| B 25 |
Afro-American
Life Insurance Co.,
Jacksonville, Florida |
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The
Afro-American Life Insurance Company, an historic business founded
in 1901, served as the leading financial center of the black community
in Jacksonville during the early 1900's. As such, it was also
part of the rich cultural fabric of black life in Jacksonville
and routinely sponsored charitable and educational activities.
With strong competition from other insurance companies in the
mid-1900's, it began a gradual decline and finally closed in 1990.
Items in the White Collection include programs of events and activities,
newsclippings, photographs, cards, receipt books, booklets, postcard. |
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- Eartha
White worked as a part-time clerk at the Afro-American while
continuing to teach at Bayard and Stanton schools. She is
credited with saving the company's records during Jacksonville's
Fire of 1901, which devastated the downtown area. Dr. Daniel
Schafer, biographer of Eartha White, recounts her actions:
"She saw a drayman go by and stopped him to ask how much he
would charge to carry the company's records to her home. The
price he quoted was reasonable, so Eartha had him take the
company's papers to her home outside the fire zone." (Florida
Times-Union, February 8, 1982). The
image on the left, from the Directory of Fortieth Anniversary
of Afro-American Life Insurance Company (1941, page 6)
attests to her heroic actions.
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- Directory:
Afro-American Life Insurance Company: 1901-1941, Fortieth
Anniversary, Afro-American Life Insurance Co., Jacksonville,
Florida. (Full text from the Florida Heritage Collection)
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- Calendar:
Afro-American Industrial Insurance Co., Jacksonville, Florida,
1916. (Full text
from the Florida Heritage Collection)
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| F 865 |
Bethel
Baptist Institutional Church, Jacksonville, Florida |
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Since
Eartha White was a member of Bethel, the collection is rich in
items relating to the oldest black church in Jacksonville. Bethel
Baptist still stands at 1058 Hogan Street and is noted for being
one of the architecturally distinctive buildings in downtown Jacksonville.
Items in the White Collection include numerous programs from anniversary
celebrations and services, postcards, and rare photographs of
the building, depicting funeral processions and services. |
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- Rare
photograph of Reverend J. Milton Waldron, pastor of Bethel
from 1892-1907. He was instrumental in expanding Bethel's
role in the community and in rebuilding the church after the
Jacksonville fire of 1901.
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- Clara
White also attended Bethel Baptist. This image is a certificate
of donation, dated November 10, 1918, from Clara White in
the amount of ten dollars. (Full text from the Florida Heritage
Collection)
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| R, S |
Clara
White Mission, Jacksonville, Florida |
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The Mission
was formally established in 1928 and named by Eartha White in
memory of her mother, Clara White. In 1932, during the severest
days of the depression, Eartha White recognized the need for
a larger facility to feed, shelter, and counsel the homeless.
With the help of friends, she moved the mission into its present
building on Ashley Street in downtown Jacksonville. Many
notable figures, such as James Weldon Johnson, Booker T. Washington,
Mary McCleod Bethune and Eleanor Roosevelt visited her at the
Mission.
In 1944,
a fire destroyed much of the building, but she raised the funding
to rebuild and enlarge the original structure. In the ensuing
years, the Mission served as a nucleus and often a starting
point for many of her charitable and humanitarian services:
Works Progress Administration office, orphanage, a home for
unwed mothers, and a tuberculosis rest home. Eartha White
lived on the second floor of the mission until her later years.
The Mission,
in addition to its many other social and civic services, is
still noted for being the only non-profit organization serving
daily mid-day meals to the needy in Jacksonville.
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- Photograph
of Eartha White (far right, facing camera, holding groceries)
in front of the Mission. 195?
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- Photograph
of Eartha White presiding over a meeting at the Mission. 195?
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| B 1 |
Community
Chest, Jacksonville, Florida |
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Beginning
in 1926, Eartha White served in various fundraising capacities
for the Community Chest in Jacksonville. The organization was
instrumental in providing services for the homeless and ill. Items
in the White Collection include brochures, photographs
of activities, receipts of donations, newsclippings, and correspondence. |
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- Pamphlet:
Five relief agencies of the Negro Welfare League participate
in the Community Chest: what have you done?: "It's everybody's
job". No date given. (Full text from the Florida
Heritage Collection)
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| Q 1 |
Florida
Baptist Academy / Florida Normal and Industrial Institute |
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Florida
Baptist Academy, the predecessor of the Institute, was founded
at Bethel Baptist Church, Jacksonville, in 1892. The Academy
relocated to St. Augustine in 1918, was renamed the Florida
Normal and Industrial College in 1944, and, finally, in 1950,
added "Memorial" to its title. Eartha White acted as a financial
agent for the College in the 1930's and donated supplies throughout
her lifetime to aid its students. She received an Honorary Degree
of Doctor of Humanities from the Institute in 1936.
Items
in the White Collection include photographs of Founder's Day
celebrations, Class of 1907, Dr. Nathan W. Collier, president;
letters thanking Eartha White for her time and financial support.
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- Photograph
of the 1959 Founder's Day Celebration. Eartha White is standing
in the middle behind the stone.
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- Register
of the Florida Baptist Academy, Jacksonville, Florida, with
catalog of students. 1915-1916. This Register is included
in the Library's Rosa G. Holmes Walker Collection. (Full text
from the Florida Heritage Collection)
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| Y 1 |
Jacksonville,
Florida |
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Items
in the White Collection include photographs of street scenes,
historic buildings and community leaders in Jacksonville, circa
1920 - 1960; newsclippings relating to notable events in Jacksonville;
list of names and addresses of Prominent Black Citizens of
Jacksonville. |
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- Photograph
of a Jacksonville street, circa 1915.
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- Photograph
of a Jacksonville street, circa 1925.
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| D 2 |
Jacksonville
Negro Welfare League, Jacksonville, Florida |
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Eartha
White served on the Board of Directors of the League in the 1930's
and was active in the Milk Fund Committee which served free milk
to elementary school children. Items in the White Collection include:
correspondence; record book; reports; photograph of Directors
of League; list of children receiving aid through the Milk Fund
Committee. |
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- Form
letter from the Milk Fund Committee, soliciting donations
during the depression years.
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- Postcard
advertising the Free Employment Bureau of the League.
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| J 2 |
Jordan,
James Lloyd |
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Jordan
was Eartha White's fiance. He died in May 1896, one month before
his impending marriage to Eartha White. Items in the White
Collection include correspondence from James Jordan from January
1895 - March 9, 1896. |
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- Photograph
of James Lloyd Jordan, 1894
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| O 2 |
Lincoln
Douglass Memorial Association, Jacksonville, Florida |
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Eartha
White was a lifelong member and frequent President of the Lincoln
Douglass Memorial Association in Jacksonville. This program commemorates
the February 12, 1913 Lincoln Douglas Tri-Celebration Ceremony.
Items in the White Collection include programs of Memorial celebrations,
1909, 1913, 1928, 1963; newsclippings relating to activities. |
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- Lincoln-Douglas
Tri-Celebration 1863-1913 brochure, dated February 12, 1913.
(Full text from the Florida Heritage Collection)
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| Q 2 |
McGill,
Simuel Decatur |
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Simuel
McGill was an African-American attorney and contemporary of
Eartha White. He attended Edward Waters College in Jacksonville
and worked as a clerk in the law offices of James Weldon Johnson.
After completing his legal education at Boston University, he
returned to Jacksonville to open a law office. Documentation
from the White Collection shows he also was active in community
affairs: served as Treasurer of the Lincoln Memorial Association
in Jacksonville and spoke at the Association's February 12,
1913 Tri-Celebration.
He is best
known for his defense of four African-American men, who were
sentenced to death after being found guilty of murdering a white
man in Pompano Beach, Florida in 1933. McGill doggedly pursued
a reversal of the guilty verdicts for nine years, on charges
of civil rights violations. After successfully arguing before
the United States Supreme Court in 1940, a new trial was conducted,
a not guilty verdict reached and the men were finally released
from prison in 1942. A photograph from the Collection (see below)
shows McGill, Eartha White, and three of the defendants after
the final trial on March 9, 1942.
Items in
the White Collection include photographs; letter to Eartha White,
June 21, 1919; programs; newsclippings; poem by Robert Hughes
Bennett, The Little Scottsboro Case.
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- Photograph:
S. D. McGill, Charlie Davis, Walter
Woodward, Jack Williamson and Eartha White shown after the
Scottsboro trial. The three men spent seven years on Death
Row for murder. McGill appealed their conviction and obtained
their releases. March 1942. (Image from the Florida Heritage
Collection)
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- Photograph
of Simuel McGill, circa 1913.
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- Photograph
of S. D. McGill in office. No date given.
(Image from the Florida Heritage Collection)
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| Z 2 |
National
Association of Colored Women / State / Local Clubs |
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Eartha
White was active throughout most of her life on national, state
and local levels of the Association. Programs, correspondence
and photographs in the Collection attest to her attendance and
active participation at many national and state conventions
of the Association. In addition, she organized a City Federation
of Women's Clubs, which helped further many of her humanitarian
goals: improvements in the county jail, the first playground
for black youths and sponsor of numerous community celebrations.
Items
in the White Collection include photographs of participants
at national conventions: 1914, 1956; photograph, programs of
State Federation of Colored Women's Clubs; City Federation of
Colored Women's Club; brochures and leaflets; newsclippings;
badges.
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- Program
for Baby Week, March 5 - 11, 1916, organized by the City Federation
of Colored Women's Clubs, Jacksonville. (Miss Eartha M. M.
White, President)
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| B 3 |
Negro
State Business League of Florida |
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Eartha
White was an astute businesswoman. Early in her adult
years,
she established a successful business modus operandi - buying
small operations, improving and building them up and then selling
them at a profit. The latter included: a dry goods store, employment
and house-cleaning bureau, taxi company, and a steam laundry
with the catchy motto: "Put your duds in our suds, we wash anything
but a dirty conscience." The collection contains numerous business
cards from her companies as well as others in Jacksonville.
Her versatility
and determination also enabled her to become a licensed real
estate broker, the first woman employee of the Afro-American
Life Insurance Company in Jacksonville, and a charter member
of the National Negro Business League and Jacksonville Business
League.
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- Program
of the Sixth annual session of the Negro State Business League
of Florida, held in Odd Fellows Hall, Jacksonville, Florida.
July 30-31, 1913. (Full text from the Florida Heritage
Collection)
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| F 3 |
Old
Folks Home, Jacksonville, Florida |
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Eartha
White established a nursing home for elderly African Americans
in Jacksonville in 1902. A major achievement and fulfillment of
a lifelong dream was the dedication of the Eartha M. M. White
Nursing Home in 1967 to replace the Mercy Hospital for the Aged.
To assure its construction, she doggedly pursued and was approved
for a $300,000 loan. |
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- Postcard:
The Old Folks Home, Jacksonville, Florida. No date given.
(Full text from the Florida Heritage Collection)
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- Brochure:
The Old Folks Home, Jacksonville, Florida. No date given.
(Full text from the Florida Heritage Collection)
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| C 4 |
Republican
National Executive Committee (Duval County, Florida Chapter) |
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Eartha
White was active in Duval County Republican political groups.
Congratulatory letters from the Collection attest to her success
as President of the Republican Executive Committee of Duval
County in 1920.
Items in
the White Collection include: Correspondence; minutes of meeting,
November 6, 1920, Duval County Group; newsclippings; list of
registered Republicans, Duval County, Precinct no. 3-A.
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- Letter
from S. D. McGill thanking Eartha White for an address given
at a Duval County Republican Chapter meeting. June 21, 1919.
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| R 4 |
White,
Clara English |
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Clara English
White, born at Amelia Island, Florida in 1845, was the daughter
of two former slaves. She worked as a domestic and married Lafayette
White, also an ex-slave. The Whites adopted Eartha shortly after
she was born to Mollie Chapman. Tragically, Lafayette White
died only five years after Eartha's adoption. Clara White supported
herself and her daughter by working as a maid and later as a
stewardess on steamships cruising the St. Johns River and northeastern
ports.
Items
in the White Collection include photographs; correspondence
from Eartha to her mother, 1896, 1919; booklet of Clara White
quotes.
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- The
endearing and inspirational relationship between Clara White
and her daughter Eartha is well documented in the literature.
A photograph of Clara and Eartha White, with a poem appended.
(date unknown) (Full text from the Florida Heritage Collection)
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| W 4 |
White,
Eartha M. M.--Biographies |
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Souvenir
Program: 75th diamond birthday observance of useful life of
Eartha Mary Magdalene White. Jacksonville, Fla.? : Eartha Mary
Magdalene White Diamond (75th) Birthday Observance Committee
of the Florida State Federation of Colored Women's Clubs, 1951.
(Full text from the Florida Heritage Collection)
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- Click
on image for the full text of the program
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| V 2 |
White,
Eartha M. M.--Military Activities |
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Eartha
White was active during both World Wars in organizing Red Cross
programs and later USO functions at the Mission in Jacksonville.
In World War I she was in charge of the War Camp Community Services,
Southern Division, in Savannah, Georgia. During World War II,
she organized Clara White Mission social activities for local
military personnel and was appointed to the Women's National
Defense Program and the War Camp Community Service Conference.
Items in
the White Collection include photographs of USO functions, Savannah,
Georgia Community Center (World War I); correspondence; newsclippings.
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- Photograph
of Eartha White (upper right corner) hosting military activities
in Savannah. No date given.
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- Photograph
of Eartha White leading a military parade in Jacksonville.
No date given. (Image from the Florida Heritage Collection)
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