HALLIEQUINNBROWN,MARYMCLEODBETHUNE,
FLORIDARUFFINRIDLEY, and CARRIEWILLIAMS
CLIFFORD. Brown, a WILBERFORCE UNIVERSITY
professor, TUSKEGEEINSTITUTEdean, and an active
clubwoman, became NACW president in 1920.
She published important feminist social histories
during the Harlem Renaissance, including OUR
WOMEN:PAST,PRESENT, ANDFUTURE(1925) and
HOMESPUN HEROINES AND OTHERWOMEN OF
DISTINCTION(1926). The enterprising writer and
activist Carrie Williams Clifford founded the Ohio
Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs in 1901. Like
the NACW, Clifford’s organization promoted suf-
frage and worked to improve women’s lives. She
later moved to Washington, D.C., where she devel-
oped professional friendships with Mary Church
Terrell and other Harlem Renaissance figures such
as W. E. B. DUBOIS,GEORGIADOUGLASJOHNSON,
and ALAINLOCKE.FLORIDARUFFINRIDLEY, daugh-
ter of well-known BOSTONclubwoman Josephine
St. Pierre Ruffin, was part of the SATURDAY
EVENINGQUILLCLUB, Boston’s most active Harlem
Renaissance African-American literary society.
The organization continues to work on behalf
of women of color.
Bibliography
Davis, Elizabeth. Lifting As They Climb.New York: G. K.
Hall, 1996.
Jones, Beverly Washington. Quest for Equality: The Life
and Writings of Mary Eliza Church Terrell, 1863–1954.
Brooklyn, N.Y.: Carlson Publishers, 1990.
Terrell, Mary Church. A Colored Woman in a White
World.New York: G. K. Hall, 1996.
National Colored Players
A short-lived theater group established in NEW
YORK CITY in September 1929. The group’s
founder, Ida Anderson, was an experienced film
actress who had worked with the pioneering film-
maker Oscar Micheaux and had starred in early
African-American silent films such as Micheaux’s
Son of Satan(1924). Anderson hoped that the
troupe would flourish and provide audiences with
sobering and polished dramatic performances. Un-
fortunately, the company, which was housed in the
West End Theatre at the intersection of St.
Nicholas Avenue and 125th Street, dissolved after
only three fall 1929 productions. The plays that
the National Colored Players produced were Sev-
enth Heaven, Crime,and The Gorilla.The INTER-
STATETATTLERprovided supportive reviews of the
three weeklong productions.Bibliography
Bowser, Pearl, and Louise Spence. Writing Himself into
History: Oscar Micheaux, His Silent Films, and His
Audiences.New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University
Press, 2000.
Green, J. Ronald. Straight Lick: The Cinema of Oscar
Micheaux.Bloomington: Indiana University Press,
2000.National Council of Negro Women
An organization founded in December 1935 by
MARYMCLEODBETHUNE, a pioneering educator
and influential political figure. The key meetings in
which influential women of color debated the
focus and purpose of the organization were held in
NEWYORKCITYat the 137th Street branch of the
YOUNG WOMEN’S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATION.
Bethune’s goal was to establish a cohesive parent
organization for the diverse numbers of African-
American women’s professional, religious, and so-
cial societies.
The National Council of Negro Women
(NCNW) existed for nearly six decades. There
were four presidents during its 57 years: Mary
McLeod Bethune, Dorothy Bolden Ferebee, Vivian
Carter Mason, and Dorothy Height.
In addition to providing vital networks among
numerous women’s societies and organizations, the
NCNW pursued public and political issues that af-
fected all Americans. The organization worked
with the leading race organizations such as the
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCE-
MENT OFCOLOREDPEOPLEand the NATIONAL
URBANLEAGUE. It also collaborated with other
national women’s groups such as the YWCA, the
League of Women Voters, the National Council of
Jewish Women, and the National Council of
Catholic Women. The NCNW also made alliances
with labor unions and successfully documented
employment statistics and workplace discrimina-
tion. The tireless efforts of the NCNW resulted in
significant gains in civil rights such as the admis-364 National Colored Players