Hester C. Jeffrey

Hester C. Jeffrey, née Whitehurst (c. 1842 – January 2, 1934, also known as Jeffreys or Jeffries,[1] or Mrs. R. Jerome Jeffrey, after her husband)[2] was an African-American activist, suffragist, and community organizer in New York City. She is known for her involvement with the Political Equality Club, the Women's Christian Temperance Union, and the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs.

Hester C. Jeffrey
Born
Hester C. Whitehurst

c. 1842
Norfolk, Virginia
DiedJanuary 2, 1934(1934-01-02) (aged 91–92)
Resting placeEverett, Massachusetts
NationalityAmerican
OccupationSuffragist, Political Activist
Spouse(s)
R. Jerome Jeffrey
​
(m. 1865)​

Biography

Jeffrey was born to free black parents, Robert and Martha Whitehurst, circa 1842 and probably in Norfolk, Virginia.[3] She was educated, and was considered an accomplished musician.[4] In 1860, Jeffrey and her brother and sister moved to Boston where they lived with her uncle, Coffin Pitts.[3] She married R. Jerome Jeffrey in 1865.[3] Her husband's father, the Reverend Roswell Jeffrey, was a political activist in Rochester.[3] Jeffrey eventually moved to Rochester in 1891.[1]

In Rochester, she became involved in the Political Equality Club and the Women's Christian Temperance Union (WCTU),[1] She later became a national organizer for the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs (NACWC).[4] She served at various times as the National Organizer of Colored Women's Clubs, New York State President of the Federation of Colored Women's Clubs, County Superintendent of the WCTU, Secretary of the Third Ward WCTU, and Section President of the Needlework Guild of America.[2]

Jeffrey helped create clubs for African-American women, including the Susan B. Anthony Club for black women.[1] This club worked towards women's suffrage and created a Mothers' Council, to help women with small children.[3] Other clubs she created were the Climbers and the Hester C. Jeffrey Club for young black women.[1] The Hester C. Jeffrey Club helped raise money for young black women to take classes at what later became the Rochester Institute of Technology.[1]

She served on the Douglass Monument Committee,[5] which raised funds and commissioned the first monument to an African-American in 1897, a statue of Frederick Douglass, in his hometown of Rochester, New York.[6] She was chosen to direct the music at its unveiling,[7] as well as at the memorial service prior to it that would have included the unveiling, were the statue not delayed.[8]

Jeffrey was friends with Susan B. Anthony and was often seen at Anthony's home in Rochester.[4] Jeffrey was the only layperson to give a eulogy at Anthony's funeral service held in 1906.[4] She had also been selected to represent on "behalf of the negro" at the funeral.[9] The eulogy expressed both sorrow for Anthony's death and also praised her advocacy for women's suffrage.[10] Jeffrey also created the first memorial for Anthony, which was a stained-glass window installed at the AME Zion church and unveiled in 1907.[1]

Jeffrey moved back to Boston several years before she died, in order to live with her relatives.[4] She is buried in an unmarked grave in Woodlawn Cemetery in Everett next to her sister, Phoebe Whitehurst Glover.[4]

References
  1. "Hester Jeffrey". Western New York Suffragists: Winning the Vote. Retrieved 11 February 2016.
  2. Thompson, J. W. (1903). An Authentic History of the Douglass Monument (PDF). Rochester, N.Y.: Rochester Herald Press. pp. 159–60. Retrieved January 6, 2019.
  3. Smith, Eric A. "Jeffrey, Hester C. (1842-1934)". BlackPast.org. Retrieved February 13, 2017.
  4. Hurst, Colleen (2003). "Hester C. Whitehurst Jeffrey" (PDF). Rochester Unitarian. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 July 2016. Retrieved 13 February 2017.
  5. Memmott, Jim (June 25, 2015). "10 Unknowns Who Shaped Rochester". Democrat & Chronicle. Retrieved February 13, 2017.
  6. Morry, Emily. "Frederick Douglass Monument". Retrofitting Rochester. Democrat & Chronicle. Retrieved January 6, 2019.
  7. Thompson, J. W. (1903). An Authentic History of the Douglass Monument (PDF). Rochester, N.Y.: Rochester Herald Press. p. 140. Retrieved January 6, 2019.
  8. Thompson, J. W. (1903). An Authentic History of the Douglass Monument (PDF). Rochester, N.Y.: Rochester Herald Press. pp. 82–85, 104. Retrieved 6 January 2019.
  9. "The Anthony Funeral". The Emporia Gazette. 15 March 1906. Retrieved 13 February 2017.
  10. Brooks-Bertram, Peggy (8 February 2015). "Uncrowned Community Builders: Hester C. Jeffrey". Buffalo Rising. Retrieved February 13, 2017.
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