Josephine Beall Willson Bruce

Josephine Beall Willson Bruce (October 29, 1853 - February 15, 1923) was a women's rights activist in the late 1890s and early 1900s. She spent a majority of her time working for the National Organization of Afro-American Women. She was a prominent socialite in Washington, D.C. throughout most of her life where she lived with her husband, United States Senator Blanche Bruce. In addition to these accomplishments, she was the first black teacher in the public school system in Cleveland, and she eventually became a highly regarded educator at Tuskegee University in Alabama.

Josephine Bruce
BornOctober 29, 1853
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
DiedFebruary 15, 1923 (aged 69)
Kimball, West Virginia, U.S.
Spouse(s)Blanche Bruce
ChildrenRoscoe Conkling Bruce

Early life

Josephine Beall Willson was born in Philadelphia on October 29, 1853 to Dr. Joseph Willson and Elizabeth Harnett Willson, the first of five children for the pair.[1] Her family spent no more than a year in Philadelphia, moving to Cleveland in 1854. The family prioritized education and sent Josephine to Cleveland Central High School, where she graduated in 1871. After graduation, she took several teaching courses which then gave her the opportunity to teach at the Mayflower school, making her the first black teacher in the public school system of Cleveland.[2]

Personal life

In 1878 she married Blanche Bruce and traveled throughout Europe gaining culture and experience together.[3] Upon their return to the United States, they settled in Washington, D.C. in order for her husband to pursue a career in politics, while she became an activist. Bruce had her only child, Roscoe Conkling Bruce, in 1879.[4] He was named after the Republican senator Roscoe Conkling, who had helped Josephine's husband face discrimination while being sworn into Congress. She delayed the christening of her son until he could be taken to Cleveland, so that the same rector who had performed her marriage could christen her child.[4]

Bruce dedicated her life to the National Organization of Afro-American Women (NACW), successfully running for the vice presidency of the organization in 1896. In 1898 her husband, Blanche K. Bruce passed away, leaving her a widow.[5] After her husband's death, she competently managed the money and land of her late husband.[6] She was given the opportunity by Booker T. Washington to become the principal at his Tuskegee University from 1899- 1902, where she continued to promote education.[4] This opportunity gave her the ability to offer training to other school teachers as the institute itself was vocational.[7] The pupils of the Tuskegee Institute were not from aristocratic families, as opposed to students she had worked with in the past. Her move to the rural South was also a hard transition for someone use to a cosmopolitan lifestyle.[8] Bruce was occasionally criticized for accepting the role as Lady Principal. Oftentimes she was seen as a wealthy woman taking a job from a less fortunate young woman who would be more able to connect with the students of the school.[9]

Bruce's scholarship inspired her son, Roscoe Bruce, to graduate from Harvard University in 1902, eventually allowing him to become the head of the academic department at Tuskegee University.[10] Bruce then moved to Mississippi for a short time to live with her family, only to return to Washington, D.C. to run for the presidency of the NACW in 1906. Due to a heart attack, Bruce died in her sleep on February 15, 1923, in Kimball, West Virginia.[11][4]

Social Life
Blanche Bruce, Josephine's husband

Bruce was an accomplished hostess and socialite, especially during her husband's years serving in the Senate.[12] The African-American produced newspaper Washington Bee noted that Bruce "pays and receives calls from those of her select set with unvarying regard for etiquette".[13] She was noted to be fashionable and a great beauty.[4] Newspapers placed great emphasis on her complexion, remarking that she didn't have any evidence of African heritage and that her skin was so fair that she could pass for a Spanish lady.[4] In one account, she was described as having blonde hair and blue eyes.[14]

Bruce and her husband were often criticized by members of the black community, who claimed the Bruces spent more time with whites than blacks.[4] Whites also snubbed Bruce and her husband, excluding them from social events that weren't officially related to Blanche Bruce's position in the Senate.[4] Democrats and their wives would refuse to visit Bruce, looking down on her because of her racial heritage.[4] After her husband's senatorial career ended, Bruce's social rejection by whites became more frequent.

Activism

Because of previously existing splits between white suffrage groups and African American suffrage groups during the 19th century, Josephine Bruce was not allowed to participate in those white suffrage groups due to the racial divide. Due to this, some African American women attempted to join white women organizations in hopes that through combined efforts, they would be able to achieve results faster for both groups. The ultimate objectives of the groups Bruce participated in was the racial advancement of women through uplifting ideas of service. However, these organizations denied permission for African American women like Josephine Bruce to attend their conventions or participate in their activities. In response to this frequent rejection from white organizations that African American women were influenced to form their separate national organization that disregarded race, giving Josephine the chance to be in various leadership roles.[15]

Bruce began her career as a teacher at Mayflower School in Cleveland, making her the first black teacher in the city's public school system. Her positions at Mayflower School and at Tuskegee University allowed her to share her ideas and shape the minds of the youth around her. Outside of teaching, she dedicated her life to the National Organization of Afro-American Women (NACW), successfully running for the vice presidency of the organization in 1896. Despite having early successes with the organization she lost the election, which was attributed to her fair skin complexion. She also helped inspire the career of Mary Church Terrell by inviting the younger woman to stay with her in Washington.

Tuskegee University, where Josephine Bruce served as "Lady Principal"

She also worked alongside black female teachers to strengthen the newly created National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), focusing on how black women could promote social uplift.[16] Bruce was also involved with the World Purity Federation[6] and Women's Christian Temperance Union.[12] In addition to her activism, she traveled extensively with her husband when he lectured on a circuit as a Congressman.[4] She became the editor of National Notes, which was owned by the NACW. In these various writings, she discussed the impact and need for better education for colored women.[17]

Despite her heavy involvement within the NACW, Bruce became a focal point of controversy. Members of the NACW began to accuse Mary Church Terrell, Bruce's friend and current president of the NACW, of handpicking Bruce to be her successor.[6] This event was the beginning of Bruce's gradual decrease in involvement with the NACW.

Bruce was also a strong proponent for suffrage, aligning her goals with those of the NACW.[6]

She continued to live in Washington, D.C. in the following years as a socialite, and eventually moved to West Virginia until her death. She was respected by many, but often failed to be accepted by black women as well as white women, as her light skin left her an outsider of both groups.[18]

Effects of Class

Josephine Bruce and her husband were part of an newly-emerging elite African American class. In the late 18th century, the African American aristocrats of Washington, D.C. had started to detach themselves from the lower African American classes, categorizing themselves as an elite upper class. These aristocrats “defended the thesis that the social equality of all Negroes was a concept destructive to racial progress”.[19] Professional men such as scholars and office holders, despite obstacles, became more similar to the white community.

Many Africans Americans thought the Bruces were “not good enough for whites and too good for their own race”[19] Many white people in 1883 thought that wealth, learning, and official place did not give African American families, like the Bruces, the right to enter white society. As a result, the Bruces were not completely accepted by whites or African Americans.

Writings and Speeches
Josephine's speech featured in the Philadelphia Times

Bruce wrote several articles and speeches during her career, talking about education and activism. Some of her work includes two pieces written for The Voice of the Negro, one written for The Crisis, and a speech transcribed in the Philadelphia Times.   

The Congress a Great Success

In 1879, following the merging of the National Congress of Colored Women with the National Association of Colored Women, Bruce gave a speech commemorating the union. She advocated for women's suffrage and celebrated the common cause that united African American women together. She also acknowledged black women's unique position to advocate for women's rights. Bruce declares suffrage as a worthy cause, one that helps women rise up from oppression and helps elevate African Americans as a whole. She also argues that suffrage helps African American women dispel negative stereotypes about African Americans.  

What Has Education Done for Colored Women

First page of "What Has Education Done for Colored Women"

Published in the African-American literary journal The Voice of the Negro in 1904, Bruce argues that educating African-American women results in the social uplift of their families and communities. Bruce notes that education enables African American women to become more prominent in their community, allowing them to give back and promote social uplift. Women, in Bruce's view, by working as teachers, church leaders, and temperance advocates, can help better their community.[20]

To establish her point, Bruce presents examples of different "Negro" populations, noting each of their characteristics. Detailing the lives of African Americans in different towns in Virginia, Louisiana, and Ohio, Bruce argues that gaining an education leads to a higher quality of life. Bruce also attributes the "pathetic conditions" of the African-American members of Calumet, Louisiana to their lack of education.[20] On the other hand, she links the creation of the upper class in Xenia, Ohio with the residents' higher education levels. The educated class, in her view, are people who have "exemplary lives" and were able to uplift their communities because of the positive qualities they gained during their formal educations.[20]

The Afterglow of the Women's Convention

First page of "Afterglow of Women's Convention"

In November 1904, Josephine wrote for The Voice of the Negro about the results of the NACW's convention. She tells a story about encountered a young boy after a meeting with the NACW, who then awakened her to the worthy achievement that the women's organization was making for small children like him. In this article she states that the future lies "at the foundation of the organization of women”.[21] She claims that it is evident that the NACW is making a substantial growth, musing about how their purpose has been to give “proper direction and purpose to the lives of the younger generation”.[21]

She also continues to summarize the conventions by explaining that women are working hard to do local work as well as general work in matters that still need to be worked on. Josephine Bruce emphasized that the NACW's organizational purposes are enlarging and expansive, resulting in lasting changes. She notes that “36 states and one territory now have membership in the national organization”, even the "Mormon state", Utah.[21] Bruce concludes that although the NACW is a long way from achieving their goals, there has been a record of great achievement marking their “new milestone in the progress of colored women”,[21] bringing them closer to gaining nationally recognized equal rights.

Colored Women's Clubs

This article was published on August 1915 in The Crisis, the official magazine of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Mrs. B. K. Bruce, which was Josephine's married name, writes about how the national club movement among colored women started when Josephine St. Pierre Ruffin called for a meeting among suffragette women.

Through consecutive conventions in the following years, the two national women's organizations that were merged to form the National Association of Colored Women were called the National Federation of Colored Women and the National League of Colored Women. Mrs. Bruce also writes how in the following year they would hold their tenth biennial session. She emphasizes the organization's success, saying that it was a “social service not alone for colored people but for humanity”.[22] She notes that during these conventions over four hundred delegates represented women throughout the country, coming from “from the East the West, the North and the South”.[22] Josephine ends by explaining that around one thousand clubs are part of the NACW and that the money raised was used for establishing places like orphan homes and social settlements.

References
  1. "Bruce, Josephine Beall Willson (1853-1923) | The Black Past: Remembered and Reclaimed". www.blackpast.org. Retrieved 2018-01-30.
  2. "Emerging Women Exhibit: The Contributors -> Josephine Beall Bruce". www.ecacollective.org. Retrieved 2018-01-30.
  3. Gardner, Eric (January 2006). Bruce, Josephine Beall Willson : African American National Biography. Oxford University Pres. ISBN 9780195301731.
  4. Gatewood, Willard B., Jr. (1990). Aristocrats of color : the Black elite, 1880-1920. ISBN 9781610750257. OCLC 1003856507.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  5. The Elite of Our People: Joseph WillsonÕs Sketches of Black Upper-Class Life in Antebellum Philadelphia. Penn State Press. ISBN 0271043024.
  6. Dineen-Wimberly, Ingrid (September 2009). "Mixed-Race Leadership in African America: The Regalia of Race and National Identity in the U.S., 1862-1916". ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global. ProQuest 304855729.
  7. Hatch, Shari (2009). Encyclopedia of African-American Writing. Amenia, NY: Grey House Publishing. ISBN 978-1592372911.
  8. Graham, Lawrence (2006). The Senator and The Socialite: The True Story of America's First Black Dynasty. Harper Collins. pp. 25. ISBN 0060184124.
  9. Gatewood, Willard B., Jr. (1990). Aristocrats of color : the Black elite, 1880-1920. ISBN 9781610750257. OCLC 1003856507.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  10. Smith, Jessie (2003). Notable Black American Women. Gale. ISBN 0787664944.
  11. "A concerned citizen, Josephine Bruce - African American Registry". African American Registry. Retrieved 2018-03-01.
  12. Winch, Julie (2000). The Elite of Our People: Joseph Willson's Sketches of Black Upper-Class Life in Antebellum Philadelphia. University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University Press. pp. 51, 63. ISBN 0-271-02020-2.
  13. "E Pluribus Unum". The Washington Bee. December 29, 1883. Retrieved March 12, 2019.
  14. "The Leading Colored Man of America". The Washington Bee. 21 July 1883. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
  15. Neverdon-Morton, Cynthia (1989). Afro-American Women of the South and the Advancement of the Race, 1895-1925. Knoxville: The University of Tennessee Press. pp. 191–194.
  16. Salem, Dorothy C. (1993). To Better Our World: Black Women in Organized Reform, 1890-1920. 14. New York & London: Garland Publishing. p. 154.
  17. "RootsWeb's WorldConnect Project: Our Family & Friends". wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com. Retrieved 2018-03-01.
  18. Hobbs, Allyson (2014-10-13). A Chosen Exile: A History of Racial Passing in American Life. Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674368101.
  19. Green, Constance McLaughlin (1967). The Secret City. New Jersey: Princeton University Press. pp. 138–140.
  20. Bruce, Josephine (May 1904). "What Has Education Done for Colored Women". The Voice of the Negro. 1: 294–298 – via HathiTrust.
  21. Bruce, Mrs. Josephine B. (November 1904). "The Afterglow of the Women's Convention". The Voice of the Negro. 1: 541–543 – via Hathi Trust Library.
  22. Bruce, B. K (August 1915). "Colored Women's Clubs" (PDF). The Crisis. 10: 190 – via Brown University Library Search.
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