth Stumm</span> American teacher and journalist

Elizabeth Stumm better known by her pen name Mrs. C. C. Stumm (1857-?) was an African-American teacher and journalist. As her husband was involved in missionary service, the couple moved often, but Stumm was able to work as a writer and teacher. She wrote for many newspapers and journals in the black press and was noted by numerous compilers of her day as an influential and effective journalist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Georgia Mabel DeBaptiste</span> American journalist and teacher (1867–1957)

Georgia Mabel DeBaptiste was an African-American journalist, teacher and social worker from Chicago. After completing her education, she taught at various notable black schools before becoming the first woman of African descent to be employed at the Chicago Post Office.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roberta Dunbar</span> American clubwoman and peace activist

Roberta Johnson Dunbar was an American clubwoman and peace activist based in Rhode Island. Her first name is sometimes written "Reberta" in sources.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Florence Spencer Duryea</span> Philanthropist and clubwoman

Florence Spencer Duryea was an American philanthropist and clubwoman, national secretary of Women's Organizations for Near East Relief, based in New York City.

The Empire State Federation of Women's Clubs (ESFWC) was founded in 1908 and is an umbrella organization for African-American women's groups in New York. The organization worked to help improve the lives of young women and helped care for Harriet Tubman until her death in 1913. The organization was affiliated with the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs, and worked with the NAACP.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Irene Moorman Blackstone</span>

Irene Moorman Blackstone was an African-American businesswoman and club member who became active in the fight for women's suffrage. Along with Alva Belmont, she initiated the interracial cooperation of women in the drive for enfranchisement. When the 19th Amendment passed, she turned her activism toward the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA) and other programs which worked to uplift the black community and prevent the exclusion of and discrimination against blacks in attaining socio-economic and political equality.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emma S. Ransom</span> Religious worker, clubwoman, civil rights activist

Emma S. Connor Ransom was an American educator and clubwoman, active in the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME) and the YWCA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caroline Fraser Manice</span> American golfer

Caroline Fraser Manice was an American golfer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pauline Arnoux MacArthur</span>

Pauline Arnoux MacArthur was an American clubwoman, writer, pianist and librettist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Violette Mège</span> Algerian artist

Violette Clarisse Mège was an Algerian-born French artist, and teacher and wife of artist Michael Baxte.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ellen Eddy Shaw</span> American writer

Ellen Eddy Shaw was an American writer, editor, and teacher on gardening and farming. From 1913 to 1945, she was Curator of Elementary Instruction at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Virginia Norden</span> American actress

Virginia Norden, born Violet Alice Dalton, was an American actress on stage and in silent films.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Julia E. B. Brick</span> American philanthropist

Julia Elma Brewster Brick was an American philanthropist. In 1895, she donated land and funds for the creation of the Joseph Keasbey Brick Agricultural, Industrial and Normal School in North Carolina, which served Black students from 1895 to 1933.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dorcas Brigham</span> American botanist

Dorcas Brigham was an American botanist, horticulturist, and farmer.

Bertha Lee Turner (1867–1938) was an American caterer, cookbook author, and community leader in Pasadena, California, in the early 1900s. She is most famous for compiling The Federation Cookbook: A Collection of Tested Recipes Compiled by the Colored Women of the State of California.

Maud Wilder Goodwin was an American writer of historical fiction, biographies, and popular histories.

References

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Saddlemire 2018, p. 1.
  2. "Honor Mrs. Alice W. Wiley". The New York Age. 1905-12-14. p. 3. Retrieved 2019-02-06 via Newspapers.com.
  3. "Negro Women Thank Roosevelt". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 1903-08-14. p. 1. Retrieved 2019-02-06 via Newspapers.com.
  4. "Women's Clubs at Boston". The New York Age. 1905-08-17. p. 3. Retrieved 2019-02-06 via Newspapers.com.
  5. "Brooklyn Woman Elected". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 1905-08-12. p. 18. Retrieved 2019-02-06 via Newspapers.com.
  6. 1 2 Williams, Lillian S.; Gregory, Amybeth; Kruczek-Aaron, Hadley (2005). "African Americans". In Eisenstadt, Peter R. (ed.). The Encyclopedia of New York State. Syracuse, New York: Syracuse University Press. p. 22. ISBN   9780815608080.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Saddlemire 2018, p. 2.
  8. "Afro-American Notes". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 1911-11-27. p. 5. Retrieved 2019-02-12 via Newspapers.com.
  9. "Afro-American Notes". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 1911-02-17. p. 10. Retrieved 2019-02-12 via Newspapers.com.
  10. "Empire State Federation". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 7 July 1911. Retrieved 5 February 2019 via Newspapers.com.
  11. Brown, Hattie W. (1937-11-20). "Society Scenario". The New York Age. p. 7. Retrieved 2019-02-13 via Newspapers.com.
  12. Goodier, Susan; Pastorello, Karen (8 November 2017). "A Fundamental Component: Black Women and Right to Vote". The Gotham Center for New York History. Retrieved 2019-02-13.
  13. The Crisis: A record of the darker races. Vol. 9. New York: National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. April 1915. p.  308 . Retrieved 2 March 2020.
  14. "News of Greater New York". The New York Age. 1916-12-28. p. 8. Retrieved 2019-02-13 via Newspapers.com.
  15. 1 2 3 "Alice Wiley Seay's Memory Honored". The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. 1938-02-28. p. 12. Retrieved 2019-02-13 via Newspapers.com.

Sources