Black Women's Club Movement The Phillis Wheatley Association

The Gist of Freedom Preserving American History through Black Literature . . .

Join Sherrie Tolliver as she shares her mother's artifacts and stories from her involvement in The Black Women's Club Movement. Jane Edna Hunter (1882-1971) – Activist With the help of other women and $1,500, Jane Edna Hunter opened the Working Girls Home Association, a boarding home for 10 women on East 40th, north of Central Avenue. The purpose of this voluntary association was to build a safe residence for the homeless, unprotected, newly arriving African American women and working women like herself. The purpose of the Department was to build a national network of Phyllis Wheatley Associations to house self-supporting, self-respecting African American women and girls and provide a meeting place for club women. Hunter acquired a 2-story building and the name changed to the Phillis Wheatley Association, in honor of the late 18th-century Boston slavery survivor considered the first African American poet. The number of residents soon strained the capacity of the 23-room house. By 1919 the association purchased a 3-story building and An adjoining building, The PWA was one of the first institutions designed to meet the needs of African American social services in Cleveland. Hunter wrote an autobiography, “A Nickel and a Prayer,” in 1940.