Phyllis Wheatley Branches of the YWCA
In 1911 a small group of women met in Richmond and formed the Phyllis Wheatley branch of the YWCA, a group that was to become an integral part of the lives of many African-American youth. Phyllis Wheatley branches formed in Richmond and other communities like Indianapolis, St. Louis, Knoxville, and Asheville during the early part of the 20th century and served as social havens for young black women in a growing industrial world.
The officers of the newly formed Phyllis Wheatley branch rented a basement room at 100 East Leigh Street. There they remained until December 1915 until moving to a more spacious house at 740 North Fifth Street. Here the first group work activities were started: Bible classes, crocheting, embroidering, and the Sunshine Group, a forerunner of the Girl Reserves. (Under a new charge put in place in 1929 by the national YWCA, Girl Reserves clubs were required to work "with the teen-age girl, irrespective of creed or race."). By 1921 Girl Reserve clubs had an enrollment of 226 members, 16 employed girls, and short-time classes in music, cooking, home nursing, millinery, tailoring, current news events, and the Bible.
The Phyllis Wheatley building also had been host to a number of community service projects through the years. At 740 North Fifth Street the first local African-American nursery school was founded. Following World War II, African-American soldiers came to the branch for parties and housing advice.
We are fortunate to have the papers of the local YWCA at VCU Libraries, including the records of the Phyllis Wheatley branch. Among the records are interesting, sometimes forgotten information like the program from the Thirtieth Annual Conference of the N.A.A.C.P. From 27 June - 2 July 1939, this national event was held in Richmond at the Fifth Street Baptist Church and the Landmark Theater, then known as the "Mosque." The Phyllis Wheatley branch of the YWCA served as hosts for the Youth Conference. Among the featured panel speakers was Thurgood Marshall, who addressed on separate occasions "How to Attack State, County, and Local Discrimination in Education" and "Methods of Combating Police Brutality."
On the final day of the conference, Eleanor Roosevelt gave the keynote address at the "Mosque" and awarded the Spingarn Medal to Miss Marian Anderson. Conveying this award held deep meaning for Roosevelt. Earlier in 1939, the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) refused to allow Anderson to sing to an integrated audience in Constitution Hall because of her race. The District of Columbia, then under the control of the Congress and President Franklin D. Roosevelt, also banned her for the same reason from using the auditorium of a white public high school. As a result of the furor which followed, thousands of DAR members, including Eleanor Roosevelt, resigned. In answer to the protests, the United States Department of the Interior, with active encouragement from the First Lady, scheduled a concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on April 9, 1939. The Easter Sunday program drew a crowd of 75,000 people and millions of radio listeners. Given two months after the concert, this gesture from Mrs. Roosevelt at the 1939 N.A.A.C.P. Conference in Richmond might be perceived as another calculated response to her husband in what had become widely disparate opinions on social issues.
 Program from the 30th Annual Conference of the NAACP, Richmond, 1939 Larger Image |  Program from the 30th Annual Conference of the NAACP, Richmond, 1939 Larger Image |
 YWCA Phyllis Wheatley Branch, Fulton "Y" Club during a drama presentation of a séance Larger Image |
 YWCA house Larger Image |
