This Raines & Cox photograph of the Book and Garden Club appears to have been taken in the mid-to-late 1960s. The setting is the home of Dr. Frank N. and Suzie J. Sullivan on Faison Street. Though the photo itself falls outside the period of focus of Black Wide-Awake, it captures several women who came to prominence in Wilson’s African-American middle class in the first half of the 20th century.
Seated:
- Johnnie Kornegay Boatwright (1903-1984), teacher.
- Eliza Whitfield
- Rebecca K. Thomas
First row standing:
- Doretha Farmer
- Willie Hargrove Smith
- Suzie Jean Chavis Sullivan (1932-2016), teacher.
- Ann Cowan
- Anna Burgess Johnson (1885-1983), teacher.
- Ximena Pitt Martinez (1896-1973), teacher.
- Norma Duncan Darden (1895-1987), teacher.
- Willie Mae Hendley Freeman (1888-1971), teacher.
Second row standing:
- Doris Gaston Rosemond (1924-2007), librarian.
- Mary Howard Gaston McPhail (1899-1985), teacher.
- Bertha Bryant Hawkins Carroll (1915-2017), businesswoman.
- Mary Diggs
- Flossie Howard Barnes (1905-1993).
- Lelia Yancy
- Ethel Cornwell Hines (1894-1983).
Many thanks to John Teel for sharing this image from the Raines & Cox collection of photographs at the North Carolina State Archives. It is catalogued as PhC_196_CW_PHB_7611_Book&GardenClub.
