"Eliminating Racism, Empowering Women:"

The Phyllis Wheatley Branch of the YWCA's

Struggle to Advance the African American Community in Asheville, NC.

By  Heather Whisnant .
WMST 400
 Dr. Russell, 25 April 2006

The YWCA (Young Women's Christian Association) strove to be an organization in which women could come together and carve out a social and physical space where the racial, economic, and social divisions endemic in the wider society might be overcome by a combination of the social gospel, feminism, and progressive reform spirit.¹ Race, however, would cause a rift in the movement. Although both African American and white women participated in the YWCA, they had different experiences. White women placed gender concerns above race, while promoting the ideology of "sisterhood." However, African American women were often oppressed first and foremost by their race, and therefore, placed greater importance on their racial identities than on gender identities. During the 1920s and 1930s, the Phyllis Wheatley Branch of the YWCA, located in Asheville, North Carolina, tried to uplift African American women while battling racism and the ideology of sisterhood, revealing the complicated relationships between white and black YWCAs.

By the mid-1800's, forces, which profoundly affected the lives of women in Europe and the United States, led to the development of the YWCA. In England and the United States, the new technologies of the "machine age" were beginning to make changes in the performance of "women's work." Women were affected by new ways of preparing food, making clothing, and providing health services. Machines could now perform many of these tasks, which resulted in both disruptions and opportunities for women. The women who were freed from these tasks, were allowed to envision other

¹ Marion Roydhouse. "Bridging Chasms: Community and the Southern YWCA." Visible Women: New Essays on American Activism. Eds. Nancy Hewitt and Suzanne Lebsock. (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1993), 270.

ways of structuring their lives, and for those women whose livelihood depended on the performance of these tasks, it meant moving into a new workplace.²

Women had new needs when they moved to the factory towns, including safe housing, companionship, recreation, and support for then- religious and ethical beliefs. Soon it was clear that these needs had to be met by the women themselves. Women with the position, ability, and influence joined with other women to assume the responsibility of working together to change societal conditions. Service was not the only focus; advocacy on behalf of women took its rightful place and a "movement was born."³

The YWCA was formed in London in 1855 by Emma Robarts and Mrs. Arthur Kinnaird in hopes to "combine religious fervor with practical social action." ⁴ By the late 19^th century, YWCA programs had spread across the United States, offering facilities for white, African American, and Native American women. The first YWCA branch in the United States dates from 1858, when a Ladies' Christian Association was formed in New York City under the leadership of Mrs. Marshall O. Roberts. Although historians recognize the New York group as the first American YWCA, the name was not formally used in the United States until 1866, when 30 women met as the Boston Young Women's Christian Association.⁵ New York and Boston were just the beginning; by 1867, YWCAs sprang up in Providence, Hartford, and Pittsburgh and by 1875 there were at

                ² YWCA of the United States.   "A Capsule History of the YWCA." [Asheville YWCA], Ramsey Library Special Collections, UNC  

                  Asheville, NC. 1992.

³ Ibid.

⁴Ali Marshall. "Swimming Against the Current, YWCA Honors Legacy of Social Change." Mountain Express vol 10 issue 46, 23 June 2004.

⁵Daphne Spain. How Women Saved the City. (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2001), 89. Cities with YWCA branches by 1875 included Cincinnati, Cleveland, St. Louis, Dayton, Buffalo, and Philadelphia.

least 28 associations across the country, nearly one half of which maintained boardinghomes for 50 more  women.⁶                                                                                          

The seeds for the YWCA were sown during the Second Great Awakening and were nurtured by the Social Gospel.⁷  The Social Gospel movement applied Christian principles to the problems of daily life. It linked individual salvation to the salvation of society by striving to improve worker's rights, race relations, immigration, and housing conditions. Social Gospel ideas were eventually augmented and sometimes displaced by the tenets of municipal housekeeping, which promoted a woman's responsibility for keeping the city as clean and well functioning as their own home. Advocates of municipal housekeeping promoted similarities between the home and the city, particularly the need for cleanliness and order, as a way to establish their credentials for civic involvement. Municipal housekeeping represented a political agenda in an era when women had few direct avenues of influence. However, neither the Social Gospel nor municipal housekeeping threatened a woman's traditional sphere. Rather, they expanded its definition.⁸        

Building on 19^th century ideas of womanhood and the home as sacred, YWCA members believed that women had a mission to improve society; it was necessary for women to go into the public world to protect the values of the home entrusted to their care. Gender identity, womanhood and motherhood, seemed to unite women at a time

⁶  Spain, 90.

⁷  Ibid, 63. The Second Great Wakening was the second religious revival in United States history. The renewed interest in religion inspired a wave of social activism based on Christian principles.

⁸  Ibid, 9.

when class, race, and ethnicity increasingly threatened to divide the political and economic worlds of men.⁹

The YWCA's leadership hoped that the institution could supplement the activities of local churches. However, the YWCA was to be a training ground in independence for women whose participation in religious institutions was limited by men's unwillingness to allow women any significant control.¹⁰   Protestant college women insisted that members of the YWCA must be in "good standing" in an "evangelical church."¹¹ The city YWCAs, however, focused less on religious qualification and more on a social mission rooted in the desire to provide a Christian home and moral support for young women.

Women's experiences within the YWCA varied largely with race. White women's accounts reveal that white middle class women frequently saw themselves as women first and foremost. These women thought their concerns stemmed from their gender identity rather than from their racial and class identities. They saw themselves as united with other women because of the common concerns that they believed that all women shared: the home, family, and children.¹²

The ideology of sisterhood relied on the assumption that women had similar experiences being wives and/or mothers. The ideology of sisterhood played an important role in white middle class women's activism for three main reasons. First, the belief that women and men lived in totally different worlds allowed women to justify working with

⁹ Nancy Robertson. "Deeper Even than Race:" White Women and the Politics of Christian Sisterhood in the Young Women's Christian Association, 1906-1946.   (Ph.D. diss., New York University, 1997), 67.

¹⁰ Roydhouse, 274.

¹¹ Ibid, 271.

¹² Robertson, 4, 11.

other women, while remaining in a male dominated home. Second, the sense of natural, shared female concerns provided a language to connect women across the barriers of race or class that appeared insurmountable in the "male" public world.¹³ Lastly, during the 19^th century, middle class women moved into the public world by justifying their activities as providing services for other people. They argued that such actions were the social equivalent of their traditional nurturing roles in the home, thereby glossing over the alleged distinction between public and private life. They stretched the boundary of a woman's sphere even while reinforcing it.¹⁴

Although the rhetoric of sisterhood seemed to signify equality, in fact, it masked serious differences. While white middle class women did use words like sisterhood, they cast themselves in the role of a big sister. White women understood the term sister as hierarchical despite the appearance of equality. White women invoking the ideology of Christian sisterhood articulated a belief that gender was somehow "deeper than race" or class, but they generally ruled out the possibility of social equality between the races.¹⁵   However, throughout the 20^th century, both white and black women in the YWCA provided essential social services to urban black communities, participated in interracial meetings, and joined in anti-lynching campaigns and other legislative efforts.¹⁶

The white notion of womanhood also masked differences between white and black women. White middle class women experienced tensions between a married woman's home responsibility and her ability to work outside the home. White middle class women, at least in theory, were not to work outside the home for pay after marriage.

¹³Ibid, 11.

¹⁴  Ibid, 12.

¹⁵ Ibid, 16.

¹⁶ Ibid, 17.

White paid YWCA staff members, at both the local and national level, often resigned after they married. They would often continue their involvement with the YWCA, as volunteers or unpaid workers, while others would join the board of directors.¹⁷

In contrast, black women often saw the work they did outside the home as supportive of their role in the family. By choice and/or necessity, married black women were likely to continue working after marriage. Therefore, black women did not tend to view paid work as something that conflicted with their view of themselves as women and

mothers.¹⁸   The issue of domestic work also caused divisions between white and black women.    In particular, in the South, many white women relied on black women to takecare of their children and clean their homes.  For many white middle class women, being

a woman running a home meant having a servant, whereas for black women it could mean being that servant.¹⁹

While the national YWCA had black and white members, the local associations supported by the national association instituted and maintained segregated branches throughout the first half of the 20^th century.  Financially and institutionally dependent on white associations, black branches were the epitome of "separate and unequal."²⁰  White and black YWCA members participated in the same national body, but they did so in a way that reflected the concerns and power of white, middle class Americans. While arguing that gender was deeper than race, white middle class women also espoused the

¹⁷ Ibid, 152.

¹⁸  bid, 152.

¹⁹ Ibid, 153.

 ²⁰ Ibid, 18.

importance of true racial separateness. White women saw segregation as compatible with Christian sisterhood as well as democracy, a point not accepted by their black sisters.²¹

From the time the YWCA was first organized in the United States, black women as well as whites recognized the potential for resolving some of society's most pressing problems, including race relations and immigration. The interdenominational character of the association encouraged women to work together across religious lines. The association also provided a way to expand individual benevolence in a more coherent, organized, and efficient way.   Most importantly for black women, the YWCA provided the possibility of interracial cooperation among women.   At a time when white women  were expressing the virtues of social equality for themselves, black women felt that it was critical to gain their support to end racial inequality. Thus, the YWCA became a centerpiece of the struggle for Christian women as they sought to find common ground within one organization.²²

The earliest record of organized association work among black women can be found in the minutes of the Philadelphia association in 1870, when a group of black women representing a Colored Women's Christian Association, appealed to the local all-white Women's Christian Association for support in funding an African American YWCA.²³    In 1893, a group of African American women in Dayton, Ohio, established the YWCA's second African American branch. However, it was the spread of the YWCA movement through black college campuses that most affected the early membership of

²¹ Ibid.

²² Adrienne Lash Jones. "Struggle Among Saints: African American Women and the YWCA, 1870-1920." Men and Women Adrift: The YMCA and the YWCA in the City. Eds. Nina Mjagkij and Margaret Spratt. (New York: New York University Press, 1997), 161.

²³ Ibid, 163. A black domestic worker heard of the work of the Women's Christian Association while cleaning buildings in downtown Philadelphia. After several years of unsuccessful lobbying of black and white churches, she turned to the all white women's group for help in establishing a black women's association.

the national movement.²⁴ The student associations were important, because they were sources of young black female leaders. For educated black women, employment in a black branch of the YWCA was one possible career option. As "interpreters" between various African American groups and the white community, individual black women gained both status and privilege.²⁵

African American women's continuing commitment to the YWCA reflected a confidence in their own ability to engage and transform the movement and its institutional structures in significant ways. They understood the potential for influencing the direction and future of the YWCA, as well as appropriating the aspects of its structure that suited their goals within their own communities.²⁶ Black women's involvement in the YWCA movement reflected their ongoing willingness to organize in any and all arenas that would provide productive avenues for achieving justice and reducing the harshness of daily living conditions. Moreover, the YWCA's concern for issues affecting working women commanded the attention of black female activists, since the economic realities of black communities meant that large numbers of black women worked outside the home.²⁷

From the beginning, the race question posed a delicate problem for the white dominated YWCA. In 1906, when the association set out to become the largest and most influential grass roots women's social organization in the nation, legal segregation was

²⁴ Ibid, 164. The earliest black YWCA student association on record was organized at Baptist sponsored Spelman College.

²⁵ Robertson, 217. Whites also felt that this "better class" of African Americans could work with the poorer members of their own race to solve the problems stemming from misunderstandings between the races. White middle class women believed that they could use this group of women in their efforts to uplift poor and working class African American women and girls to produce racial adjustment and harmony.

²⁶ Judith Weisenfeld. African American Women and Christian Activism: New York's Black YWCA, \       1905-1945. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1997), 13.

²⁷ Ibid, 35.

  determined to be the "natural" order in the South and racial separation was accepted in

the North and West. Thus, the YWCA faced a unique challenge.    It was decided in 1906 that in any town there should only be one entity identified as the YWCA. To foster this goal, any black women's YWCA would be "branch" of the main or white YWCA and the staff of all branches would consult on programs to work towards unity.²⁹

In June 1907, at the urging of Grace Dodge, president of the National Board, sixty white women from the South met in Asheville, North Carolina to develop the YWCA's policy for working with black women and to decide whether these associations would become affiliated with the national body. Accounts of the all white Asheville Conference

focused on the implications of the activities in the South even though the existing active

African American city associations were in the North.³⁰ The Southern white women requested that any work with "colored" women in southern cities be delayed to allow "work among the white girls to be more fully organized."³¹
 

The 1907 Asheville Conference suggested four important and interconnected aspects of white women's understanding of society and their place in it. The first was the priority they placed on the YWCA for developing and expanding a national organization. The next was their conception and articulation of race as a Southern problem. The third was the ease with which whites accepted segregation as inherent in programs for African

²⁸ Jones, 174. Black women felt for the most part, white women leaders preferred to ignore and indict blacks as responsible for their own low social and economic condition, without regard for the history of racism that held them hostage. Relationships between the races, especially in local associations, were often strained at best. White central boards were not always sympathetic to the aspirations and needs of their black members, and too often used their supervisory position over the personnel and activities of the branches to impede the progress of the black branches.

²⁹ Roydhouse, 275. The records of local associations in the South reveal instances hi which African American women who wanted to start a YWCA branch were told that they could not do so unless a central (that is "white") association already existed.

³⁰Robertson, 71.

³¹ Ibid, 72.

Americans. The last aspect was the white participants' unspoken assumption that white women, both Northern and Southern, would and/or should determine policies for black women. Each of these four aspects reflected views not only found in the YWCA, but in the larger society.³²

The Asheville Conference was the epitome of segregation in that it was an all white event intended to discuss the policies affecting African Americans in the YWCA. While this absence reflected the belief that whites bore the responsibility for problems facing African Americans, it more commonly revealed the paternalistic notion that African Americans were unable to handle the work that whites could.³³    In spite of white women's greater power in both the Association and society, they could not determine the entire outcome.   African American women resisted the limitations placed on them and sought to make the organization responsive to their interests. They challenged policies and practices and thereby forced white women to reassess their vision of society and race.³⁴ African American women worked to promote associations in their communities, garner white financial support for those efforts, and tried to force the Association to change its policies and practices for African American YWCAs.  To do that, they redefined white women's feminized social gospel language and offered new understandings of Christian sisterhood.³⁵

Similar to other YWCA facilities throughout the United States, the YWCA facilities located in Asheville were segregated. In 1906, the "white" Central YWCA was founded by Miss Florence Stephenson in "Henrietta House," a Patton Family home

³² Ibid

³³ Ibid ,79.

³⁴ Ibid, 80.

³⁵ Ibid, 81.

located on Biltmore Avenue. Later locations for the "white" YWCA included the Cherokee Inn and the Platt home. Its Articles of Incorporation in 1907 stated that

the object for which this corporation is formed to establish and maintain in Asheville, NC a boarding house or boarding houses for the exclusive use and benefit of local and transient self supporting women of good character, and to promote the spiritual, mental, moral, and physical well being of such women, and the women of Asheville generally.³⁶

However, this statement did not initially include African American women.

Almost two decades later, the Phyllis Wheatley Branch for Negroes, named for an

18^th century poet, who came to America on as a slave, was founded as an outgrowth the Employment Club, which found work for members and sponsored recreational programs. The Employment Club traced its origins to a group of women who met for programs on Sunday afternoons in 1913. Although African American women in Asheville were interested in forming a YWCA as early as 1913, their work was "handicapped by being unable to find quarters."³⁷ Through the leadership of Maggie Jones and other black community leaders, the group bought a building on Market Street in 1916. On September 5, 1921 the Phyllis Wheatley YWCA was formally opened

.

In addition to recreation, during its early history, the Phyllis Wheatley Branch was able to accommodate seven transients.³⁸  This filled a real need in the African American community because it served as a boarding house for women seeking employment. The building on Market Street was later turned over to the government during World War I and after the war, it was returned to the organization and later sold.³⁹ The Phyllis

³⁶ "History of the Asheville YWCA." [Asheville YWCA], Ramsey Library Special Collections,
                  UNC Asheville, NC.

³⁷ "History." YWCA USA Records.   Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College. (Northampton, MA). Reel
                  No. 199.

³⁸ "History of the Asheville YWCA."

³⁹ Caldwell, Thelma. "YWCA Highlights." [Asheville YWCA], Ramsey Library
                 Special Collections, UNC Asheville, NC.

Wheatley Branch then moved to a facility on College Street in 1921 and in 1938 an additional building was constructed on that site.⁴⁰

From the very beginning the Phyllis Wheatley Branch faced enormous obstacles, such as lack of funding; however, Adela Ruffin, the branch's executive secretary, helped lead it through difficult times. Ruffin was notable for her work with the YWCA as field supervisor and as a "special war worker" during WWI. From 1915-1917, she was the first executive secretary for the Richmond, Virginia branch, where the National Board's South Atlantic Field Committee was located. In October 1917, she was stationed in Atlanta as a field supervisor for the Southeastern district of the YWCA, which covered South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. Later, Ruffin would become field secretary for all black YWCA participants in the South.⁴¹  During her work as field secretary, she traveled from city to city trying to find support for African American YWCA branches.  Her work as the Southeastern field supervisor brought her into contact with the Phyllis Wheatley Branch, where she would become the executive secretary hi the mid 1920s.⁴²

The Phyllis Wheatley branch's primary mission was to uplift African American women, thereby relieving some of the daily hardships of life in Asheville. The branch was made up of several committees: the Executive, Membership, Publicity, Personnel, and Girls' Work, which were designed to aid women.⁴³ Additionally the Association had

⁴⁰ "History of the Asheville YWCA."

⁴¹ Susan Borchet. "Adele Ruffin." African American Women: A Biographical Dictionary. Ed. Dorothy Salem. (New York : Garland, 1993), 433.

⁴² "History."

⁴³ "By-Laws of the Board of Directors." YWCA USA Records.   Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College. (Northampton, MA). Reel No. 199. The Executive Committee consisted of the officers of the Board of Directors and the chairman of the Finance Committee. This group promoted the financial interests of the association. The Membership Committee was concerned with the "steady building up, development and functioning of an electoral membership," and found girls who were ready to assume responsibility as members in the Association. The Publicity Committee was responsible for presenting the purpose and programs of the YWCA to the public, while working in cooperation with the various

a Business Girls Committee, Health education Committee, and Residence Committee.⁴⁴   One of the Branch's most important committees was the Committee on Colored Work because of the lack of employment opportunities for African Americans living in Asheville

In 1920, the National YWCA conducted a survey that revealed the opportunities available to the 9,000 African Americans living in Asheville.⁴⁵   The greatest number of black women and girls were employed in domestic services, which included hotels, boarding houses, and restaurants. Restaurants and hotels employed about 250 people, laundry services employed about 60 people, and department stores employed about six women as maids or elevator girls. Living in Asheville caused two important problems for African American women.   There was a lack of cheap boarding houses and white women were paid higher wages.   For example, in laundries, which were the only place where white and black women could work together, the black women were paid $6, while white women were paid $7.⁴⁶

In 1920, Adela Ruffin came to Asheville to establish a Committee on Colored Work. By 1928, the Committee on Colored Work held regular monthly meetings, which continued the study of Negro institutions in the city.⁴⁷   The function of the Committee on

⁴⁴ Ibid. The Business Girls Committee was responsible for "a continued study of the community and its resources in terms of the needs and interests of young business girls." The Health education Committee was a resource that assisted the community through health programs that created "intelligent public opinion on the meaning and significance of health and recreation."

⁴⁵ "Colored Survey, Asheville, NC." YWCA USA Records.   Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College. (Northampton, MA). Reel No. 199.

⁴⁶ Ibid.

⁴⁷ "Committee on Colored Work." YWCA USA Records.   Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College. (Northampton, MA). Reel No. 199.

Colored Work, which was composed of three white women and three black women, was to "promote good feeling between the races and to remove causes of friction hi the community and to better the condition of the colored people."⁴⁸  Representatives from the Blue Ridge Hospital, Eagle Street YMCA, the Public Library for Negroes, schools for Negro children, and the Phyllis Wheatley branch presented various employment opportunities for African Americans hi Asheville.⁴⁹

In 1928, there were few industrial openings in laundries and domestic work. However, large numbers of "country girls" poured into Asheville when there were few jobs for the women already living in the city.⁵⁰  Therefore, Miss. Ruffin sent letters to country pastors advising girls not to come to Asheville. The large number of African American women seeking employment also caused depressed wages. It was "very serious to have the market filled with country girls who have never earned anything and think $3.00 a week fine wages."⁵¹ Rather than have girls seek employment, Adela Ruffin wanted to send girls to either Bryn Mawr or the Wisconsin Summer School for educational opportunities.  Nonetheless, she was informed that all openings had been filled at both institutions

.

In contrast, white women who came to Asheville seeking employment generally had more opportunities. Asheville's principal industries included cotton mills, tanneries, flour and grain production, lumber mills, creameries, manufacturing caskets, furniture manufacturing, hosiery, counterpanes, and wagon spoke production.⁵²   In 1920, white

⁴⁸ Ibid.

⁴⁹ Ibid.

⁵⁰ "History."

⁵¹ "Supplementary Report (For the Use of Field Committee Only). YWCA USA Records. Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College. (Northampton, MA). Reel No. 199.

⁵² "A Study." YWCA USA Records.   Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College. (Northampton, MA). Reel No. 199.

women were employed in department stores (325), factories (195), laundries (131), and in offices (403).  It was reported that the average wage for restaurant and hotel work for white women was $10.00 a week, which usually included three meals per day.⁵³ Additionally, white women had several cheap boarding houses to choose from, which included the Moorehead House. The Moorehead House was a boarding facility sponsored by the Central Asheville YWCA, which housed around 35 women.⁵⁴   However, black women had none of these opportunities.

In addition to finding work for African American women, the Phyllis Wheatley Branch struggled against racism. The branch depended heavily on whites for funding through the Community Chest, an Asheville social service organization that could be highly controlling.  Located in the city's court house, the Community Chest received its funding through voluntary contributions in order "to promote the health and welfare of the whole community."⁵⁵ The Community Chest was also responsible for the work of the Welfare Planning Council, which was designed to improve the quality of health and group work services of the community⁵⁶ However, if an organization accepted help from the Community Chest, they had to accept its control and inherent racism.  Additionally, funds from the Chest were not always reliable.  From the branch's beginning, the Community Chest tried to impose its will on the Phyllis Wheatley Branch.

⁵³ "Colored Survey, Asheville, NC."

⁵⁴ "A Study." Additionally, the Asheville Cotton Mill, Carolina Wood Products, Gilmer's, the Kress 5 and 10 dime, Asheville laundry, Swannanoa Laundry, Oteen Laundry, and the Telephone Exchange were employers that would house white women working for them.

⁵⁵ "Directory of Social Resources of Asheville and Buncombe County." 1947. Ramsey Library Special Collections, UNC Asheville, NC.

http://toto.lib.unca.edu/findmgaids/books/booklets/directory social resources/directorv%20social%20reso urces.htm

⁵⁶ Ibid. Some of the members of the Community Chest included the Asheville Colored Hospital, Boy Scouts., Buncombe County Nursery School, Inc., Family Life Community Council, Girl Scouts, Salvation Army, YMCA, and both branches of the Asheville YWCA

The YWCA required that African American YWCAs seek recognition through local white associations, which allowed both Southern and Northern YWCAs to deny access to black women at will.   The board's policy made concrete the belief that African American women's work could best be supervised through a relationship of "stewardship."⁵⁷  In this way, the national YWCA board believed that it could monitor and restrict the level of African American women's leadership within the organization and maintain "standards" by admitting only those associations worthy of the title of YWCA.⁵⁸   However, the Phyllis Wheatley Branch during the 1920s did not follow this rule and functioned as a separate entity, by carrying its own administrative budget (in the Community Chest) and owning its own property. In addition, the relationship between the branch and Central YWCA was purely voluntary.⁵⁹  Therefore, at first, the Phyllis Wheatley Branch was free to carry out its work without interference from the Central YWCA. Although, this freedom allowed the branch to determine its policies, white community leaders from the Community Chest had problems with the branch's independence.

Since the Central YWCA did not control affairs at the Phyllis Wheatley branch, the Community Chest often would not allow the Central branch to pay the salaries of the Phyllis Wheatley's workers.

In regard to the Phyllis Wheatley financial situation, the Chest met the representatives of the three colored organizations (our Chairman on Colored Work being present) and told them that the three checks would be sent monthly to their joint treasury and that this Central Association would not pay their salaries from our checks which were otherwise budgeted.⁶⁰

⁵⁷ Weisenfeld, 9.

⁵⁸ Ibid, 10.

⁵⁹ "History."

⁶⁰ Ibid.

However, the Central YWCA fought against this and won. "Every one of us stuck like bull dogs to our point- that the Chest had no right to interfere with our internal workings. It was a principle and not the money that we were asking for."⁶¹  Therefore, in 1927, the Central YWCA sent a budget to the Chest, which included $3,000 for the salaries of Miss Ruffin and Miss Norris. As a result, the Chest gave $2000 out of the $3000 unconditionally, which meant that the Phyllis Wheatley branch did not have to match dollar for dollar.⁶²

Although the branch received its funding in 1927, this was not the case in 1929. The Chest required a dollar for dollar plan for the branch's budget and Miss Ruffin's salary was not included in the General Administration budget. Therefore, Miss Ruffin did not receive a salary for three months during 1929.⁶³  The Community Chest was not the only group to oppress the Phyllis Wheatley branch. In 1929, the city of Asheville took a portion of the lot on which the branch property was built, for an approach to the Beaucatcher tunnel. Instead of paying the branch for the property, the city recommended that the branch pay the city $600 for "enhancing the value of the property."⁶⁴

This placed the branch in "dire financial straits."⁶⁵  The branch had to take a $5000 loan on the building in the form of a long term mortgage, which was held by the Young Men's Institute (YMI).  In addition to the loan, Miss Ruffin campaigned to raise $3500. Many people viewed the city's action as an injustice "because they are dealing with women, and colored women at that."⁶⁶ A group of the most influential white

                ⁶¹ Ibid.

⁶² Ibid

⁶³ Ibid.

⁶⁴ Ibid.

⁶⁵ Ibid.

⁶⁶ Ibid.

citizens of Asheville were gathered and taken to visit the branch in order to see with their own eyes the damages inflicted upon the branch. In addition, the editors of the local

newspapers were informed, in order to show the "unreasonableness of the city's attitude."⁶⁷

Despite not having a salary, Miss Ruffin  remained at the branch in order to ensure that the property questions could be worked out.  By November 13,1929, the city had finished cutting off the lot and was building a retaining wall so that the middle building would not totter into the street. With the aid of Mr. Hiden Ramsey, president of the Community Chest and Dr. Campbell, the president of the Inter-racial Commission, the branch sued for the "redress for the 70 feet of lot they cut off."⁶⁸  Eventually, because of white community support, the city waved the $600 fee.

All though the branch suffered enormous hardships in 1929 and could not pay the salaries of its workers, it reported that it served the largest group of women in its history.⁶⁹ 4073 girls attended the Girls' Work program, 292 people attended the branch's vesper services, and 477 people attended different parties that the branch conducted. Additionally, the girls of the Branch donated six baskets of groceries, which contained enough food to maintain a family of six for three days.⁷⁰  In addition to community service projects, the branch conducted recreational programs, religious meetings, and employment placement services. The branch had the only standard basketball court for African Americans in Buncombe County and the only indoor tennis court, which was

⁶⁷ Ibid.

⁶⁸ Ibid.

69"Phyllis Wheatley Branch YWCA, 1929." [Asheville YWCA], Ramsey Library Special Collections, UNC Asheville, NC.

⁷⁰ Ibid. The branch also donated 105 "White Gifts to the King," food stuffs that were sent on Christmas morning to the Blue Ridge Hospital.

used by 2453 people from September to December.⁷¹ In 1929, the branch helped 58 women find employment.⁷²

Although, the Phyllis Wheatley Branch remained a separate entity from the Central YWCA during the 1920s, this changed during the 1930s.  The Central YWCA, along with the Community Chest began to exert more control over the branch. On an annual report dated 1929, Central YWCA member, Lorenn Mason noted that the "Community Chest dictates policy with [the] colored branch."⁷³    This report brought attention to the fact that the branches of the Asheville YWCA did not have a regular relationship. In response Adela Ruffin suggested that since the board of the Central YWCA was not committed to the regular organizational procedure of work with colored branches, it might be advisable to wholly separate the colored group from the Association and operate as a community house in the African American community. ⁷⁴

              In response, the Central YWCA sought "to promote better understanding of relationships between the two groups."⁷⁵ First, the Central YWCA wanted to resolve the mortgage that was held by the YMI. However, this work was hindered by the fact that the branch's finances was not controlled by the Central Association but instead controlled by the Community Chest.⁷⁶  The Community Chest also wanted the branch to have more supervision. However, this suggestion was not taken seriously due to lack of interest in the branch's activities. Therefore, it was agreed that the best way to promote a healthy relationship between the branches was to go through the Committee on Colored Work.

              ⁷¹ Ibid.
                    ⁷² Ibid
              ⁷³"History"
              ⁷⁴ Ibid
              ⁷⁵ Helen Schuylar. "Report of Helen Schuylar to City Department." 1930. YWCA USA Records. Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College. (Northampton, MA). Reel No. 199.
              ⁷⁶ Marion Cuthbert. "Report of Visit to Asheville, NC." December 5-6,1934. YWCA USA Records.   Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College. (Northampton, MA). Reel No. 199.                       

In 1935, these problems were complicated by "a great deal of unemployment in the city and very low wages."⁷⁷ As a result, the Community Chest did not reach its goal and funding was cut to the organizations that depended upon its help. Therefore, the Phyllis Wheatley Branch served as a scapegoat for the Community Chest's lack of funding. The Community Chest and officials at the Central YWCA claimed that financial records were not in shape at the Phyllis Wheatley Branch. In the fall of 1935, the Community Chest told the branch that it had one year to get reorganized and took over its financial books.⁷⁸  This eventually led to the Community Chest pulling all funding from the branch in 1936.

Miss Ruffin was blamed for the conditions of the financial records and it was suggested that her age prevented her from carrying out the vigorous programs that should be conducted at a YWCA though, this was not the case.⁷⁹  The Phyllis Wheatley Branch conducted many activities during 1935 that uplifted the African American community. The branch held adult classes that taught vocational skills, such as care of rooms, table services, laundry work, and child nursing. A Mothers' Club was conducted as well, which focused on "What I should tell my daughter about herself." Lastly, the branch held round table discussions that focused on "Better Inter-racial Understanding."⁸⁰   This suggested that the Central YWCA's and Community Chest's problems with the branch's independence stemmed from racism. Simply, African Americans were perceived as not capable of conducting their own work. African American women were expected to

⁷⁷ Annie-Kate Gilbert.  "Visitation Report." May 13-16,1935. YWCA USA Records.   Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College. (Northampton, MA). Reel No. 199. For example, just six years earlier the average wage paid to girls living in the residence of the Phyllis Wheatley branch was $10.00 a week. However, in 1935, the highest wage paid to the girls in the residence was $4.50 a week.

⁷⁸ Ibid.

⁷⁹ Ibid.

⁸⁰ Adela Ruffin. "Activities."   1935. YWCA USA Records.   Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College. (Northampton, MA). Reel No. 199.

follow the leadership of their white sisters who "knew better" despite the fact that the Phyllis Wheatley Branch conducted successful programs without the "help" of the Central YWCA.

However, the Phyllis Wheatley Branch would not, at first, submit to the oppressive policies of the Community Chest and the Central YWCA. Although the branch did have some internal problems, the members were not given time to work out these issues. The trustees of the branch had dwindled to only one member and the bylaws of the branch did not provide for filling the vacancies. Additionally, the Branch Committee had not held any new elections. Members of the Central YWCA stepped in and gave out some recommendations in order to revise the bylaws of the branch and solve its problems.⁸¹

The Central YWCA had six recommendations for the improvement of the Phyllis Wheatley Branch. First, it was "recommended that an additional secretary be secured for

the branch. She would carry the girl's work program, Association activities and
bookkeeping work."⁸²  Secondly, it was recommended that the Branch's financial books

be kept at the Central Association. Third, it was recommended that "all reports: finance, statistical, activities, and annual national reports be sent to the Central Association before

submitting [them to the] Community Chest."⁸³    Fourth, the Central Association wanted to resolve the mortgage held by the YMI and "plan a way in which the note might be re­financed."⁸⁴ Fifth, since there could be only one YWCA in a community, as specified in

⁸¹ "History."

⁸² "Recommendations for Committee of Management: Phyllis Wheatley Branch of YWCA." 21 November 1935. YWCA USA Records. Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College. (Northampton, MA). Reel No. 199.

⁸³ Ibid.

⁸⁴ Ibid.

the 1906, it was recommended that two African American women and one African American man, representing the Phyllis Wheatley Branch, act as co-trustees on the Board of Trustees of the Central YWCA. Lastly, it was recommended that the bylaws of the Phyllis Wheatley Branch be revised to conform to the bylaws of the Central Association.⁸⁵

The Phyllis Wheatley Branch responded to these recommendations. They agreed that that they needed another secretary, who would handle the bookkeeping and the girls' work program. However, they felt that the Branch books should be kept in the branch, where the new bookkeeper would be responsible to the Community Chest office. The Branch also argued that the finance committee of the Phyllis Wheatley Branch should be responsible for the budget. Next, the Branch felt that "all committee reports should be submitted to the committee of management in regular monthly meetings, after which, if approved, copies of said reports should be sent to the Central Branch and [the] Community Chest office simultaneously.⁸⁶   While the Branch agreed that the mortgage should be paid off, they argued that any plan should be submitted to their trustees. The Branch noted that while ideally there should be only one YWCA in a community, the branch should remain a separate entity.   Lastly, the Branch recommended that the Central YWCA point out the bylaws that should be modified.⁸⁷

A joint meeting of the Central YWCA Board of Directors and the Phyllis Wheatley Committee of Management was held at the Central YWCA on January 9^th, 1936 to decide the fate of the Phyllis Wheatley Branch. Mrs. Bryant, president of the

⁸⁵ Ibid.

⁸⁶  "Response to Recommendations." YWCA USA Records.   Sophia Smith Collection, Smith College. (Northampton, MA). Reel No. 199.

 ⁸⁷ Ibid.

YWCA Board of Directors, stated that it was "now understood that the local [Phyllis Wheatley] Branch is not correctly a YWCA branch and never has been, as certain rulings stipulated by the National Board, had never been carried out or met."⁸⁸ Mrs. Bryant then explained the "Recommendations" sent by the Central YWCA to the Committee of Management and read their answers to each recommendation. Additionally, Mrs. Bryant explained that cooperation on the part of Adela Ruffin and a complete reorganization was absolutely necessary for the Phyllis Wheatley Branch to remain a YWCA.⁸⁹

The decision on what to do with the Phyllis Wheatley Branch was postponed until February 6,1936. It was decided at this meeting that "the Phyllis Wheatley Branch be notified that they are no longer a Branch of the Asheville Young Women's Christian Association; as the Branch has not, and will not, conform to the policies and regulations of the Central Association."⁹⁰   On February 19^th, the YWCA sign had been removed from

the building and by May 20^th, all relations with the Phyllis Wheatley Branch were severed entirely. Hence, the Phyllis Wheatley YWCA became the Phyllis Wheatley Center.

Due to lack of funding, however, the Phyllis Wheatley Center requested to become a branch of the YWCA on March 22, 1937.  It took until 1938 for the Phyllis Wheatley Center to conform to the Central YWCA's recommendations, be reorganized, and become a YWCA again. On June 22, 1938, the Community Chest Survey met to discuss the reorganization of the Phyllis Wheatley Branch. It was reported that

       ⁸⁸ Alma Wright. "Joint Meeting-January 9, 1936." [Asheville YWCA], Ramsey Library Special Collections, UNC Asheville, NC.
                       ⁸⁹  Ibid
                       ⁹⁰ Alma Wright. "Board Meeting- February 6, 1936." [Asheville YWCA], Ramsey Library Special Collections, UNC Asheville, NC.      

equipment, such as linen, cooking utensils, and dishes were removed from the branch by Adela Ruffin because she claimed that they were her property. Additionally, the branch was in need of repair. An estimated budget of $3600 was submitted to the Community Chest with an outline of proposed activities. Therefore, the Community Chest recommended that the Branch be readmitted as a Chest agency, and it was agreed that unless the $3600 was guaranteed by the Community Chest, the Central YWCA would not assume the responsibility of opening the Phyllis Wheatley Branch. ⁹¹

After Adela Ruffin resigned, a balance of $.55 was noted, many of the branch's past bills were paid, and a bank account containing $70 was started.⁹²   By late 1938, early 1939, the Phyllis Wheatley Branch was readmitted as a Community Chest organization and a rededication service was held on February 1,1938. The "newly" formed branch hoped to sponsor classes for unemployed and employed girls, recreational work for all age groups, and religious instruction.⁹³ The branch continued to serve the African American community in Asheville until it became the first officially integrated YWCA in the South in 1968.⁹⁴

Although the YWCA provided a space for women to develop their leadership skills outside the confines of a male dominated organization, it suffered from its own internal problems. The YWCA also revealed that the bonds of gender and sex were not absolute and each woman brought her own unique perspective to the movement. Ideally

⁹¹ "YWCA Historical Context." [Asheville YWCA], Ramsey Library Special Collections, UNC Asheville, NC.

⁹² Ibid. The Branch's balance of $.55 revealed how the Branch utilized every penny that it received. The bank account containing seventy dollars was started by the Central YWCA, since the Phyllis Wheatley Branch conformed to its "recommendations."

⁹³ Ibid.

⁹⁴ For more information on the integration of the Asheville YWCA, see Daniel Maddalena's "Integration and the Asheville YWCA." 17 November 2000. (Thesis, University of North Carolina at Asheville, November 17, 2000).

African American and white women came together in order to protect the rights of women, but they did so in ways that promoted the interests and values of white middle class women. When white women used the term "sister" to describe African American YWCA members, they used it to describe a subordinate relationship. However, black women utilized the YWCA to uplift African Americans, despite the YWCA's inherent racism. The Phyllis Wheatley Branch of the YWCA clearly demonstrated how racism interfered with white and black women's relationships, despite the YWCA's ideals. However, hope was not lost, and in the 1970s, both YWCAs came together to serve all women of Asheville, regardless of their race.

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