Subject: African American women artists - Philadelphia Area Archives Search Results

Start Over Subject African American women artists

Extent:: 1.0 linear feet (; 2 boxes, 1 volume, 2 flat files)
Abstract:: Nellie Rathbone Bright, born in Savannah, Georgia, in 1898, was the only child of the Rev. Richard Bright and his wife, Nellie (Jones) Bright. Despite segregation barriers, the African American Bright family attained educational levels surpassing those of the general population of their generation. Rev. Bright, assigned to the Episcopal diocese in Savannah, Georgia, in 1891, was appointed two decades later to a Philadelphia parish and moved his family to that city. A student of Philadelphia public schools, Nellie Rathbone Bright qualified as a grade school teacher with a special certificate for sewing in 1916. She then entered the University of Pennsylvania, graduating in 1923 with a B.A. in English. Single all her life, Bright spent her entire career as a teacher and then principal in the Philadelphia school system. Her efforts as an educator, spanning more than thirty years, focused not only on the schools but also on the housing and neighborhoods in which her students lived. In...(see more)

Held at: Historical Society of Pennsylvania [Contact Us]

Extent:: 17.0 linear feet
Abstract:: Anna Russell Jones (1902-1995) was the first African American woman from Philadelphia to join the Armed Forces during World War II and the first African American graduate of the Philadelphia School of Design for Women (now Moore College of Art and Design). She was a talented artist who worked as a wallpaper and carpet designer, civil service illustrator, and freelance artist. Her life evidenced her interest in African American history and civil rights, commitment to public service, and fascination with medical practice. The Anna Russell Jones papers, 1892-1989, primarily document her time in the military and as a civil service illustrator through scrapbooks, photographs, illustrations, sketches, and related correspondence and personnel records. There are also materials relating to her art education and some family papers, as well as correspondence, artworks, and documents from later in Jones' life.

Held at: African American Museum in Philadelphia [Contact Us]

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