White Rose Mission: A Home for the Black Working Girl
Ladi’Sasha Jones
The White Rose Mission was a settlement house founded and operated by Black women in New York City from 1897 to 1984. Initiated by writer Victoria Earle Matthews, the residential program was designed for single migrant workers and travelers relocating to or passing through the city alone. The 1918 pamphlet on display provides insight into the house's dormitory-style layout and features photographs of two interior rooms. More than a domestic project, the White Rose Mission was designed to transform its residents, including their social networks, economic opportunities, and most importantly, their racial politics. Weekly cultural programs filled the parlor floor with performances, lectures, book clubs, art exhibits and more. The oral history narrative reproduced here explains how it was a significant social housing model for Black working laborers in the twentieth century. The settlement house emerged as a critical spatial type for Black American feminist building practices. Similar homes for single laborers and migrants were established in cities across the United States by Black women activists after the Reconstruction period.
[Print reproductions]
Mary Kendall Hyde and White Rose Mission and Industrial Association, “White Rose Home: Its Work and Need,” c 1900-1909, pamphlet. Source: Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, The New York Public Library
White Rose Mission and Industrial Association, “White Rose Industrial Association Working Girls' Home,” 1918, pamphlet. Source: Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, The New York Public Library
Lassalle Best, “History of the White Rose Mission and Industrial Association,” 1936-1941, essay. Source: Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, The New York Public Library
Hubert H. Harrison, “Women of the White Rose Home, with Frances Reynolds Keyser in the center,” July 1909, photograph. Source: Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University Library
Percy Loomis Sperr, “West 136th Street, east from but not including Eighth Ave,” June 24, 1934, photograph. Source: Irma and Paul Milstein Division of United States History, Local History and Genealogy, The New York Public Library
Missão White Rose: um lar para a jovem trabalhadora negra solteira
Ladi’Sasha Jones
A White Rose Mission foi uma casa de acolhimento (settlement house) fundada e administrada por mulheres negras em Nova York entre 1897 e 1984. Iniciada pela escritora Victoria Earle Matthews, o programa foi concebido para abrigar trabalhadoras negras solteiras, migrantes ou viajantes, que chegavam na cidade sozinhas. Mais do que um projeto doméstico, a White Rose Mission foi pensada para transformar suas residentes, incluindo suas redes sociais, suas oportunidades econômicas e, sobretudo, as políticas raciais. Programas culturais semanais ocupavam o salão principal com apresentações, palestras, clubes de leitura, exposições de arte e outras atividades. O panfleto de 1918 aqui apresentado oferece uma visão da organização do espaço em estilo dormitório e inclui fotografias de dois ambientes internos. A narrativa de história oral aqui reproduzida explica como essa instituição tornou-se um modelo de habitação social para trabalhadoras negras nos Estados Unidos ao longo do século XX, quando a casa de acolhimento emergiu como tipologia fundamental para práticas arquitetônicas feministas negras. Após o período da Reconstrução, casas semelhantes para trabalhadoras solteiras e migrantes foram estabelecidas em diversas cidades do país por ativistas negras.
[Reproduções impressas]
Mary Kendall Hyde e White Rose Mission and Industrial Association, “White Rose Home: Its Work and Need”, c. 1900–1909. Fonte: The New York Public Library.
White Rose Mission and Industrial Association, “White Rose Industrial Association Working Girls’ Home”. Fonte: The New York Public Library.
Lassalle Best, “History of the White Rose Mission and Industrial Association”, 1936–1941, ensaio. Fonte: The New York Public Library.
Hubert H. Harrison, “Women of the White Rose Home, with Frances Reynolds Keyser in the center”, jul 1909, fotografia. Fonte: Columbia University Library.
Percy Loomis Sperr, “West 136th Street, east from but not including Eighth Ave”, 24 de junho de 1934, fotografia. Fonte: The New York Public Library.