Amelia Green (born circa 1740-death around 1823)

Renowned for her ceaseless work ethic and dedication to her family’s emancipation, spinner and weaver Amelia Green purchased her freedom in 1875 from Robert Schaw.

She later moved from New Hanover County to New Bern and immediately set to work freeing her three children still in bondage.

André Leon Talley was born October 16, 1949. He is an African American fashion news director/journalist and businessman. He is the former American editor-at-large of Vogue magazine. Talley has also served as international editor of the Russian fashion magazine Numéro

This dress was constructed by an enslaved woman named Combo for her owner Janie Wright Robeson in 1864. A brief biography of Combo was written inside the bodice.

Photograph: Harold Cotton owned and operated Bob’s Hat Shop in Greensboro, North Carolina, from 1953 to 2005. Though segregated until 1960, Cotton’s storefront offered a space where the rules of Jim Crow were partially relaxed. The profits he made provided a livelihood for his employees and sustained black institutions. Photo by Harvey Wang.

Freedom's Tally: An African American Business In The Jim Crow South
by Jay Driskell, October 18, 2016
Smithsonian-Stories From the National Museum Of American History

Mildred Eliza Blount (b. 1902 - d. 1974), was an American milliner, stylist, and humanitarian whose career spans over five decades.
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Image descriptions:
-Top left: Blount showing one of her creations- Jet Magazine, September 19, 1953
-Top right: April 1946 cover for Ebony Magazine
-Middle left: August 4, 1955 page 62 Jet magazine announcement.
-Bottom right: The John Frederics, Inc. showroom, NYC, ca.1939 - Terence Harold Robsjohn-Gibbings papers, 1915-1977. Archives of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.

Pictured is dressmaker Willie Virginia Otey Kay c. 1910.

Growing up in Raleigh, Willie graduated from Shaw University in 1912 with a degree in Home Economics. She later went on to forge a living legacy crafting dresses and gowns for both Raleigh's White and Black women. Women from around the state also commissioned her to design dresses for them.

Willie Kay Was A Raleigh Black Dressmaker During And Beyond Segregation. She Was Also An Artist.

By Nancy Mclaughlin-
Photographs by Woody Marshall
News & Record -Monday Oct 11, 2021

GREENSBORO — Paul Baker’s favorite piece in the new exhibit on fashion designer Willie Otey Kay is the christening gown she made for her grandson, former State Auditor Ralph Campbell, the first Black person elected to statewide office in North Carolina.

Willie Otey Kay (b.1894 – d.1992) , Was A Renowned African American Raleigh Designer. She was a Raleigh native and Shaw University Class of 1912 graduate known to sew “dreams into dresses.”

In Jan. 2006 The NC Museum Of History curated an exhibit centered around Willie Otey Kay's life and her creations.