Elizabeth Carter Brooks (1867–1951), was an American

educator A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

social activist Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fr ...

and

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

. She was passionate about helping other African Americans achieve personal success and was one of the first to recognize the importance of preserving historical buildings in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

. Brooks was "one of the few Black women of the era who could be considered both architect and patron."

Early life

Brooks was born in New Bedford, Massachusetts, which was an area of the country well-known at the time for providing refuge, resources, education and employment for former slaves. Her mother, Martha Webb, had been a former slave, owned by President

John Tyler John Tyler (March 29, 1790 – January 18, 1862) was the tenth president of the United States, serving from 1841 to 1845, after briefly holding office as the tenth vice president of the United States, vice president in 1841. He was elected v ...

. Webb was involved with the

Underground Railroad The Underground Railroad was a network of clandestine routes and safe houses established in the United States during the early- to mid-19th century. It was used by enslaved African Americans primarily to escape into free states and Canada. ...

. Her daughter went on to develop a "passion for equality" that lasted her entire life. Brooks attended

New Bedford High School New Bedford High School (NBHS) is a public high school located at 230 Hathaway Boulevard in the West End of New Bedford, Massachusetts. The school has approximately 2,000 students, and is one of the largest schools in the state. New Bedford is a ...

, and then went on to the Swain Free School, which provided students with a strong foundation in design and architecture skills. She then went on to become the first African American graduate of the Harrington Normal School for Teachers.

Career

Brooks began teaching in the early 1890s at Howard's Orphan Home or

Howard Colored Orphan Asylum The Howard Colored Orphan Asylum was one of the few orphanages to be led by and for African Americans. It was located on Troy Avenue and Dean Street in Weeksville, a historically black settlement in what is now Crown Heights, Brooklyn, New York ...

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Kings County is the most populous Administrative divisions of New York (state)#County, county in the State of New York, ...

, which was founded and run by African Americans. In 1895, she started working with the

National Association of Colored Women's Clubs The National Association of Colored Women's Clubs (NACWC) is an American organization that was formed in July 1896 at the First Annual Convention of the National Federation of Afro-American Women in Washington, D.C., United States, by a merger of t ...

(NACWC). She became the secretary of the Convention in 1896 and vice-president from 1906 to 1908. She was president of NACWC from 1908 until 1912. Brooks also joined the

National Association for the Advancement of Colored People The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) is a civil rights organization in the United States, formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E.& ...

(NAACP) shortly after it was founded and later created her own NAACP chapter in New Bedford. She would be honored as a president emeritus of the New Bedford NAACP in 1948. Brooks was one of the founders of the New England Federation of Women's Clubs (later the

Northeastern Federation of Colored Women's Clubs The Northeastern Federation of Colored Women's Clubs (NFCWC) is an umbrella organization representing black women's clubs in the northeastern United States. The organization was affiliated with the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs (NA ...

). She was president for over 27 years and during her time in the club, "oversaw the sponsorship of community centers, scholarship funds, day care centers, and other services needed by the community." In 1897, Brooks helped open the New Bedford Home for the Aged, which at first had several temporary locations. In addition, Brooks paid the rent for the home by herself for the first six months. Afterwards, the Women's Loyal Union "assumed the responsibility for maintaining the New Bedford Home for the Aged." Brooks eventually designed the

Colonial style American colonial architecture includes several building design styles associated with the colonial period of the United States, including First Period English (late-medieval), French Colonial, Spanish Colonial, Dutch Colonial, and Georgian. T ...

permanent home for its final location at 396 Middle Street. The Women's Loyal Union, which Brooks was involved with, continued to help support the home at the new location. Brooks became the first president of the home and of the Women's Loyal Union, and remained in those roles until 1930. The building itself is still standing in New Bedford and is two and half stories tall, topped with a

hip roof A hip roof, hip-roof or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downwards to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope (although a tented roof by definition is a hipped roof with steeply pitched slopes rising to a peak). Thu ...

, six dormers and a front facade with a flat-roofed

portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many c ...

. Brooks began teaching again, this time in 1901 at the Taylor School, where she became the first African American teacher in New Bedford. In 1918, she was recruited by the War Council of the National board of the YWCA to supervise and oversee the building of the

Phillis Wheatley YWCA The Phyllis Wheatley YWCA is a Young Women's Christian Association building in Washington, D.C., that was designed by architects Shroeder & Parish and was built in 1920. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. It is nam ...

Washington, D.C ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, N ...

. In 1929, she retired from teaching. That same year, she married W. Sampson Brooks, who was the bishop of the

African Methodist Episcopal The African Methodist Episcopal Church, usually called the AME Church or AME, is a predominantly African American Methodist denomination. It adheres to Wesleyan-Arminian theology and has a connexional polity. The African Methodist Episcopal ...

denomination of the Bethel Church. She and her husband moved to

San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_t ...

, where they lived together until her husband's death in 1934. After that, she moved back to New Bedford. In 1939, she began her work on preserving Black heritage. Brooks felt that "monuments to 'race history' were an important part of the African American landscape and deserved to be preserved. She bought the home of William H. Carney and turned the home into a memorial. After her death in 1951, the city of New Bedford honored her by naming a school after her in 1957.

References

External links

* https://amsterdamnews.com/news/2020/12/17/elizabeth-carter-brooks-architect-and-womens-club/ * https://search.alexanderstreet.com/view/work/bibliographic_entity%7Cbibliographic_details%7C3935906 * https://historicwomensouthcoast.org/elizabeth-carter-brooks/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Brooks, Elizabeth Carter 1867 births 1951 deaths African-American educators American educators African-American architects 20th-century American architects African-American activists People from New Bedford, Massachusetts American women architects Presidents of the National Association of Colored Women's Clubs 20th-century African-American women 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American artists